A HAWICK man has been jailed for 32 months after having sex with a 12-year-old girl.
Jamie Fraser, 24, joined the youngster in bed at his flat after drinking wine with her and others.
Judge Lord Turnbull told unemployed Fraser, of Buccleuch Street, that, but for his guilty plea, he would have faced a four-year sentence. Fraser was also told he would be kept under supervision for a further three years.
Lord Turnbull told Fraser at the High Court in Edinburgh: “The offence to which you have pled guilty is plainly a very serious one. However, the circumstances in which the offence occurred are relevant and do impact upon the seriousness of the particular conduct you engaged in.”
The judge pointed out that the law was designed to protect young girls from sexual activity, telling Fraser: “As an adult you were very well aware that such conduct with such a young girl was unlawful.”
But the judge added that it was clear from a psychiatric report that Fraser had been seriously ill in the recent past and this illness would have impaired his emotional development.
The court heard that the pair met through a friend of the girl who was in a relationship with a male friend of Fraser. She arranged to spend the night at Fraser’s home on July 16 last year, but told a parent she was staying with her girlfriend.
She caught a bus to Hawick and was met by Fraser who took her back to his flat where they joined the other couple and shared two bottles of Lambrini. The girl went to his bedroom and he joined her and asked, “Do you want to do it?”, before having sex with her.
The girls left the following day, but had been reported missing by their parents and police were waiting for them. Fraser admitted to officers that he had intercourse with the girl, saying he did not know her age, but thought it was under 15.
Fraser, a schizophrenic, at an earlier hearing admitted having sex with the girl and raping her at the house where he lived alone.
Defence solicitor advocate David Allan said it was recognised that imprisonment was “inevitable” and Fraser understood he had been assessed as a high risk. But he pointed out that Fraser had fully co-operated with the authorities.