The Range’s disabled toilet at Inverness Shopping Park was site of sexual assault on 12-year-old girl
A mentally ill man was inexplicably left unattended by his carer and went on to sexually assault a 12-year-old girl in the toilet of an Inverness store.
But Inverness Sheriff Court heard that it was not 35-year-old Philip Mackenzie's fault for pulling the girl into the disabled toilet inside The Range in Inverness Shopping Park on February 2 last year, pushing her to the floor, attempting to remove the girl’s clothing and repeatedly touching her on the body.
Mackenzie previously admitted the sex offence and sentence was deferred for a psychiatric report.
When he again appeared by video link from a mental care facility in Perth, his solicitor advocate Shahid Latif explained to Sheriff Ian Cruickshank: "In order to understand him, we need to go beyond the Crown's narrative about the offence.
"He has two developmental disorders and while it is not possible to say whether there was causation between his disorders and his behaviour, there could be a correlation. He lacks insights into where the boundaries go, and there is an ability to empathise but it is not his fault.
"There were strict rules about what he could and could not do. He had with him an assistant and that person should have accompanied him to the toilet but chose not to do so.
"My client now has some understanding that the complainer was caused upset but he requires more intervention."
Sheriff Cruickshank said that he was considering a compulsion order to replace the treatment order Mackenzie was currently on. But for that to happen a second report from a psychiatrist was required.
A treatment order, often a civil order, mandates treatment for a mental disorder, while a compulsion order, usually imposed by a criminal court, focuses on both hospital detention and treatment, often for offenders with a mental disorder.
Inverness Sheriff Court had been told that Mackenzie required 24/7 care and had been out for lunch with his carer when he asked to go to the toilet.
Because the carer could see the toilets from where he was he allowed Mackenzie to go on his own, though he should have been accompanied.
The girl had been out with her mum when she decided to go to the toilet too.
It was while she was entering the toilet corridor that Mackenzie grabbed her and pulled her into the disabled toilet.
Fiscal depute Susan Love said: “He allowed the girl to get up and asked if she wanted her phone. She walked out of the toilets and approached an elderly couple and told them what happened.
“The social worker for Mackenzie saw the complainer come out upset.
“The complainer and her mother then reported the incident to staff at the store, who then contacted police.
“The complainer was examined and had fresh bruising to her chest and abrasions to her upper left and right thighs.”
Sheriff Cruickshank allowed the treatment order to continue and further adjourned the case until June 24 for a second psychiatric assessment.
