Wick sofa prank on sleeping victim was ‘stupid and juvenile’
AN "upsetting and disgusting" sexual prank on a friend sleeping on the sofa of a Wick house backfired for the perpetrator.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told that 33-year-old Steven Cordiner, then of Cruives House, Thurso but who is now living in temporary accommodation in Dingwall, carried out what he thought was a joke in a Wellington Street property on February 15, 2022.
Fiscal depute Susan Love told Sheriff Ian Cruickshank that the accused "tea-bagged" his victim as he slept. She explained to the court it
involved a man taking off his clothes and sitting over someone's face so his genitals dropped on to it.
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Ms Love added: "The accused was with his partner and it was filmed. When he (the victim) woke up, they were laughing, showed him the video and filmed his reaction.
"There was no sexual element to this. There was no contact so it wasn't a sexual assault. It appears to have been a laugh or a joke to them," Ms Love added.
Cordiner admitted abusive behaviour and sentence had been deferred by Sheriff Gary Aitken for a background report.
Defending, George Mathers conceded: "This was disgraceful behaviour which Sheriff Aitken described as disgusting. But it was in the mind
of the accused who had been drinking, that it was a joke.
"He didn't do it, just pretended to do it and he deeply regrets it. He thought the complainer would treat it as a joke but he didn't and clearly he was upset by it and contacted the police.
"It was stupid and juvenile," Mr Mathers went on.
Sheriff Cruickshank ordered Cordiner to be under social work supervision for a year and ordered him to carry out 160 hours of unpaid work as an alternative to prison.
He also imposed a nine-month long ban on Cordiner contacting the victim.
