Student convicted of sexually assaulting six-year-old girl told he faces no punishment

‘I’d love to sit down with the sheriff and say, “Can you please explain, am I missing something?”’ says victim’s mother

A student found guilty of sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl for more than two years will face no punishment after being granted an absolute discharge.

Christopher Daniel, an 18-year-old dental student from Glasgow, denied carrying out numerous assaults on the girl while he was aged 15 to 17 and she was between six and eight.

He was granted the discharge by Sheriff Gerard Sinclair after being found guilty at Dumbarton sheriff court at the end of a three-day trial.

This means the teenager will not be placed on the sex offenders’ register and the guilty verdict was not recorded as a conviction.

An investigation by Scottish TV channel STV found the victim’s family were not allowed to see a report sent by the sheriff to the Crown Office explaining his “wholly exceptional” decision.

They believe too much emphasis was given to the student’s middle-class background, strong educational attainment and career prospects.

This means future employers may not be aware of the crime – raising questions about child protection.

The young girl’s mother told the news outlet: “I’d love to sit down with the sheriff and say ‘Can you please explain, am I missing something?’”

She said she thought she would be handed a bigger sentence if she shoplifted something from a supermarket.

“How is that justice? How does this teach anything to anybody that’s committing this crime?” she added. “My idea isn’t that he gets strung up and we throw him in prison and we lock the key away, but this is what the sex offenders’ register is for. It is to protect children.”

After the trial last month, the Crown Office told the family it planned to challenge the decision, but on 4 January it told them the appeal had been aborted.

The victim’s family are planning to write to Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC, who is the head of the Crown Office, to urge him to reconsider the choice not to appeal.

“That is exactly what needs done and if it goes there and it falls through we have got a massive problem in Scotland,” the mother said. “We should all be fearful if that goes to appeal again and it doesn’t get sorted and he doesn’t get put on a sex offenders’ register.”

Last summer, the young girl, who cannot be named, told her family she been repeatedly abused.

Liam Kerr, the Scottish Conservative justice spokesperson, said: “The facts of this case are deeply troubling and deeply affecting. It is certainly a surprising sentence. It would help in this case and in many others if there was a greater understanding about why the decisions are taken.”

The Judicial Office for Scotland said: “When sentencing, a sheriff deals with the offence that the accused has been convicted of, taking into account the circumstances of the particular case and the circumstances of all involved in the case.”