The mum of a little girl who was followed into a playpark by a flasher has said her daughter is now terrified to walk anywhere on her own.
Jack Allan appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted exposing himself to the child – then aged just nine – in a public park in the Kincorth area of the city.
Following the incident, Allan, a serial sex offender, was later seen on his balcony carrying out a sex act in full view of the public.
Jailing the 47-year-old for nearly two years, Sheriff Graham Buchanan condemned Allan for the “serious psychological harm” his actions have caused the child.
Outside court, the child’s mum described Allan as an “animal” and confirmed that her daughter was still living with the impact of what happened that summer day.
“She has lost a lot of her confidence and she refuses to walk anywhere on her own anymore,” her mum said.
“She won’t even walk to school unless she has a friend or an adult with her.”
The woman added she was glad Allan had been shown “no leniency” by Sheriff Buchanan and hoped her family could now move on from the incident.
Allan followed child into a park
Fiscal depute Rebecca Thompson told the court that at around 12.05pm on July 25 last year, the girl was on Matthews Road when she became aware of Allan walking towards her.
As he approached, she saw that he was exposing his private parts out of the top of his trousers.
They crossed paths, but Allan did not speak and the girl turned onto a lane that led to a playpark.
“She was still on her own at the time but played in the park for a few minutes,” Ms Thompson said.
“She then saw the accused again who was nearby at the park – he began walking towards her.”
Due to feeling scared, the little girl ran from the area but passed by Allan on her way out of the playpark and saw that he was still exposing himself.
Woman catches Allan half-naked
Almost half an hour later, a woman was walking on the nearby Webster Road when she saw Allan sitting on a chair on a balcony wearing nothing from the waist down.
She also saw he was carrying out a sex act.
Allan saw the woman could see him and got up and went back into his home.
The child told her mum about what had happened later that night and she contacted the police.
The woman who saw Allan on his balcony contacted police the following day to report what she had seen.
CCTV footage was checked and it showed Allan approaching the little girl and then, in a later frame, her running away from where Allan had just been.
In the dock, Allan pleaded guilty to one charge of exposing himself to a child and a second charge of intentionally engaging in sexual activity in full view of the public.
His defence solicitor, Christopher Maitland, told the court Allan was aware that his actions were “shameful” that day and had shown “genuine shame and regret for what he did”.
The solicitor added: “Mr Allan said that he thought he could address his offending himself – he accepts his own arrogance about that.
“He knows there are no excuses for his behaviour and wishes to apologise to the people involved here and everybody affected by his actions.
“His regrets, remorse and shame appear to be genuine.”
‘She won’t go near the park anymore’
However, Sheriff Graham Buchanan told Mr Maitland that it was “abundantly clear” that the child involved had been “significantly impacted” by his client’s actions.
“The little girl now won’t go anywhere on her own and needs constant reassurance,” he said.
“She won’t go near the park anymore – she has suffered serious psychological harm because of what this man did.”
Sentencing Allan, Sherif Buchanan pointed out to him that he had previous convictions for sexual offending and described the charge involving the girl as “particularly unpleasant”.
“This has resulted in your victim, a nine-year-old girl, suffering very significant trauma – she has been seriously affected by what you did that day.”
Sheriff Buchanan sentenced Allan, of Webster Road, Aberdeen, to 22 months in prison with a three-year supervised release order.
He also placed Allan on the sex offenders register for 10 years and made him subject to a non-harassment order, meaning he cannot approach his victim for life.
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