Schoolboy jailed for child abuse

Callum was convicted following a two-day trial in Stirling

A schoolboy convicted after a two-day trial of abusing a five-year-old girl in a toy tent has been jailed.

David Callum, 17, from Alloa, was given 14 months for the attack on the child in her bedroom after being left to babysit her for just over an hour.

Stirling sheriff Andrew Cubie told the secondary school pupil that a lack of remorse and empathy left him unsuitable for probation or community service.

Callum was also placed on the sex offenders register for three years.

The child, now six, had given evidence during the trial at Stirling Sheriff Court from behind an opaque screen.

The court was told that the teenager assaulted the girl after being left in charge of her while her mother and grandmother went to view a flat which was for rent.

'Public revulsion'

The child had told the trial that she was allowed to sleep in the tent in her bedroom on 20 June last year because the light nights had been keeping her awake.

The assault took place after Callum read her a bedtime story.

The child's 25-year-old mother said she returned to the flat to find her daughter "quite distressed".

Defence agent Grant Markie said the educational future of his client, who was a fifth-year pupil, had been ruined by the offence.

But the court heard that Callum had shown no remorse and that a social background report described his attitude as "cavalier".

Sheriff Cubie said: "Your actions went so far beyond what is acceptable that public revulsion and deterrence outweigh any factors in your favour.

"This type of behaviour is incomprehensible to right-minded people."

Callum was convicted on 28 May of using lewd and libidinous practices and behaviour towards the girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.