Court / Man jailed for almost three years after admitting sexual assault
Content warning: This story contains details of sexual violence. If you have been affected by this issue, help is available.
A TWENTY eight year old Lerwick man who followed a woman to the North Mainland and sexually assaulted her after a night out has been jailed for almost three years.
Adam Burnett, from Robertson Crescent, had previously admitting making repeated unwanted advances on the woman after a night out in Lerwick on 6 November 2022.
He had pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting her, trying to remove her clothing, trying to get her to touch him sexually and repeatedly attempting to kiss her, during a previous appearance in court.
His sentence had been deferred for the preparation of background reports.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said it was a “difficult plea in mitigation” given the circumstances, and he would not seek to diminish the suffering felt by the woman.
The details of the case had been “understandably upsetting” for people, Allan admitted, and he said Burnett had caused the woman a “great deal of suffering”.
“He accepts responsibility for that. He’s deeply sorry for the pain and distress he has caused,” Allan added.
The court heard last month that Burnett had told a friend on the night in question he was going to have a sexual encounter with the woman and “she doesn’t even know it”.
He followed her to an address in the North Mainland at the conclusion of a night out, and sexually assaulted her under a blanket in a living room where her friends were still present.
Burnett refused to let her leave the room after her friends had gone, and repeatedly tried to kiss her.
The court heard last month she had “kept telling him ‘no’, and pushing him off.”
His defence agent said today (Wednesday) the woman was not under any obligation to do anything to prevent herself from being assaulted, and she should not have had to.
Allan said, however, that he did not believe Burnett had gone to the house with the specific aim of sexually assaulting the woman.
He added it “just doesn’t make sense” that Burnett would have carried out the assault on the woman when her friends were in the room, if that was his aim.
He put it to the court that Burnett had “misread” the cues while on the couch with the woman, adding: “Perhaps that was because there were no cues.”
Sentence had been deferred for the preparation of background reports, and Allan said these showed his client had genuine remorse about the incident.
He added he had been present with Burnett when the “realisation” had come to him that he had been in the wrong.
Allan said drink was a problem for Burnett and a link to his offending, and he had since given up drinking.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said at Burnett’s last appearance that he had a previous conviction for a similar offence, which seemed to follow the same pattern.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank pointed to that previous conviction, and questioned Allan about it.
The solicitor said in that case Burnett had “realised what was going on” after consuming too much alcohol, and had stopped.
He asked for his client to be dealt with by way of supervision.
However the sheriff called this a “sustained and worrying sexual assault”, and said there had been an “element of restraint” to it – with Burnett stopping the woman from leaving the room.
He said he believed there was an “element of pre-planning” to the assault.
Sheriff Cruickshank jailed Burnett for a total of 35 months, and placed him on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
He will also be placed under supervision for 12 months following his release from prison, and was warned he could be returned to prison if he reoffends during that time.
If you have been affected by this issue, help is available.
If it happened in the last one to two weeks, call: 0800 148 88 88 (24/7)
Online: Sexual Assault Response Centres (SARCS)
In person: The SARC is at Gilbert Bain Hospital in Lerwick.
The Compass Centre provides free and confidential specialist support to non-abusive people of all genders (age 13+) in Shetland who’ve been affected by sexual violence (that is: unwanted sexual behaviour), no matter what happened or when.
Call: 01595 747 174 (9am-1.30pm Mon-Thurs)
Email: contact@compasscentre.org
Online: refer online
By post: 11 Hill Lane, Lerwick, Shetland, ZE1 0HA
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