Moray tradesman admits exposing his genitals to woman at Elgin Sheriff Court

A tradesman has admitted exposing his genitals to a female customer who invited him inside for a drink.

At Elgin Sheriff Court last Thursday, Dennis Francis, of Manitoba Avenue, pleaded guilty to pulling down his shorts to expose his penis “in a sexual manner” on August 27.

The 61-year-old also pleaded not guilty to a charge of working as a window cleaner without a licence during the court appearance.

Fiscal depute David Morton said Francis was working at a home in Mosstodloch when his customer, a 49-year-old woman, “invited him into her property and offered him a drink”.

“General small talk continued for a period,” Mr Morton added.

“Mr Francis was wearing shorts at the time.”

A short time later, the fiscal said, the tradesman pulled up his shorts to reveal more of his leg whilst “indicating that working outside was good for his tan”.

The court heard that Francis pulled them up so far that “it exposed his public hair”.

After doing so, the 61-year-old “made remarks” before exposing his penis to the woman by pulling his shorts down.

Mr Morton said the woman immediately told the tradesman that “he cannot behave like that”, and “made efforts for him to leave the locus, which he then did”.

The woman, who was “upset in the aftermath”, told her partner what had happened and the police were contacted.

Solicitor Megan Lee argued that Francis had no previous convictions and should not be placed on the sex offenders register for exposing himself to the woman.

People convicted of certain sexual offences are automatically added to the register, but Ms Lee said she believed the 61-year-old’s actions were not serious enough to merit the measure.

She argued that a conviction for sexual exposure only leads to automatic registration if the victim is younger than 18, if the convicted person receives a jail sentence, or if the convicted person is admitted to hospital.

Given the victim's age and Francis’s lack of previous convictions, the offence may not “pass the custody threshold”, Ms Lee said, as she asked Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov to consider not imposing registration requirements.

Sheriff Pasportnikov continued the case until November 21, to consider the solicitor’s argument and for background reports to be drawn up.