A FORMER nursery teacher who preyed on a young girl by telling her she was “playing” a breastfeeding game has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
Wendy McGill told the child to act as a baby as she carried out the abuse at her Renfrew home in the 1980s.
They pretended McGill was the mummy and went on to simulate breastfeeding, while she instructed her young victim to touch her.
The exact date of the abuse is not known but prosecutors narrowed it down to between 1986 and 1989, when the child, who can’t be identified for legal reasons, was aged between four and six and McGill was either 15, 16, 17 or 18.
She admitted her guilt at Paisley Sheriff Court last month, before returning yesterday to learn her fate.
Previously, procurator fiscal Keri Marshall told Sheriff James Spy there was an agreed narrative of the facts of the case but he ruled it did not have to be read out in court.
The document, which was seen by The Gazette, revealed the full extent of the abuse.
It stated: “On a date, the exact time unknown to the complainer, whilst at the locus, the accused played a game with her.
“The accused was the mum and the complainer was her baby. The accused cradled her and asked if she was hungry and immediately pulled her top and bra down.”
McGill, now 48, made the child perform sex acts on her and told her to keep what had happened “a secret.”
The court was told it took around 30 years for the victim to feel able to raise the alarm, eventually telling a woman who is married to one of McGill’s relatives.
When the woman and her husband went to see McGill and told her what they knew, she broke down in tears and said: “I don’t know why I done it. I can’t explain why this happened. It only happened the one time.”
When McGill appeared in court last month, she admitted lewd and libidinous practices and behaviour.
Sheriff Spy then called for background reports ahead of sentencing and adjourned the case until yesterday.
He told McGill: “This is a serious offence which involved a child, when you were a child yourself.”
McGill was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for three years and will also be subject to a three-year Probation Order.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here