Description
A non-binary sex attacker who molested a sleeping child during a campaign of abuse has been allowed to walk free from court. Oliver James Bond, who changed his identity after being convicted of a sex attack on a transgender victim in a previous case, dodged prison for a second time.
The 32-year-old, who was called Lucas Cole throughout the latest trial, started sexually assaulting the boy while he was 15 or 16 years old. A jury at Perth Sheriff Court found that Bond carried out further attacks on the same victim over a period of six years.
Bond was found guilty of indecently assaulting the boy at an address in Milnathort between July 1, 2010 - when the victim was 15 - and December 31, 2010. Bond carried out a serious sex attack on the boy while he was asleep and incapable of giving consent.
The fiend was found guilty of sexually assaulting the same victim in Kinross between September 5, 2013 and September 4, 2014 in an attack which started with Bond repeatedly grabbing the teenager's private parts. Bond struggled with him, and pulled down his trousers and underwear, before performing a sex act on him.
The jury also found Bond guilty of sexually assaulting the victim in Milnathort between September 5, 2014 and September 4, 2016 by touching his private parts while he was asleep and incapable of consenting. The Crown gave special notice to lead evidence of Bond sexually assaulting a transgender victim in Perth on 14 May 2018 whilst they were intoxicated and could not consent.
Bond denied indecently and sexually assaulting the male complainer in the latest trial and claimed they were consensual acts between "friends with benefits". The jury took an hour to find them guilty. Jurors heard the victim describe how he had been sleeping and had woken up to discover Bond carrying out a sex act upon him.
The accused confirmed they were Oliver James Bond to the court clerk, but was referred to throughout the trial and sentencing as Lucas Cole and mainly by the pronoun "they/them". Sheriff David Hall placed Bond on the Sex Offenders Register for five years and under social work supervision for 18 months.
They were placed on a curfew for six months and ordered to carry out 250 hours unpaid work as a direct alternative to custody.
The sheriff said: "With some hesitation I am going to allow you to remain at liberty. You were convicted by the jury of all three charges. You just don't get the seriousness of this matter."
Solicitor David Holmes, defending, noted that the complainer had spent further time with the accused after the attacks and had given evidence in his defence in the transgender case. He said his client would be "particularly vulnerable" in prison.
But Sheriff Hall said: "That doesn't excuse his behaviour, which he doesn't appear to accept any responsibility for at all. The complainer came across as a pretty vulnerable individual."
In October 2019, Bond was convicted of sexually assaulting a transgender woman at a flat in Perth. She gave evidence in the latest trial to show the similarity of the attacks.
Fiscal depute Lora Apostalova said the incidents were "strikingly similar" as the victims had been asleep and incapable of giving or withholding consent in both cases. The transgender witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, she how she was sexually assaulted at Bond's Perth home in May 2018.
She told how they downed a bottle of Midori and watched The Big Bang Theory before she fell asleep. Later, she said she woke to find Cole touching her penis under her clothing.
Ms Apostalova said: "She was not able to give full consent to what was happening to her body. My trousers were definitely not unbuttoned when I lost consciousness. Oliver was touching me. He had his hand under my underwear."
Bond was ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work at the High Court in Edinburgh on October 21, 2019. Judge Lord Tyre said it would have been an "extremely distressing experience" for the woman.
He also ordered Bond to engage in offence-related work under social work supervision.