Edinburgh crime: Pervert used eczema excuse to get schoolgirl to rub his body with cream

A pervert who sexually assaulted a young child after talking her into rubbing cream on his body to treat his eczema has been jailed for two years.

Christopher Cooney, 38, abused the girl when she was aged nine by placing her hand on his penis after convincing her help treat his skin condition.

He then attacked the victim for a second time four years later when he plied her with alcohol and committed a horrific sex act on her at his Edinburgh home.

The terrified girl was left “ashamed and embarrassed” but bravely confided in a family member last year and Cooney was arrested.

Cooney was jailed for his abuse.

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Cooney pled guilty earlier this year to sexually assaulting the girl on two occasions at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

Lawyer Ross Gardner, defending, said he had committed “undoubtedly awful” offences and that he was full of “self-hatred” at what he had done.

He said Cooney had been forced from his home due to press coverage following his guilty plea and he will “probably never” have contact with the victim again.

Sheriff Donald Corke described the offences as “no greater breach of trust” and said in his view there was no alternative to a custodial sentence.

Cooney was jailed for two years and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years.

Previously the court was told Cooney first targeted the girl when she visited his home at the capital’s Broomhouse on an occasion between 2010 and 2012.

Fiscal depute Anna Chisholm said: “She was at the locus and walked into the accused’s bedroom. She found the accused lying naked and face up in his bed.

“The accused suffered from eczema at the time and the complainer recalls he asked her to rub cream on his inner thighs and over the top of his leg.

“The complainer agreed to do this. But whilst she was doing this the accused took hold of her hand and placed it on his penis.”

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The court heard the assault lasted around 30 seconds and the victim later said she had felt “ashamed and embarrassed” by what had Cooney had done to her.

The schoolgirl suffered a second sexual assault by Cooney in 2016 while she was at his home with her parents permission.

Cooney gave her bottles of Smirnoff Ice before they watched a movie together when he assaulted her..

The court heard the attack on the child left her “in shock and unable to move” and afterwards Cooney was said to have acted “like nothing had happened”.

The fiscal said the girl bravely confided in a family member in April last year but recalling the attacks had left her “very upset and was hyperventilating”.

Cooney pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a girl, aged nine, by compelling her to rub cream on his inner thighs and place her hand on his penis on an occasion between December 1, 2010 and September 20, 2012.

He also admitted to sexually assaulting the 13-year-old by placing his hands down her shorts and underwear between August 1 and 30, 2016.

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