Hi °C | Lo °C Northern Ireland's youngest convicted voyeur was spared a jail sentence yesterday because of his age.
Newtownards Magistrate Mark Hamill told 19-year-old Scott Wright he " didn't want an act committed by you as a 17- year-old to blight your life" .
Instead Wright, from Ardcarn Drive, Belfast, who was convicted of spying on a young mum in the communal changing rooms of a Co Down leisure centre on July 24 last year, received ten months' probation.
The teenager also escaped being put on the sex offenders' register because his sentence was less than 12 months' duration.
Mr Hamill said Wright committed the offence when he was just 17, and that he was 18 by the time he came to court for the incident which "was very distressing" for the young mother.
Wright had claimed he was retrieving his locker key when he was spotted by the woman, who was sitting naked in the cubicle next to his at Newtownards Leisure Centre.
Convicting Wright in July, Mr Hamill dismissed his claim, saying the woman's evidence was " particularly impressive".
The young mum had told the court how she was sitting on her towel in the cubicle when she "happened to look down and ... his eyes were looking up at me".
"I was completely shaken up," she said.
Yesterday, defence lawyer Michael McAleer said Wright now accepted his responsibility for what he had done and wished to apologise to the court and the young woman.
He added: "There have been harsh words within the family home about his behaviour."
