A 56-year-old man from Troon has avoided an immediate prison sentence after admitting possession of 882 indecent images or pseudo-images of children on his computer.
Nicholas Krasewitz, of Teviot Place, appeared for sentencing at Ayr Sheriff Court after admitting offences committed between March 2018 and September 2023. The material included 38 moving images, while 94 were in the most serious category identified by the court.
Guilty pleas and court proceedings
Krasewitz pleaded guilty to permitting indecent photos or pseudo-photos of children to be taken or making them. A separate not guilty plea relating to possession of an extreme pornographic image depicting a sexual act between an adult female and a dog was accepted as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
Bail had previously been continued while criminal justice social work reports and a risk assessment were prepared. When Krasewitz returned to the dock, defence solicitor Tony Currie told the court that the offending items of IT equipment were to be destroyed.
Currie said Krasewitz maintained that he had been trying to access other material and had obtained the offending content inadvertently. He also said his client had tried to delete some, but not all, of the material, and had been downloading thousands of files at a time.
The defence highlighted that Krasewitz had no previous convictions and had not offended since. The court also heard that the case had led to the end of his marriage and that he had become isolated from society.
Sentence and restrictions
Sheriff Colin Pettigrew said the court had to take account of the number and categories of images, including the moving images and those in the most serious category. He said the custody threshold was met, but noted that the law allowed for a non-custodial sentence where there was an alternative.
Krasewitz was placed on a community payback order with three years of supervision and ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work. He must also attend counselling sessions and will remain on the sex offenders register for three years.
The court imposed further sexual harm prevention order requirements. These prevent Krasewitz from having unsupervised contact with children unless that contact is unavoidable.
The sheriff gave an example of how the restriction applies in everyday circumstances: entering a shop after a child is already there would not itself breach the order, but following a child into a shop would.
Krasewitz must also tell police about all internet devices in his possession and is prohibited from installing software designed to hide or delete his browsing history.
