Guilty Verdict in Dundee Assault Case
A man has been found guilty of making sexual remarks to a group of girls aged between 12 and 14 in Dundee before grabbing and pushing one of them to the ground.
Ilia Belov, 22, claimed he confronted the girls after receiving abusive remarks and said he saw one of the girls with a knife in her waistband before the assault.
His sister Nadjedzha Belova, 20, previously admitted assaulting a 13-year-old girl by seizing and pulling her hair, dragging her to the ground, and striking her on the head to her injury during the incident.
The pair will be sentenced at Dundee Sheriff Court on 5 August.
Details of the Incident
The court heard that Belov had said "hello sexy, I'll show you a good time" to the girls while walking past them in the Lochee area of the city.
After one of the girls called him a creep, he had returned to confront the group and called his sister, who arrived shortly afterwards and assaulted one of the girls.
Belov then claimed he had seen the girl's weapon and, fearing for his sister, had pushed her.
He claimed the children had called him a migrant and used an expletive.
But Sheriff Tim Niven-Smith rejected Belov's claim of self-defence and said the girls' evidence had been "eloquent."
"I am entirely satisfied by proof beyond reasonable doubt that the trigger for all of this were the comments that you made."
The court heard previously that the 12-year-old girl Belov attacked admitted pulling a knife and axe from her waistband, but only after Belov had assaulted her.
The girl told the trial previously that her sister started to shout at Belov after the remarks, but the pair were pulled away by a friend.
She then told the court Belova approached the group, pushed her and threw her sister to the ground.
The girl said she had tried "to go for" the woman but was pushed by Belov.
She said he pushed her on the head and her head hit the handrail of a ramp.
Cross-examined by Belov's solicitor Larry Flynn, the girl said she had then taken the axe and knife from her waistband, and that Belov filmed her with them on his phone.
Belov's Account of Events
Belov told the trial that he had been walking to a shop with his father for cigarettes when he saw a group of young girls.
He claimed that they started to make "cheeky remarks" and one called him a "(expletive) migrant."
Asked by Flynn if he said "hello sexy" to the girls or "I'll show you a good time", he replied "No, I swear on my god."
Belov claimed that after walking away, he was still being "disrespected" so he turned around and went back to the group.
He said at that point the girls "started panicking" and said he was following them.
Belov said he then phoned his sister as the group had grown in numbers and he was "worried about myself."
Belov said his sister then arrived and grabbed one of the girls by the hair and pushed her.
Asked when he saw the other girl holding the weapon, he said "After I pushed her."
He said he had previously seen a knife sticking out of her t-shirt.
Asked why he pushed the girl, he said: "I thought she was going to do something."
After the girl fell to the ground and got up, Belov said she "pulled a knife and axe and tried to get to us."
Belov said he filmed the girl as she held the weapons, which the court heard were recovered from a nearby roundabout.
Prosecutor's Questions and Belov's Responses
Prosecutor Michael Robertson asked Belov: "You were the adult in this situation, you could have just walked away couldn't you?"
Belov replied: "You are right. I needed to know why they are disrespecting me for no reason."
Robertson said: "You phoned your sister and not the police?"
Belov said: "I thought we were in danger."
Robertson put it to Belov that he had not previously seen a knife when he pushed the girl and only saw the weapon after she got back up.
He replied: "I'm pretty sure I saw the knife behind her back."
Reaction from Victim's Family
Speaking after the conviction, a girl's mother told BBC Scotland News the guilty verdict was "a good thing."
She said: "They were telling the truth and they were slandered. There were too many lies at the start, so I'm glad it's all come out."
The woman said that it was "heartbreaking" seeing her daughter getting "dragged about" on the CCTV shown in court.
