Dundee shopkeeper Rana Irfan Aslam has been given a short one-year sentence for grooming a 12-year-old for sex.

Aslam, 51, of Wallacetown Court, was branded a “dirty, paedophile scumbag” by his victim, now in her thirties, Dundee’s Evening Telegraph reports.

“He was in his 30s and I was 12. He worked at a shop in Kirkton. I would go in with my pocket money to buy sweets with my friend. He said we were ‘really pretty’,” she said.

“He enticed us into his car and bought us a McDonald’s — from there the abuse started. It began with him kissing and groping me. He would buy me CDs, perfume and even a mobile phone, which I had to hide from my parents.”

A report by think tank Quilliam has found that more than eight out of ten men convicted of grooming gang offences have an 'Asian' background, while victims are "almost exclusively white girls". https://t.co/9llGk0zVRS — Jack Montgomery ن (@JackBMontgomery) December 10, 2017

The woman said she hoped Aslam would “go to prison for a long time” — but Sheriff John Rafferty handed him a sentence only one year long.

“This is a case where you have satisfied your own lustful desires without having any regard whatsoever to the impact that would have on your young female victim,” ruled the sheriff – the Scottish equivalent of a circuit court judge, roughly speaking.

“Only a custodial sentence is appropriate or there would be wholly justified outrage if persons were allowed to behave in this manner and not be punished by means of a custodial sentence.”

Aslam could be freed from prison in six months or less, with automatic parole halfway through a prison term being standard for determinate sentences.

https://twitter.com/JackBMontgomery/status/929076053397696513

Sentencing Aslam, Sheriff Rafferty said there were “factors to take into account which have been amply highlighted by your solicitor Mr [Jim] Laverty” – such as “the impact the sentence will have on your own children and your own spouse”.

Rafferty also suggested that a guilty plea would have “significantly mitigated the sentence”.

Follow Jack Montgomery on Twitter: @JackBMontgomery