A SAUCHIE man who told a court he was a "support worker" for abused kids has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a child.

Robert McKechnie put his hand on a 14-year-old boy's upper thigh, while whispering to him: "What would you do if I raped you?"

He went on to further assault the same boy by repeatedly pushing him, and also attacked a girl of the same age by seizing her hair and arm.

The 35-year-old had denied the three offences, but was found guilty of all charges by Sheriff Craig Harris following a two-day trial at Alloa Sheriff Court.

The trial commenced on February 4, and the court heard evidence from the two teenagers.

The boy said the attacks took place at an address in Clacks between the evening of May 31 and early hours of June 1 last year.

During questioning from prosecutor Gail Russell, he said he'd been on a couch watching a movie with family, friends, and McKechnie – a family friend.

McKechnie ended up sitting next to him, and then whispered to him asking what he'd do if he was raped.

He said McKechnie was touching his thigh at the time, and that his hand "stayed there" for some time.

When asked how he reacted, he said: "I just kind of froze."

A few hours after that incident, he said he pushed his mattress up against his bedroom door, because McKechnie was staying over and he was afraid of him.

But he managed to get in the room, and repeatedly pushed the teen before letting him leave the bedroom on the pretence of needing the toilet.

In the hours leading up to that, McKechnie had briefly left the property to collect alcohol while in the company of the boy, and the teenage girl.

During the course of the short walk, he assaulted the young female, who told the court: "Robert grabbed hold of my arm, and then he grabbed hold of my hair."

McKechnie's solicitor, Christine Hagan, put it to both the teenagers during cross-examination that they were making up the allegations.

However, they both maintained their positions.

After hearing from all the prosecution's witnesses, Ms Hagan also tried to argue McKechnie had no case to answer, as there was not enough evidence to corroborate the claims against her client.

Bit this was challenged by Ms Russell, and ultimately rejected by Sheriff Harris.

The trial was then adjourned until Monday, February 24 because of a lack of court time.

When it resumed, McKechnie took the stand to give evidence in his defence.

He claimed all the allegations were false, and said: "I've been set up here."

He also suggested the reason he'd been "set up" was because he is homosexual.

And he even claimed: "I've worked as a support worker with abused kids for 11 years."

Ms Russell repeatedly challenged McKechnie's claims during cross-examination.

After asking him whether he whispered in the boy's ear, he said: "How can you whisper in somebody's ear and nobody else hear it except him?"

In response, Ms Russell pointed out the general purpose of whispering to someone is to make sure others cannot hear what you're saying.

McKechnie then said: "I'm not going to stand up here and lie; my life's on the line here."

Despite his denials, Sheriff Harris found McKechnie guilty of the three charges after retiring to consider the evidence against him for around an hour.

In delivering his verdict, he said: "I reject the accused's account; it was a straight denial and provides no explanation of what happened."

He went on to say he accepted McKechnie sexually assaulted the boy, and whispered the rape comment to him.

The sheriff then deferred sentencing until March 26, to allow a background report and restriction of liberty assessment to be completed.

McKechnie, of Craigview, was made subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 meantime.