A serial sex attacker who targeted lone women - including a 15-year-old girl - has escaped a jail sentence.
Mirza Mohammad Saeed preyed on victims who were walking their dogs or heading to work near Edinburgh’s Union Canal.
The 64-year-old pervert asked the women to snap a picture of him on his phone before making a grab for them and leaning in to kiss them.
The dad-of-six appeared for sentencing at the city's sheriff court on Friday nearly eight months after pleading guilty to a string of offences.
Sheriff Adrian Fraser said the threshold for a prison term had been met, but he had selected an alternative to custody.
Saeed was put on an electronic tag with a home curfew between 7pm and 7am for 189 days.
He was also put under a community payback order with supervision for two years and ordered to carry out 252 hours of unpaid work.
Saeed was put on the sex offenders register for five years.
Sheriff Fraser said: “These are serious offences. Standing their nature and the impact on the complainers, that is accepted by you.”
In not jailing Saeed, the sheriff said he’d taken into account his lack of previous convictions, his "low risk of reconviction" according to social work reports, and the “shame and remorse” he’d expressed.
Sentencing had been delayed several times since his guilty plea last October due to additional reports being needed and interpreters being unavailable.
Saeed admitted seven sexual assaults and had not guilty pleas to eight further similar offences accepted by the Crown.
Fiscal depute James Clark previously told the court how Saeed assaulted three female dog walkers at Harrison Park between 8am and 9.45am on December 31 2020.
Mr Clark said the women were approached by Saeed and asked to take his photograph before he asked for a snap of them both together.
The women refused the second request, and Saeed proceeded to kiss them on the hand and attempt to kiss them on the mouth.
The court heard Saeed then targeted women as they made their way along the city’s Union Canal pathway between 3pm and 4.45pm on February 20 2021.
Saeed tried similar ruses to try to get the women to talk to him before trying to kiss them.
The assault on the 15-year-old girl took place on the same date as she walked her dog in the city’s Craiglockhart area.
Saeed, of the city’s Fountainbridge area, approached the teen and asked her to take his picture before leaning in and trying to kiss her on the mouth. The victim fought him off.
One of the victim’s later blasted a decision to allow Saeed to fly abroad for his daughter’s wedding in Pakistan while he awaited sentencing.
She said: “The fact that he has been allowed to get his passport and travel to Pakistan for a family wedding is just unbelievable.”
Defence agent Mark Hutchison previously said his client has been in the UK for three years and had been “lonely and suffering from stress at the time of the offending”.
Mr Hutchison told Friday’s hearing that Saeed was “deeply ashamed” of his behaviour.
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