OMM Redaksiyası
Former world snooker champion Graeme Dott was sentenced to seven years in prison on Tuesday after being convicted of sexually abusing two children.
The 49-year-old Scot, who won the World Snooker Championship in 2006, will also remain on the sex offenders register for life, according to the BBC.
Dott had denied two charges of lewd and libidinous behaviour involving a girl and a boy between 1993 and 2010.
Judge describes abuse as a violation of trust
Sentencing Dott at the High Court in Edinburgh, Judge Lord Harrower said he had robbed the victims of “a significant part of their childhood”. The judge said Dott’s conduct bore the hallmarks of grooming.
The court heard that Dott rewarded the children with treats, presented the abuse as games and warned them they would not be believed if they spoke about what had happened.
His abuse of the girl began when she was about nine and Dott was 16 or 17. The second victim, a boy aged around eight, was abused about a decade later, the BBC reported.
Lord Harrower said the offences represented a “gross violation of trust” and had left the victims with lasting feelings of fear, shame and anger. Their mental health had been affected into adulthood, he added.
Dott’s sentence backdated to August
The sentence was backdated to 24 August, when Dott was remanded in custody.
Dott defeated Peter Ebdon to win his only world title at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre in 2006. He was runner-up twice more, losing the 2004 final to Ronnie O’Sullivan and the 2010 final to Neil Robertson.
