Police say they are working ‘every day’ to track down the suspect after an eight-year-old boy was sexually assaulted in his tent at the Loch Ness Bay campsite near Inverness
The dad of an eight-year-old boy who was sexually assaulted at a Loch Ness campsite saw the suspect walk away from his son’s tent, police have said.
Police say they are working “every day” to track down the suspect after the incident, which happened at the Loch Ness Bay campsite near Drumnadrochit, Scotland before 1am on Thursday. The child was in a tent when a man approached him and carried out the attack, while his family were in another tent next to him.
The suspect is described as a bald man aged 35-50 and about 5ft 10in. Police Scotland’s Detective Superintendent Calum Smith said the eight-year-old had been left “traumatised and upset” by the incident.
Speaking yesterday, Det Supt Smith said: “At the time, the father has overheard the incident, has come out, and has seen the man walking away from the tent.
“I’m not going to go into details of the assault but it was a sexual assault on an eight-year-old child, hugely traumatising on the child, hugely traumatising on the family and naturally worrying to the community.
“This is very unusual for this to happen in the Highlands.”
He said the boy’s dad had asked the suspect what he was doing, and that he responded before walking off.
Police are keeping an open mind as to whether the suspect had been staying at campsite, which is located to the south of Inverness, reports the Daily Record.
Det Supt Smith said: “I fully understand that the public will be upset with what’s happened and distressed with this incident happening in the local area.
“What I would like to do is reassure the public that we have got dedicated resources working every day towards resolving it, and identifying the person involved and bringing them to justice.”
Police have appealed to the public for information, and anyone who was in the area at the time has been asked to get in touch.
Though there there is CCTV at the campsite, the incident itself was not captured on camera.
Mr Smith said the public had been “excellent” in helping so far, and that the boy and his family are being supported by specialist officers.
Anyone with information has been asked to call Police Scotland, quoting incident number 0167 of July 31.