Ten-year jail term for baby sex abuser

A man who subjected a baby to a sexual assault so severe that she required surgery has been jailed for 10 years.

Alan Kusz, 43, attacked the 14-month-old girl in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, in April 2018.

During an earlier trial at the High Court in Glasgow, a doctor described the infant's injuries as the "most severe" he had ever seen.

Passing sentence, judge Lord Armstrong said it was "difficult to imagine a more vulnerable victim".

At the High Court in Edinburgh, the judge referred to a pre-sentencing report which found Kusz continued to deny committing the crime.

"The criminal justice social work report indicates that you display limited empathy towards the victim of your crime and that you have limited awareness of the harm that you have caused," he said.

"The author of the report suggests that you lack insight into your offending and that you present a significant risk of re-offending of a similar serious nature.

"Society has an abhorrence of such conduct and it is the responsibility of the court to reflect that. Young and vulnerable children are all entitled to care and protection."

During earlier proceedings, Kusz tried to blame the child's mother for her daughter's injuries.

However, jurors found him guilty of sexually assaulting the girl to her permanent impairment on 8 April 2018.

Lord Armstrong told the court the assault on the girl had affected her continuing development.

"It is clear that your actions have had a massively negative effect on her ongoing development and that she exhibits the manifest consequences of her resulting physical and emotional trauma," he added.

Kusz was placed on the sex offenders register for life.