Woman who sexually assaulted two-year-old girl has sentence reduced

Reporting by James Mulholland, Edinburgh Courts

A woman who was jailed for sexually assaulting a two-year-old girl in a bid to make money from online paedophiles has succeeded in a bid to have her sentence reduced.

Abigail Kikke, 27, perpetrated the abuse on the little girl and distributed indecent images of children, including her assault victim.

A judge gave Kikke six years following a hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh in October last year.

Lord Sandison said: “This court hears every day accounts of utterly horrific behaviour, often directed against vulnerable victims.

“Some cases, however, retain their ability truly to shock and this is one of them.”

The judge told Kikke that she would have faced a sentence of nine years imprisonment, but for her guilty pleas in the case.

Lord Sandison also told Kikke that she would spend the rest of her life on the Sex Offenders Register.

On Tuesday, appeal judges Lord Doherty and Lord Matthews cut Kikke’s sentence by eight months.

They concluded that Lord Sandison failed to properly consider Kikke’s poor mental health and other aspects of her life when passing sentence.

The judges concluded that if Lord Sandison had done this, he would have imposed a sentence of five years and four months.

Lord Doherty said: “We agree with the sentencing judge that this case was serious and disturbing. Nevertheless, the head line sentence in this case is too high.

“We will quash the sentence of six years and substitute it for one of five years and four months.”

Last year, Kikke, of Alloa, Clackmannanshire, earlier admitted sexually assaulting the young child between March 18 and 26 at a house in Cumbernauld, in North Lanarkshire.

During the abuse she carried out a sex act on herself and exposed herself to the little girl.

She also pleaded guilty to taking, possessing and distributing indecent photos of children, including her victim.

The court heard that on March 26 in 2020 police received intelligence that Kikke had used a social networking service, Kik Messenger, to distribute an indecent image.

Kikke had sent an internet user a video which was one minute and 58 seconds long showing her and the child naked.

She was caught with 69 indecent images, with her victim appearing in 11 still and moving images. Some images had been deleted.

Unemployed Kikke claimed during a chat that she was in debt, self-isolating and struggling with no human contact other than through her phone.

One of her online contacts claimed that he was a successful stock trader who would take her abroad on holiday.

On Tuesday, defence advocate Ronnie Renucci QC urged lawyers to reduce the jail term given to his client.

He added: “There’s a number of mitigating factors in this case. There is an element of remorse on her part which has been expressed in the Criminal Justice Social Work Report which has been placed before the court.

“She’s a first offender. There’s no evidence that before this offence took place she was not of good character.

“There’s a degree of vulnerability to her.”

The judges then reduced Kikke’s sentence.