A MAN has been found guilty of assaulting a 12-year-old girl during an incident in Dundee last year.
Ilia Belov, from Bulgaria, was also convicted of behaving in a “threatening or abusive manner” towards four girls, all of whom were aged between 12 and 14.
Belov’s sister Nadjedzha Belova earlier pleaded guilty to one charge of assaulting a 13-year-old girl in the incident, which happened in the Lochee area of the city in August 2025.
During a trial at Dundee Sheriff Court, Belov, 22, claimed he had pushed the girl in order to protect his sister after seeing she had a knife hidden under her T-shirt.
However, sheriff Timothy Niven-Smith rejected his evidence, describing it as “wholly unconvincing and self-serving”.
The pair are due to be sentenced on August 5.
Giving evidence to Dundee Sheriff Court on Thursday, Belov said he had been with his father on his way to buy cigarettes when he passed a group of young girls walking in the other direction.
Speaking with the assistance of a Bulgarian interpreter, the father-of-two said as they approached, one of the girls uttered “disrespectful” remarks to him.
“They are coming and start making some cheeky remarks,” he said.
“They told me ‘son of a bastard’ and also ‘f****** migrant’.”
He said that after they passed each other on the street, the girls continued to “shout” remarks at him, so he turned round and went after them, leaving his father to continue to the shop.
“I went back to ask why they are disrespecting me,” he told the court.
“They have started to panic, saying I am following them.”
Asked why he had not just walked away, he said: “Because I am human.
“I deserve to ask them why I deserve so much disrespect. I didn’t do anything to them.”
He said more girls then turned up, at which point he said he phoned his sister as he was “worried”, and when she arrived a physical altercation broke out between her and one of the girls.
He said that during this, he saw another of the girls had a knife tucked under her T-shirt, and pushed her over in order to protect his sister.
“I pushed the other girl who was wearing the weapons because I saw the knife on her back,” he said, explaining he could see the handle under her T-shirt and he thought she was going to “do something” with it.
He added: “I pushed her away before anything happened.”
Belov told the court that after she got back up, the girl brandished the knife and axe she had concealed beneath her clothing, telling the court this was the first time he saw her holding them.
“She held the knife and axe and tried to get to us,” he said.
Cross-examining the witness, prosecutor Michael Robertson put it to him that as a grown man he had been the “adult” in the situation, and he could just have walked away or phoned the police.
Belov accepted this, but when asked whether staying in the area had been “wrong” he said he was “not sure”.
Belov also denied having directed sexual remarks at any of the girls, saying he had only wanted to ask why they were disrespecting him.
The prosecutor also disputed whether Belov had seen the knife before pushing the girl to the ground, suggesting he had only seen it after she had stood up.
He took the court through CCTV footage of the incident that he said showed the girl had been behind Belov immediately before he pushed her.
Belov denied this, saying during the incident the girl had been “acting aggressively” and he could “easily see what’s on her back”.
Giving evidence earlier in the trial, the girl said she had had the axe and knife in her waistband for five to 10 minutes before the incident, and she had brandished them after the physical altercation.
She said after revealing the weapons, she was “basically sat holding them”, saying she “knew” the man would “try to go for (the other girl) again”.
She also alleged Belov had kept saying to her: “Come here sexy. I will show you how to have a good time,” and that his words made her feel “angry”.
Belov denied all the charges against him.
