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Prison cell

A man in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who repeatedly had sex with his 12-year-old stepdaughter and asked her what her mother could do about it, has escaped spending 39 years in jail.

Instead, the 52-year-old man will serve just 12 years for three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 12 years old and one count of indecent assault.

The man took the court through a full trial and was convicted by a jury on March 15, 2018.

At the sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Crown Counsel Sejilla McDowall told the court that breach of trust was a major aggravating factor in the case.

She noted that the man operated as a father figure in the girl’s life, adding that the case included elements of sexual advantage.

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The prosecutor said that the man had the economic advantage in that the girl had little means.

She told the court that while he offered the girl food and money, he did so specifically when sex occurred.

The court heard that the social inquiry report said that the convicted man had expressed no remorse.

McDowall said the response of the community was “noteworthy and alarming” in that residents expressed disbelief that the man would have committed such an act.

Asked what he had to say for himself, the man handed the court a piece of paper, which, when the judge read it, had only broad outlines about the purpose of sentencing, as if it was copied from a text book.

“That’s the goat skin lawyers around there (prison),” a member of the gallery muttered about the man’s intervention.

The convicted man made no other submissions about his sentencing.

In handing down sentence, Justice Brian Cottle pointed out that the man had taken advantage of a girl who looked up to him as a father figure and who depended on him for economic assistance.

The judge told the man that neither society nor the court approves of this, adding that this was putting it mildly.

Justice Cottle told the man that the child had told him that she would report his crimes to her mother and he had told her to go ahead and asked her what her mother could do about it.

“There is something the State can do,” the judge said, adding that unfortunately, he is constrained to follow the guidance of the Court of Appeal.

The appeal court says that in a case such as that one, the starting point for sentencing is eight years imprisonment, Cottle said.

He, however, said he did not think that eight years was sufficient.

The judge said that the aggravating features of the crime far outweighed the mitigating factors and said the only reason he would not impose consecutive jail terms was because of the man’s age.

He sentenced the man to 12 years each on three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and three years for indecent assault.

The man had spent only 23 days on remand, which means he has the full sentence ahead of him.

19 replies on “Man sentenced to 39 years for sex with stepdaughter”

  1. To the Justice who took into consideration the man’s age, did you take into consideration the child’s age? At 64 there will still be a lot of opportunities and a lot of children out there for him to abuse. And lest you think that he wouldn’t be able to “get it up” at that age, might I remind you, respectfully, Sir, of VIAGRA?

    1. Joshua Richardson. says:

      What makes you think “getting it up” is the only form of sexually molesting someone?

    1. He had 3 charges of unlawful sexual intercourse, for which he was sentenced to 12 years on each count; and three years for indecent assault. This would equate to 12*3= 36, plus the 3 years= 39 years in total.

      However, because the sentences will run CONCURRENTLY, he will do the maximum time of any of the charges, which in this case is 12 years on any of the unlawful sexual intercourse charges.

      This differs from the sentences being CONSECUTIVELY, which would have meant that he would have to serve the full 39 years for each of the 4 charges calculated together.

  2. I am that I am says:

    So who is this man?….he need to be registered as a Sex Offender when he is released back into any community. People need to know who this man is. This is utterly shameful…I’m longing for the day when out laws would be amended to impose stiffer and harsher penalties to persons who commit such crimes. This child will never be the same again. I pray that the social department steps in and provide her with the counseling she needs.

  3. Unfortunately this may be one of many cases in SVG, and will continue to be especially with such economic hardship.

  4. Amos Greaves. says:

    Justice Vince style where the age of the criminal is of more importance that the victim. I thought there would a direct relationship rather than an inverse relationship between the two attributes between criminal and the victim.

  5. He should have gotten minimal 30yrs plus 12 strokes of the bull whip in public.
    I want to know if the courts stop whipping??
    VINCY LAWYER ur assistance needed lol

  6. My goodness. Heaven help us all. Waste man him be. I do hope and pray that this child get some good counseling to put this despicable situation behind her. The heart of men…

  7. Vince Canadian says:

    One has to strike a balance between revealing the identity of the victim and the public needs to know. Revealing the identity of the person and public condemnation and is party and parcel of his sentence. In Canada before he is released back into the community , the law requires him to give a sample of his DNA, in addition ,society is informed when he is released. Need an opinion here as to whether or not there is such requirement in St Vincent.

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