Man, 34, jailed for attempting to bugger 11-y-o girl

A 34-year-old Glen man who attempted to bugger an 11-year-old girl in December 2020 has been sentenced to three years and eight months in prison.

The man, Delanio Baptiste, faced a maximum of 10 years in prison.

In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, buggery, including buggery among consenting adults, is considered an act of gross indecency. At the same time, non-consensual buggery is not regarded as rape, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, as is the case with attempted rape.

Baptiste had initially pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned on Feb. 28, a hearing during which he did not have a lawyer.

The court appointed lawyer Carl Williams to cross examine the virtual complainant. However, after Baptiste consulted with the lawyer, he changed his plea to guilty on March 1.

Williams also decided to represent Baptiste during the sentencing hearing.

High Court judge Justice Richard Floyd handed down his sentence in Kingstown on Tuesday.

According to the facts presented by the court, the child reported the attempted assault to her mother, who informed the police.

When the child’s mother confronted the defendant, he initially denied the allegation but then admitted that he had placed his penis in the area of the child’s bottom.

“This was a sexual crime perpetrated by an adult male on a female child,” Justice Floyd said in handing down his sentence.

He said that his court has stated previously that “our children are our most precious resource.

“They are to be protected and nurtured within our community. …  This behaviour cannot be countenanced and must be denounced in the strongest possible terms.”

The judge said that the court must send a message of deterrence that such behaviour will not be tolerated and will result in incarceration.

“The conduct of the defendant resulted in pain, sadness and embarrassment for the complainant,” he said as he spoke of the impact of the crime on the child.

“She has been damaged psychologically,” Justice Floyd said, adding that this had been confirmed in the social inquiry report and the victim impact report.

Justice Floyd said that his court had referred previously to other court rulings that held that preying on a child to satisfy sexual cravings is reprehensible and must be condemned in the strongest terms.

“The harm occasioned by the defendant and others is cause for grave concern,” Justice Floyd said, adding that these crimes rob children of their youth and innocence.

“Families are often torn apart or rendered dysfunctional, lives are irretrievably damaged and sometimes permanently destroyed. Because of this, the message to such offenders must be clear: prey upon innocent children and you will pay a heavy price,” Justice Floyd said, adding that deterrence must be the uppermost consideration in sentences for such crimes.

“That is the message that must be sent to offenders in any society, wishing to safeguard and protect its children.”

After considering the sentencing guidelines, the judge established a starting point of five years imprisonment — 50% of the maximum.

In considering the aggravating and mitigating features of the offence, he said that the facts suggest that ejaculating occurred.

The judge, therefore, increased the sentence by one year, to six years, in light of the aggravating features.

There were no mitigating features of the offence.

The court found no aggravating features of the offender.

The judge said that mitigating was his good character as Baptiste had no previous convictions.

The court, therefore, reduced the sentence by half a year to 5.5 years.

The court gave Baptiste the full one-third discount for his guilty plea, noting that he had spared the child the difficulty of testifying during a trial.

The discount took the sentence to three years and eight months.

The court also deducted from the sentence the one month and 17 days that Baptiste spent in custody in connection with the offence.

This meant that he had to serve a further three years, six months to 13 days as of Tuesday.

The judge said that were it not for the fact that it was attempted buggery rather than buggery and that Baptiste had spared the child the trauma of a trial, the sentence would have been much higher.

Defendant suffered childhood trauma, abuses alcohol

A social inquiry report prepared ahead of the sentencing said that the defendant’s mother migrated to St. Lucia when he was 4 years old and his father died when he was 6.

Baptiste, who has nine siblings, therefore lived with family members in several communities.

The report said that while Baptiste is generally in good health, he has been diagnosed with epilepsy.

He said in the report that he drinks alcohol occasionally.

Baptiste left primary school in Senior 2 but has some significant challenges with reading and writing.

The report said he appears to have a strong social network and had no previous criminal record.

Prison authorities described him as a very good inmate who follows directions.

When the social worker who prepared the report asked him about the incident, Baptiste said he regretted pleading guilty and took no responsibility for the offence, saying did not commit the crime.

Members of his community were surprised to learn about Baptiste’s crime, with many of them saying he has a serious alcohol addiction and is “a totally different” person when he drinks alcohol.

Some speculated that his alcohol problem is because of the trauma he suffered as a child, including the loss of his parents.

Members of his community said that when heavily intoxicated, Baptiste would sleep in gutters and even in the rain.

His consumption of alcohol has caused him to defecate and vomit on himself.

Although many of his villagers could not believe that Baptiste had committed the offence, some of them said if he had done so, it would have been under the influence of alcohol.