Describing his actions as “the ultimate betrayal of a child’s trust”, a High Court judge yesterday sentenced a father who had sex with his 12-yearold daughter four times, to more than 20 years in jail.
This Content Is Only For Subscribers
However, after deductions, he will have to spend 15 years at Dodds Prisons.
The father had pleaded guilty last year to having sex with the girl knowing she was his daughter by blood relation, some time between October 1 and December 31, 2018.
Justice Wanda Blair, presiding in Supreme Court No. 2 yesterday, sentenced him to 25 years on one count and 22 years on each of the other three, but deducted time for the delay in the case getting to trial, his early guilty plea and the time spent on remand.
He has to serve 15 years in relation to Count 2 and 13 years on each of the others. The sentences will run concurrently.
The higher term was imposed because after committing incest the first time, the father did it again.
The girl’s evidence was that it first occurred when she stayed home from school one day and her father suggested she lie in his bed.
He previously explained that he and the child’s mother went to rent a house and from the time he stood outside it, he felt an unnatural presence and urged his girlfriend not to rent it, but he could not persuade her. He added that what he had done was out of character for him. He was 44 at the time.
Justice Wanda Blair told him he had committed “the ultimate betrayal of a child’s trust . . . . Home is designed to be a sanctuary for children; their parents’ bed is a place of refuge when they are sick or in need of comfort”.
She added that his acts were “abhorrent and deserve the strongest condemnation. You took advantage of the complainant’s vulnerability” and instead of trying to stop after the first encounter, he kept the girl home from school on other occasions “so you could satisfy your sexual deviance”.
Principal State Counsel Joyann Catwell appeared on behalf of the prosecution while attorney Kevin Miller represented the convicted man. (Sandra Downes)