Man jailed for sex assault on 9-year-old

A 30-year-old poultry worker has been sentenced to almost three and a half years in prison for sexually assaulting a nine-year-old distant relative when he was a teenager.

The man, whose identity was withheld due to his connection with the victim, was convicted of two grievous sexual assault charges and one attempted buggery charge at the end of his judge-alone trial before Justice Kathy Ann Waterman-Latchoo, earlier this month.

In deciding on the appropriate sentence for him yesterday morning, Justice Waterman-Latchoo began with a starting sentence of eight years for grievous sexual assault.

The man was given a two-year discount based on his age at the time of the attacks and one and a half years as he had a clean criminal record before being charged.

Justice Waterman-Latchoo reduced his sentence by a year based on the delay in securing his conviction after he was first implicated.

After deducting the month the man spent on remand before he accessed bail, he was left with a sentence of three years and five months.

Justice Waterman-Latchoo set a starting sentence of four years for attempted buggery and applied similar discounts.

He was left with a sentence of 11 months.

The man is expected to be released after serving the longer sentence as Justice Waterman-Latchoo ordered that they be served concurrently.

The man was accused of attacking the girl, who is his uncle’s stepdaughter, between July and September 2010.

The man and the victim lived in a property that contained three separate houses with a shared outdoor toilet and bathroom.

The man, who was 16 years old at the time, lived in one house with his mother, while the victim lived with her family in another.

After the incident occurred, the girl made a report to the guidance counsellor at her school. The school official made a report to the police and the man was arrested.

The man testified in his defence during his trial and denied the allegations.

In passing the sentence, Justice Waterman-Latchoo commended the guidance counsellor for reacting positively to the victim’s complaint.

The case was prosecuted by Dylan Martin and Niara Boodan.

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