Teacher could leave prison in 10 years after sex with schoolgirl
Published:Wednesday | February 16, 2022 | 12:09 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
A high-school teacher in Manchester who admitted to having sexual intercourse with his 14-year-old student on the school compound has been sentenced to almost 14 years in prison.
The convicted teacher, whose name is to be added to the Sex Offender Registry, will be eligible after serving 10 years.
The student went to the teacher's office to do an assignment in May 2019 when he made sexual advances towards her and engaged her in a sexual act.
The teacher, however, pleaded guilty to having sexual intercourse with a person under 16 when he appeared in the Supreme Court in December last year and was sentenced by Justice Lorna Shelly Williams on February 1.
In the recently published judgment, it was noted that the teacher's DNA sample was collected and the result had shown that he could not be excluded.
According to the facts of the case, on the day of the incident, the teacher kissed the student while she was in his office and proceeded to pull down her underwear before laying her down on a desk and had sex with her.
The student went home and her mother noticed blood on her tunic and took her to the police station to make a report.
Justice Shelly Williams, in handing down the sentence, highlighted a number of aggravating factors, including the student's age, the fact that the defendant was the complainant's teacher, and that he had sex with the student on the school compound while she was in her uniform.
The judge, however, credited the defendant for his guilty plea, his favourable antecedents, and his social enquiry report.
She explained that she started her considerations for sentencing at 15 years and added five years for the aggravating factors.
The defendant also received a 20 per cent discount for the early plea he had given on the first occasion after the DNA results were obtained.
At the same time, the judge noted that “I would also consider that in the circumstances, any large discount from the sentence would shock the public conscience,” said Justice Shelly Williams.
She further indicated that his sentence was reduced by two months and two weeks for time spent in custody and a year each for the report of good antecedents and a social-enquiry report.
Attorney-at-law Charles Benbow represented the teacher, while Assistant Director of Prosecutions Natalie Malcolm and Crown Counsel Daniel Kitson Walters led the prosecution.