72-y-o gets five years for sexually assaulting child two decades ago

A man who twice had sex with a relative over two decades ago while she was a child has been ordered to serve nearly five years in prison at hard labour.

The name of the convicted sex offender, now 72 years old, has not been disclosed to protect the identity of the victim, who is now 36 years old.

The man was sentenced in the Home Circuit Court on Friday to four years and 11 months in prison at hard labour, two weeks after a jury found him guilty on two counts of carnal abuse.

The incidents occurred in 1993, while the victim was seven years old, and in 1999, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) said in a public statement released after the sentence was imposed.

The victim first reported the incidents to the police in 2013 at the age of 27.

The woman gave evidence that she was urged by family members not to report the crimes and said she only went to the police after she became aware that she could file a report despite the time that elapsed, the ODPP said.

Historical sexual abuse cases are rare in Jamaica, the country’s top prosecutor, Paula Llewellyn, told The Gleaner on Friday.

These cases, Llewellyn said, typically involve complainants who have achieved a certain level of economic independence and are estranged from their relatives because “almost 90 per cent” of the time the accused person is a family member or is very close to the family.

Noting that these incidents “invariably” happen during the victim’s teenage years, Llewellyn said they are difficult to successfully prosecute because credibility is usually a “great issue”.

“Because of the long time that has elapsed, the prosecution has an uphill task to support the report by the complainant,” said Llewellyn, the director of public prosecutions.

Prosecutors Tamara Merchant and Christina Porter led evidence during the trial that the first incident happened when the then seven-year-old victim went to stay at her grandmother’s house.

She gave evidence that her then 42-year-old relative visited the house while her grandmother was away and had sexual intercourse with her then told her not to tell anyone.

In the second incident, the victim said she went to the man’s house with two other minor relatives. She recounted that she fell asleep and was awakened by the convict, who was having sexual intercourse with her.