2 years for sex assault on girl, 9

A Morvant mechanic will serve out two years of a nine year jail term for sexually assaulting his nine-year-old neighbour in 2005.

The 58-year-old man was sentenced by Justice Maria Wilson at the Port of Spain High Court to nine years’ hard labour, but having spent more than six years in prison awaiting trial, he will only serve just over two years.

He was found guilty of the offences in July by a nine-member jury. In sentencing the man, Justice Wilson said such offences are far too prevalent in society and the prisoner was at one point considered to be a father figure to the girl but breached the trust placed in him.

The man was charged with aggravated sexual assault and grievous sexual assault on the girl in June 2005.

The girl had gone to the man’s house to collect an item. When he opened the front door, he was clad only in his underwear and invited her in to watch a movie.

In her evidence, the victim, now 22, said she thought the man was going to put on a cartoon but it was pornography.

She attempted to leave but he held her back and began to kiss her before inserting his finger in her vagina. The girl’s mother, who went to the man’s house after she thought her daughter was taking a long time to return home, caught the man in the act. A report was made to the Morvant Police Station. Justice Wilson such crime could not be taken lightly.

She said, based on the girl’s victim impact statement, the girl suffered mental scars from the attack and still had difficulties coping with situations of everyday life.