Jailed for kidnapping, sexually assaulting girl

A SIPARIA man has been sentenced to serve a total of seven years for kidnapping and indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl 12 years ago.

Gerald Delpeche, 48, a mechanic, was sentenced on Tuesday by Justice Kathy Ann Waterman-Latchoo, in the San Fernando High Court, to six years in prison for kidnapping the girl and one year for indecently assaulting her. The sentences are to run concurrently so he will actually serve six years. Delpeche was found guilty last week Friday.

At about 7 pm on March 4, 2007, the girl was walking to a grocery and Delpeche offered her a ride in his car. He took her near a cemetery and fondled her. He then drove her back to the grocery.

Sgt Brenda Lumpriss investigated and charged Delpeche with kidnapping and indecent assault.

Attorney Rekha Ramjit represented Delpeche while state attorneys Danielle Thompson and Kateisha Ambrose prosecuted.

Waterman-Latchoo said the evidence in the case was that the girl was 14-years-old and she resisted Delpeche’s attempt to woo her into the car. When he took her near the cemetery and began touching her, the judge said, “the girl was fighting up.”

What mitigated for Delpeche, Waterman-Latchoo said, was that he drove her back to the grocery.

"A person has to come to a realisation. He has to be brought around to the ways of right-thinking men and women. This type of offence is indeed a serious offence. It’s no small thing. Because he didn’t penetrate her or so, it’s no small thing. He has to be brought around to that way of thinking because he was a mature man at the time. He didn’t know it then, one has to consider whether he knows it now."