Trinidadian man who fathered children with underage girl ordered to register as sex offender

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – A High Court judge Wednesday ordered 37-year-old, Everton Joseph, to be registered as a sex offender after he was convicted of six counts of having sex with a female under the age of 14.

He will become the first person to be registered in Trinidad and Tobago.

Justice Hayden St. Clair-Douglas ordered that Joseph will have to register at the police station in his district seven days after he serves a nine-year prison term.

His name will remain on the register for 10 years and he must report annually.

Joseph had been convicted by a jury in February.

“The law is clear. Underage females are off-limits,” the judge said during the virtual sentencing, warning that the punishment would be severe and no man who engages in such acts can use the defence that the child was “precocious” or “she look for it.”

The judge said that even though the victim was an enthusiastic participant, she was 12 years old the first time they had sex, and Joseph, who was 24, ought to have known better.

“A 24-year-old man should have recognised he was dealing with a child, a precocious child, and should have spurned her attentions. The law protects young precocious girls from themselves. You were older and supposed to know better,” St Clair-Douglas said.

The court was told that Joseph and the girl had sex between February and June 2009.

She was 12 the first time and she became pregnant.

She dropped out of school in form one and had a daughter.

She returned to school and progressed to form two but became pregnant again at 14 and dropped out for good.

The judge said Joseph had ruined the girl’s life.

He is the father of her three children – the last of whom she had when she was 18 – and owes TT$39,600 in maintenance payments for them.

“It is clear he does not regard his responsibility to his children as a priority,” the judge said, adding that the laying of charges in 2009 did not deter Joseph who continued to have sex with the girl even after he was told she was pregnant and was underage.

In his evidence, Joseph said he and the young girl were members of the same steel band and that he admired her passion for music.

The judge said the admiration transformed into a physical attraction.

Joseph said he never questioned the girl’s age.

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