Three years for man convicted of multiple child sex charges
Published:Friday | July 16, 2021 | 4:27 PM
A man who was convicted of multiple child sex charges will only serve three years in prison for his crimes.
The 15-year-old victim is pregnant with twins and the 37-year-old man is believed to be the father.
His name is being withheld to protect the identity of the victim.
He pleaded guilty to six counts of having sex with a person under 16 years old in the Trelawny Circuit Court on June 23.
The 37-year-old was sentenced yesterday to three years in prison for each count.
Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, who imposed the sentence in the St James Circuit Court, ordered that the sentences be served concurrently.
The man has three previous convictions for assault occasioning bodily harm, possession of ganja, and larceny from the person, for which he was given a 12-month prison sentence, law enforcement sources revealed.
Trials of sexual offences in Jamaica are closed to the public.
But according to court documents seen by The Gleaner, the 37-year-old man and the then 14-year-old girl became friends in December 2019.
The friendship quickly evolved into an “intimate relationship”, which continued for “several months”, the documents revealed.
In June 2020, the teen's grandmother took her to the police and made a report.
A month later, police investigators went to the man's house and found him and the minor inside, according to the court documents.
He was arrested and charged with “several counts” of having sexual intercourse with a person below the age of 16 years old.
He was offered bail by a parish court judge on condition that he reside outside Trelawny and have no contact with the minor or her mother.
However, in April this year, it was discovered that the teen was pregnant and investigations later revealed that he was still involved in an “intimate relationship” with the child.
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