St Mary man gets 17-year sentence for sex crimes against minors

Sheridan Shepherd, the 40-year-old St Mary man who admitted to sexually assaulting seven children, has been sentenced to 17 years and 11 months in prison.

The sentence was handed down by Supreme Court Judge Simone Wolfe-Reece Friday afternoon.

He is eligible for parole after 12 years.

Shepherd had pleaded guilty to six counts of buggery, five counts of indecent assault, and one count of grievous sexual assault.

Shepherd was arrested and charged in June 2021, following reports that he sexually assaulted several minors between six and 12 years old.

Residents reportedly got wind of what he did, and he was attacked and severely beaten.

He was subsequently taken into custody and later charged.

During his sentencing on Friday afternoon at the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston, Shepherd's attorney Christopher Hibbert noted that his client had expressed fear of being incarcerated because of the nature of the crimes he committed.

The attorney stated that it was his hope that his client's punishment is limited to him being incarcerated and that there is no abuse behind bars.

"Mr Shepherd is asking that some understanding, leniency [and] sympathy can be given towards him," Hibbert said.

He said that his client was a victim of abuse when he was young, both at home and on the street where he subsequently sought refuge.

He asked that Wolfe-Reece's sentence be "reasonable".

But the judge noted that the offences committed by Shepherd were serious and especially because they were committed against children.

She remarked said that it must be made clear that children must be allowed to enjoy their childhood and not be abused.

She said it is "unacceptable" that such offences are commonplace in Jamaica.

Wolfe-Reece dismissed Hibbert's argument that Shepherd had a difficult childhood challenging that it cannot be used as an excuse.

She mentioned that Shepherd not only breached the trust of the minors' parents but eroded it.

She also chided Shepherd for abusing the trust of the children, which she said he gained through video games he knew they loved.

"How, how, how can that be acceptable that a man at your age could find yourself in a position to abuse a six-year-old and a 10-year-old... We as a country must come to the realisation that we cannot accept this," Wolfe-Reece asserted.

Shepherd denied that he used video games as the judge spoke but was countered by the mother of one of the victims.

"Yes, yes, you did," the mother, who had earlier been brought to tears, said.

Meanwhile, the court earlier heard that the vehicle in which Shepherd was being transported in from St Mary had been involved in an accident, delaying his arrival.

- Kimone Francis

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