Court jails stepfather for rape of, and getting, daughter pregnant

NASSAU, Bahamas, (CMC): A court has sentenced a 37-year-old man to 10 years in jail after he pleaded guilty to repeatedly raping his pre-teen stepdaughter resulting in her getting pregnant.

The court has also ordered that the man be on probation for two years after his release with a breach of the order resulting in a one-year prison sentence.

The man, who has been in prison since his arrest in June 2024, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a dependent and garroting when he appeared before Senior Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson.

The court was told that the man began molesting the 12-year-old girl in August 2023 and frightened her into silence by telling her that he would kill her if she told anyone what he did.

On one occasion, the man gave his stepdaughter a vape to smoke, which made her black out. When she came to, the child realised that her panties were off.

The court was also told that when the man realised that the girl was pregnant, he made her drink castor oil and Guinness, which made her vomit. He told her that he would take her to a doctor, whom he trusted.

But before that could happen, the girl’s mother confronted her daughter about her weight gain and swollen stomach, resulting in her disclosing that she had been sexually molested by her stepfather who had threatened to kill her.

The matter was subsequently reported to the police.

As part of the plea agreement, the man received a concurrent sentence of eight years for garroting and will receive credit for the 11 months he spent on remand.

Meanwhile, a 23-year-old man was been remanded to prison on Tuesday after being accused of raping a 29-year-old British woman in a vehicle at the Princess Margaret Hospital parking on May 6.

The man appeared before Chief Magistrate Roberto Reckley on a rape charge and was not required to enter a plea during his arraignment. He was informed that the matter would be forwarded to the Supreme Court through a voluntary bill of indictment that will be served on him on August 14.

The man was advised of his right to apply for bail through the higher court.