Police freed of carnal abuse and indecent assault charges
Published:Thursday | October 30, 2008 | 5:29 PM
48-year-old police constable Newton Bentley who is attached to Mobile Reserve, Harman Barracks has been freed of charges of carnal abuse and indecent assault. A jury, which retired for almost one hour today and found him not guilty of the charges.
The Crown led evidence in the Home Circuit Court that sometime in 2004 the policeman sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl. Cross-examined by defence lawyer Dwight Reece the girl admitted that on several occasions she had told lies. But the girl said was speaking the truth in relation to the incident.
Bentley, in his defence said he was innocent of the charges. Although Bentley was free of the sexual offence charges, he was remanded on a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
It is alleged that he took the girl to another parish in effort to prevent her from attending court.