Derek Achong
A 38-year-old of Tunapuna, who admitted to raping his two teenage nieces almost a decade ago, is expected to be released from prison in less than two years.
The man, whose name was withheld to protect the identities of his victims, pleaded guilty to two charges of having sex with a minor late last year, and was sentenced by High Court Judge Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds yesterday.
In determining the appropriate sentence for the man, Ramsumair-Hinds began with a starting sentence of 15 years for his attack on his then 12-year-old niece and nine years for his assault on his then 15-year-old niece.
After applying a one-third discount on the sentences for the man’s guilty plea and deducting the nine years he spent on remand awaiting trial, Ramsumair-Hinds noted that he had already exceeded the lower sentence and had one year, ten months, and three days to complete the higher sentence.
As part of her sentencing exercise, Ramsumair-Hinds ordered that he report to his nearest police station once every two months for five years after his release. She also ordered the Office of the Commissioner of Police to place him on the online public sex offenders’ register.
According to the facts presented by prosecutors after he pleaded guilty to the crimes, the man was accused of attacking his nieces on November 14, 2014.
The girls reportedly decided to run away from home after one of them got into an argument with her father.
The girls called their uncle to ask if they could stay with him and he agreed. He then met them at City Gate in Port-of-Spain, and took them to his home at Basilon Street in Tunapuna.
The man reportedly attacked the younger girl while her older cousin was outside.
Later that night, the girls were asleep on a bed when their uncle performed oral sex on the older girl and raped her.
He attacked the older girl a second time the following morning when he kissed her and left marks on her breast and neck.
He then left money for them to use for food and transport and left to go to work.
After he left, the girls went to Curepe where they met the older girl’s mother and the younger girl’s stepfather and told them what transpired.
When the man was eventually arrested by police, he admitted that he had sex with the girls but claimed that it was consensual.
“They wanted it,” he reportedly said.
As the man’s defence attorney Shervon Noriega was presenting his mitigation plea, last week, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Danielle Thompson presented victim impact statements from his nieces.
The younger girl claimed that she was still traumatised from the attack.
“People said it was my fault,” she said, as she claimed that she still felt pain, anger and powerlessness. “I cannot get back what was taken from me. I feel anger,” she said.
Her older cousin expressed similar sentiments as she claimed that she turned to drugs to cope with the psychological and physical trauma of the attack.
“I want it all over. It made me into a person I do not like,” she said.
“I didn’t deserve what transpired,” she added, as she claimed that she wanted to use her experience to help other sexual assault victims.
At the start of yesterday’s hearing, the man was given an opportunity to apologise for his actions.
“I am sorry. It was a mistake and nothing like that will happen again,” he said.
After passing the sentence, Ramsumair-Hinds lamented the prevalence of sexual offences against minors in T&T. “In this little country, there are simply too many reports of missing girls that are subsequently found in the company of adult men.
“However, forward these girls seem to some of us, ground and hard-back men are expected to be better. You are not incapable of sexual restraint,” she said.
Ramsumair-Hinds suggested that the prevalence of sexual assaults on minors was partly due to local culture, which she described as unacceptable and criminal.
“I denounce the rhetoric I grew up hearing that after twelve is lunch,” Ramsumair-Hinds said.
“Drop the girls back home. They are not convenient opportunities or toys,” she added.
