Senior Reporter
derek.achong@ guardian.co.tt
A Moruga man, convicted of raping and molesting his daughter, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The man, who cannot be identified to protect the identity of the victim, was initially charged with three counts of incest but was only convicted of two of the offences by a nine-member jury before Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds in April.
While the jury found him not guilty over one of the incest charges, they found him guilty of the lesser offence of indecent assault.
In deciding on the appropriate sentence for the man yesterday, Justice Ramsumair-Hinds decided on a starting point of 15 years in prison for the first incest charge and 18 years in prison for the other as it related to the last attack on his daughter which demonstrated a pattern of abuse.
She chose a starting point of three years for indecent assault.
Justice Ramsumair-Hinds increased the starting point for the two incest charges by two years and the indecent assault charge by a year as she noted that he showed no remorse for his actions.
She also pointed out that he coerced his daughter into giving a statutory declaration in 2019 in which she claimed that she fabricated the claims against him.
The declaration was challenged at the trial and the victim admitted that it was not true.
Justice Ramsumair-Hinds deducted the 342 days he spent on remand before facing trial and after his conviction in April.
She ordered that the sentences run concurrently meaning that he would be released after serving the largest sentence which stood at a little over 19 years.
As part of her sentence, Justice Ramsumair-Hinds ordered that he register as a sex offender for 10 years upon his release and be added to the public sex offenders’ registry.
His lawyers had objected to the move as they claimed that he would be in his 70s when he is eventually released. Justice Ramsumair-Hinds noted that his age was not a factor to be considered.
The man was accused of attacking his daughter three times between July 2005 and March 2006 at the family’s home.
In passing the sentence, Justice Ramsumair-Hinds read from a victim impact statement in which his daughter detailed the effect of the abuse on her life.
“I was the victim of abuse by someone who was supposed to protect me,” she said, as she said that she still suffered from psychological effects.
Justice Ramsumair-Hinds also encouraged NGOs to continue their work to assist child abuse victims.
“We need to create more safe places for children whose homes are hell,” she said.
The case was prosecuted by Norma Peters, while Kameika Peters and Shawn Morris represented the man.