Concerned that a third of the cases brought before the courts relate to sexual offences, a state prosecutor contended that the law courts must respond “decisively and robustly” when sentencing offenders, particularly when their victims are children.
Principal State Counsel Krystal Delaney took that position on Wednesday as she urged a High Court judge to impose a starting sentence of nine years in prison on a father who admitted to two counts of incest on his teen daughter and one count of serious indecency.
She was also of the view that the Sexual Offences Act should be amended to provide for more consistency in sentencing people who commit incest, regardless of the age of their victims.
“In reaching the starting point, I ask the court to consider the prevalence of these sorts of offences,” Delaney told Madam Justice Pamela Beckles who presides over the No. 5 Supreme Court.
“This court more so than any other court would appreciate that these sorts of sexual offences and sexual offences against children, Ma’am, are matters that we have been grappling with in this society . . . . This is something that is very prevalent and, in fact, I don’t think most people will know sexual offences account for actually one-third of the offences that we have in these courts, so it is very prevalent.
“It is my submission that given the prevalence of these sorts of offences in this jurisdiction these courts . . . are duty bound to respond decisively and robustly.”
The convicted molester, who is now 46 years old, committed the offences in 2018 when his 17-year-old daughter went to his house to spend time with him after years of not having done so.
Delaney pointed to the breach of trust as a serious aggravating factor in the matter.
“He is her father, the offence happened in his home where she should feel safe and with someone that she should feel safe with. It’s a massive breach of trust,” she said as she urged the court to consider her proposed sentence.
The prosecutor used the opportunity to point to what she considered a discrepancy in sentencing for incest offenders.
She noted that the Sexual Offences Act provides for a person who commits incest on a person over 14 years old to be jailed for up to ten years, while that maximum sentence increases to life in prison if the act is committed against a younger person.
“This may not be the place, but certainly to me . . . this Act requires amending. The maximum, if she was 14 years old, would be life but over 14 years old is ten years [in prison]. Compared to the offence in the penalty of rape, it seems to me that the Act should be amended to make it more consistent in sentencing,” said Delaney.
“It is a very, very serious offence . . . . It is very worrying that a man will just wake up one day, meet his daughter who had not spent this kind of quality time with him in three years and what comes to mind to him is ‘okay I am going to have sex with her twice over the next two days’.
“. . . . This is the first time he has ever been charged, in my submission, means that rehabilitation of the offender may not be paramount in this case. I would urge the court to place emphasis on deterrence, more specifically general deterrence and to place emphasis on the punishment or the retribution aspects of the aims of sentencing. A sentence in the region of nine years would do justice to this case . . . and to maintain public confidence in the judicial system.”
The convicted man’s attorney-at-law Faith Greaves conceded that the offences were very serious and had met the custodial threshold.
After looking at the aggravating and mitigating factors, she suggested a starting sentence in the region of six to seven years be imposed on her client who is currently on remand at Dodds.
The defence attorney said the father was remorseful and contrite.
Earlier in the sitting, he told the court: “I am very sorry for what I have done . . . to my daughter.”
Greaves said taking into consideration all the factors, the man should be given a discount for his guilty plea and credited for the time he had spent on remand.
A final sentence, she submitted, in the range of two to three years on all counts, to run concurrently, would be appropriate with an order that he gets some form of psychological intervention while incarcerated.
