Debe dad to serve 17 years in prison for raping teen daughter
Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
A 54-year-old man from Debe, convicted of repeatedly raping his 14-year-old daughter, has been sentenced to a little under 17 years in prison.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, was convicted of two incest charges and one grievous sexual assault charge at the end of his judge-alone trial before Justice Kathy-Ann Waterman-Latchoo, late last month. He was sentenced on Wednesday.
Justice Waterman-Latchoo began with a starting sentence of 19 years for the incest charges and 16 years for grievous sexual assault before deducting one year based on the fact that he had not committed any criminal offences since being charged in 2007.
She then deducted the one year and three and a half months he spent in prison before being granted bail and after being convicted.
He is expected to be released after serving 16 years, eight months and 18 days in prison as Justice Waterman-Latchoo ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
As part of his sentence, the man was ordered to report to the Penal Police Station within seven days of his eventual release to register as a sex offender. He would then be required to report to the police once every three months for 10 years after that.
Justice Waterman-Latchoo also ordered that the Police Commissioner publish information relative to his conviction on the public sex offender website.
According to the evidence presented in his trial by prosecutor Dylan Martin, the man was accused of attacking the teenager multiple times over the course of a week in 2007 after her mother moved out of the family’s home because he physically assaulted her (the mother).
The first incident occurred on May 12, 2007. The teenager was sleeping in a room with her younger sister when her father woke her up and raped her.
The following day, the man was watching a pornographic movie in his room and invited the teenager to join him. He reportedly asked her to have sex but she pulled away and went outside.
Later that night, he forced her to perform oral sex on him.
The third and final attack came almost a week later when the man again raped her in her bedroom. The attack only ended when the house phone started to ring.
The girl then reported the attacks to her mother.
Her mother confronted the man, who admitted that he sexually assaulted their daughter. However, he allegedly claimed that he did it because he mistook his daughter for her.
The mother made a report to the police and the teenager underwent a medical examination, which confirmed the abuse.
When police officers came to the family’s home to arrest the man, he tried to run away but was eventually apprehended.
The man did not testify in his trial and his lawyers challenged the allegations against him by cross-examining witnesses including the victim.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was also represented by Niara Boodan.
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