Dad to serve 17 plus years for sexual abuse of his 5-year-old daughter

A father of 11 children was sentenced to 18 years in prison for attempting to have unlawful sexual intercourse, and committing indecent assault against his five year old daughter.

The defendant, who had earlier been found guilty on five of the eight counts of sexual offences against his two primary school-aged daughters appeared at the High Court yesterday June 6, 2024 before Justice Brian Cottle for sentencing.

He was found guilty on three counts of attempted unlawful sexual intercourse with his five year old daughter, she being a girl who is under the age of 13; and two counts of indecent assault against her, she being a girl who is under the age of 15. However, the jury was hung in returning verdicts on the three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse against the seven year old daughter. All of the offences for which the defendant was found guilty, were committed between July 31, 2019 and September 1, 2021, in a community on the outskirts of Kingstown.

The defendant, who maintained his innocence after being convicted, asked the court for leniency. He said he has 11 children aged 3-29 years old.

The facts read that the virtual complainant in the matter is the daughter of the defendant; they lived in the same home. However, in November 2021, his daughter left him to spend time with her aunt. There, her aunt taught her about “good touch and bad touch”. As a result of this conversation, the child indicated that the defendant had given her a “bad touch.”

The child told the police that the defendant instructed her to suck his private parts and did other sexual acts with her.

In preparing to sentence the offender, Justice Cottle, who has been granted a one month extension, informed the court that the maximum sentence for attempted unlawful sexual intercourse is life imprisonment, which equates to a notional sentence of 30 years; and the maximum sentence for indecent assault against a child who is under the age of 15, is five years imprisonment. As for the offence of attempted unlawful sexual intercourse with his five year old daughter, Cottle considered the tender age of the child, and the “significant age disparity” between the child and her father.

He said the defendant was 41 years old at the time of the offence; the child was only five years of age. He also considered the abuse of trust by the father.

Cottle continued that the defendant attempted to convince the child not to report the incident, so he placed this offence in the highest category of consequence and seriousness, and had a starting point of 20 years imprisonment.

The judge said aggravating the offence was that the defendant’s daughter was particularly vulnerable and young. He said that the mother left the child in the father’s hands to reside with him.

There were no aggravating factors of the offender. Mitigation of the offender was that he had no relevant previous convictions. Cottle found that the mitigating factors outweighed the aggravating factors, so he reduced the sentence by four years, resulting in a 14 year sentence.

The one month and 13 days already spent on remand was deducted from the sentence. Therefore, the defendant will serve a remainder of 13 years 10 months and 17 days for this offence.

Cottle said that he employed the totality principle and reduced the sentence for the other two counts of attempted unlawful sexual intercourse for which the defendant was found guilty to two years imprisonment on each count. These sentences are to run consecutively, meaning that the defendant will begin serving these sentences when he has completed his first round of sentences of 13 plus year. Therefore, the defendant will serve a remainder of 17 years 10 months, and 17 days for the three counts of attempted unlawful sexual intercourse with his five year old daughter.

Cottle also sentenced the defendant to three years imprisonment each, on the two counts of indecent assault which he committed against his five year old daughter.

However, these sentences will run concurrent to each other and concurrently with the offence of attempted unlawful sexual intercourse. Therefore, the defendant will serve a remainder of 17 years, 10 months, and 17 days for attempting to have sexual intercourse with his five year old daughter and for committing indecent assault against her.