A 43-year-old man was sentenced to seven years in prison on Friday for committing incest by having sex with his 15-year-old daughter against her will.

“It is a detestable offence,” said Justice Anne-Marie Smith, adding that the man’s crime was “despicable and heinous.”

She asked the Beacon in court to refrain from publishing the daughter’s name, and the Beacon is also withholding the name of the father, who is from the territory, to protect the daughter’s identity.

On Nov. 26, 2018 a nine member jury found the defendant guilty in connection with an incident that occurred about two years prior.

The court heard that he picked up the complainant, who came to Tortola for a wedding. He then went to multiple bars and drank alcohol while the complainant sat in the car, according to the allegations.

When the defendant and complainant got home, the complainant took a shower and went to bed, the judge explained.

The defendant then entered the bedroom and proceeded to have unprotected sex with the girl, despite the complainant’s pleas for him to stop, the court heard.

She allegedly went to the bathroom afterwards, where the defendant warned her not to tell anyone of the incident.

DNA test

 

After the father left, the complainant left the house and knocked on doors until a retired police officer responded, according to the allegations.

She was taken to Peebles Hospital and the defendant was arrested, the justice explained.

Lab results presented in court during the trial matched the seminal fluid found in the victim to a DNA sample taken from the father, the court heard.

The mother of the teenager wrote a formal description of the situation, which was in the hands of the presiding judge.

The 15-year-old “tried to move on,”the judge read, but spiralled into a depression.

Ms. Smith ordered psychological intervention for the complainant.

Ruling

Ms. Smith noted a breach of trust, an age disparity, psychological harm and unprotected sex.

Ms.Smith said her ruling was for the purposes of punishment and deterrence.

She ordered the defendant to undergo counselling for alcohol rehabilitation.

Defence

The defendant has worked in the public sector for 25 years and had an alcohol addiction starting at an early age, the court heard. The defence said he is known to be a “hard-working public servant” and a man of good moral standing, and maintained that the crime was an isolated incident.
However, Ms.Smith was not swayed. She said the defendant showed a “complete lack of remorse” in court, and she decided that there were no mitigating factors in the case.