Teen jailed for raping pre-school age niece

For twice raping his pre-school age niece, a 17-year-old has been sentenced to six years, five months behind bars.

The Bequia resident had pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13 years old on September 25 this year, and sentencing was adjourned to this Monday.

The exact dates of the two offences are unknown, save for the fact that they both took place in 2015.

The convicted teenager who was 13 or 14 years at the time of the offences, is the maternal uncle of the child, who at the time of the offence was three or four years old.

The court heard that the teenager committed the acts, firstly when the child was at her aunt’s house, and on the second occasion when she was sleeping at her mother’s house. The child resided at her father’s house during the week, and her mother’s during the weekends.

The convicted teenager had not been living in either of these households, but instead with his grandmother.

On the first occasion, the victim’s aunt was outside washing, and her cousins were sleeping, and so she decided to lie down on her aunt’s bed. She heard footsteps, and when she opened her eyes slightly, she saw that it was her uncle. He proceeded to remove all of her clothes and have sexual intercourse with her, which the child said was painful for her. She told him to stop, which he did, and he put on all of her clothes again, before leaving the bedroom.

The second incident was said to have taken place in December, 2015, when the child was at her mother’s house, and the uncle was there helping to paint her room. When it got late, the uncle decided to stay at the house for the night, and was sleeping on the floor of the living room.

The victim was tucked into bed with her teddy bear, after her mother bathed her. Again while she was in bed, the child heard footsteps. Her uncle turned her from her side to her back, removed her clothes, and started to ‘whine up’ on her, which caused her pain. He told the child to be quiet as he proceeded to have sexual intercourse with her. After this, the child put on her clothes and went to her mother’s bedroom to sleep.

The incidents were not discovered until April 26 the following year, when the child’s father was about the bathe her, and noticed an unusual discharge on her underwear.

The father called her mother, who took her to the doctor, and the doctor diagnosed the unusual discharge as being caused by partial hymen rupture.

The teenager admitted to the first count, but denied the second. In a later psychiatric report it was revealed that he may have had a marijuana, cocaine laced cigarette before the December incident that he cannot recall.

However, he pleaded guilty to both counts at arraignment. The matter was prosecuted by counsel for the crown, Tammika McKenzie.

Justice Brian Cottle was said to have considered a number of factors in sentencing, and for the first count he started at a notional point of 20 years. A major factor taken into consideration was the prisoner’s age at the time, and the time was reduced to 10 years. The fact that the individual pled guilty had to be taken into consideration, as well as a reduction of the time spent on remand.

Therefore, a sentence of six years, and five months was arrived at.

For the second count, a sentence of two years imprisonment was imposed to run concurrently with the first.