Middle aged man sent to jail for attempting to bugger a child

A 52 year old man has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment for attempting to bugger a boy who was under the age of 10 at the time of the offence.

Prospect resident, Tyrone Antoine, was sentenced to three years, seven months, and 17 days imprisonment when he appeared at High Court No.1 on July 17, before Justice Brian Cottle.

In considering the sentence, Cottle referred to the guidelines and began the sentencing at five years, which is half the maximum sentence that can be imposed on a defendant for such an act.

When the aggravating factors were considered for the offence, the court noted that the complainant was a child who was younger than eight years at the time of the offence.

He also noted the fact that the defendant was a relative of the child made the offence worse, and was an abuse of trust.

Another aggravating factor was that Antoine equipped himself with a condom, which showed some degree of premeditation.

Mitigating factors were that no violent act was committed against the complainant.

Cottle did not find any aggravating factors against Antoine as an offender as he had no previous, relevant convictions. He also did not find any mitigating factors.

However, the sentence was increased by six months, bring the time to five years and six months imprisonment.

The judge then considered that Antoine had pleaded guilty plea which led to a one-third reduction in his sentence. Cottle however noted, that the defendant did not plead guilty until the trial was about to begin and so he did not merit the full reduction.

He said he spared the complainant having to recount the incident in a room full of strangers in the intimidating atmosphere of the court. As a result, his custodial sentence was reduced by 20 per cent. This brought the sentence to three years and eight months.

The sentence was further reduced by 30 days as Antoine had already spent a similar amount of time on remand.

This brought the final custodial sentence to three years, seven months and 17 days.

Antoine was represented by counsel Grant Connell, and Rose Ann Richardson appeared for the crown.