A 39-year-old man, who was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for raping his 14-year-old daughter, has claimed he did so because of his own experience with sexual abuse as a child. The Morvant man, who cannot be identified to protect the identity of the victim, pleaded guilty to three sexual offences against the teenager in January but was only sentenced by Justice Devan Rampersad when he reappeared in the Port-of-Spain High Court yesterday.
While Rampersad acknowledged there were psychological studies which showed that there is a “cycle of depravation” where victims of sexual offences sometimes become eventual attackers, he said this was not a valid excuse for the man’s actions. “The crimes you committed against your daughter were heinous and repugnant. This court takes a dim view of offences committed against the vulnerable,” Rampersad said.
Rampersad said he felt 15-year concurrent sentences were appropriate in the case, but noted the man was entitled to a third discount on his sentence because he did not waste the court’s time but pleaded guilty before the case went to trial. The one-and-a-half years the man spent on remand between his arrest and eventual guilty plea were also deducted from his sentence.
The man’s history of sexual abuse was raised by his lawyer, Kerry Ann Byer, as she presented a mitigation plea on his behalf at the Port-of-Spain First Criminal Court yesterday. Byer explained that as a baby he was abandoned by his drug addict mother. He later grew up in several orphanages where he was subjected to physical and sexual abuse. “He has indicated that up until recently he thought this was normal,” Byer said.
She said he turned to alcohol to cope with the psychological trauma he suffered in his youth and had become an alcoholic. Byer also claimed that the attacks on his daughter all happened while he was drunk. As she appealed for leniency for her client, Byer also referred to a report prepared by a probation officer, which indicated that the victim and her mother had both forgiven him. “Although she (the victim) said the attack on her was harsh, she said he was a good father and she still loves him,” Byer said.
According to the evidence in the case, which was presented by prosecutor Brent Winter, the charges arose out of two incidents at the family’s home in 2011. The first took place during Easter while the child was on school vacation and the mother was not home. Winter said the man entered the girl’s bedroom and locked the door before he placed a pillow over her head and buggered her. “He had sex with her for 20 minutes. That was her first sexual experience,” Winter said.
The next incident occurred several months later while the child was again home on vacation. This time the man buggered the child before having sexual intercourse with her. The entire ordeal lasted for almost half an hour. The victim hid the attacks until she reported it to her uncle in August 2013 and moved in with him. Winter said before the uncle could contact police, the man surrendered to the Morvant Police Station and confessed to the crimes.
According to Winter, he told police, “Officer I had sex with my daughter and I want to pay for my sins so that she could have a good future.” As part of his sentence, Rampersad advised the man to seek counselling while serving his sentence and suggested his family members do the same.