Man on $5,000 bond for sexual indecency

A 21-YEAR-OLD labourer who performed an act of sexual indecency on a family friend in a latrine escaped a jail sentence yesterday when a San Fernando High Court judge placed him on a $5,000 bond to keep the peace for five years.

Justice Rajendra Narine said he would normally impose a custodial sentence for such an offence, but the accused was viewed as not being a danger to himself or society according to reports from a probation officer and experts at St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital. The court heard that a psychiatric evaluation prepared by psychiatric consultant Dr Iqbal Ghany revealed the accused was “mentally sub-normal, but no threat to society nor danger to himself.” Justice Narine said he also considered the fact that this was the accused’s first offence, he pleaded guilty and he did not use violence in committing the act.

However, if the accused man fails to uphold the judge’s orders, he would be sent to jail to serve for five years with hard labour. The case was heard in the Second Criminal Court of the San Fernando Assizes with attorney Rick Ramparass representing the accused. The facts, as presented by State prosecutor Brambhanan Dubay, were that on March 2, 2002, the accused went to visit the victim, whom he knew since she was a child, at a house where she lived with six other relatives, including an aunt and grandmother.

The victim, then 11 years old, walked to an outhouse located 20-feet from the house, where Dean followed her. He entered the latrine pulling down his pants and underwear as he approached the girl, whose underwear was also pulled down at the time. He then held onto the girl and “wined” on her, while pressing his private parts against hers. The girl managed to push the accused off and ran out of the outhouse. Two days later, she told her aunt about the incident and a report was made to Cpl Anthony Monsegue at the Penal Police Station.