CRIME OF INCEST

According to the evidence at the recent trial, the 43-year man reportedly threatened to kill the girls should they tell anyone of what he had done, and also that one of the daughters became pregnant and bore a child for him. The paternity of the child was not disputed in Court.

It is shocking for a man to force a minor or indeed any female to have sex with him, and the country’s law makers have laid down severe penalties for such a crime. It is even more horrifying and distasteful, as in this instance, when a father compels his daughters to submit to having sex with him. In the process the so-called "father" not only betrays an age-old trust, but leaves his own children psychologically scarred for life.

As the Judge, who adjudicated in the matter, Justice Devan Rampersad, noted: "I find that there are no mitigating factors except for the guilty plea. You are a person of considerable age, a father of several young children. You abused the trust of the family unit. Not just once, but several times. As a consequence, one became pregnant. The scar on her can never be erased."

The incestuous father, who was found guilty on four counts of committing incest on his two daughters, one 15 and the other 13, could have been made to serve imprisonment for ten years on each count. Instead, Justice Rampersad ordered that the sentences run concurrently and the father will be required to serve a mere ten years for his acts. A longer prison term would have expressed, adequately, society’s abhorrence of such a crime and sent the strongest possible message dissuading like minded men.

To many, it should have been inconceivable that a man, who had fathered daughters and watched them reach puberty, rather than project an image of respect and trust should have viewed them as sex objects and used them for his own gratification. There have been too many instances in the past of fathers who, instead of protecting their innocent daughters from predators, have themselves been the predators. Instead of protecting these children, they use force to "introduce" them to sex and young girls are threatened with death if they expose these wicked men.

We need to take another look at the crime of incest. Where so-called fathers are found guilty after a fair trial, the penalty should be much harsher. The lives and stability of young children have to be protected.