No corporal punishment but

BEFORE sentencing a rapist to 13 years in prison with hard labour, a high court judge yesterday expressed regret that he could not also add corporal punishment (strokes) to the sentence.

Justice Larry Lalla said considering the prevalence of men having sexual intercourse with females under 14, it was a pity this was not an offence for which corporal punishment could be ordered under the Corporal Punishment Act.

The convicted man, 36-year-old Richard Simon Phillip, of Zone 8 in Wallerfield, was found guilty of raping a teenager on April 7, 1999, false imprisonment and larceny of a chain belonging to the victim.

He was sentenced to 13 years for the sexual offence and five years for each of the other two offences. Although he had spent seven years in prison awaiting trial, the sentence became effective yesterday and will run concurrently.

Lalla said although the victim may have gone to Phillip’s house willingly, it was no excuse for his “fiendish” exploitation of the girl. “You slapped her and covered her mouth with a towel when she was crying out in pain. You later offered to allow her to pour, what you said was gramaxone down your throat as some sort of sickening solace to her for what you had done to her,” the judge said.

Referring to the mitigation plea made by Phillip’s attorney Larry Williams, the judge said it was difficult for the court to consider the fact that Phillip being a father of two young children could count toward leniency, considering the nature of the offence for which he was convicted.

“How would you have felt if someone, God forbid, had done that to your children?” Lalla asked.