A Mayaro father accused of five sexual assault charges against his teenaged daughter was found guilty by a High Court jury yesterday even though the victim refused to testify.
The 50-year-old man will be sentenced following a probation officer’s report on June 2.
The man, who will not be identified to protect his daughter, was charged in April, 2008. He was accused of grievously sexually assaulting the child, then 15-years-old, while she was sitting on the couch and watching television at their Mayaro home.
The man’s other three daughters were at home and asleep at the time. The children’s mother did not live with them at that time and the victim was the eldest child.
The second charge is that in August 2008, he grievously sexually assaulted the child again and that he attempted to commit incest by trying to penetrate her knowing her to be his blood relative. At that time, she was at the house alone and the incidents took place on her bed.
He was also charged that in September 2009 and again in October 2009, he indecently assaulted the child. Those two incidents also took place on her bed while her siblings were asleep.
The trial against him began in the San Fernando High Court before Justice David Harris on April 4, 2017. The State was represented by attorneys Sabrina Dougdeen-Jaglal and Sarah De Silva while attorney Ramesh Deena appeared for the accused.
During the trial, the victim, now 24 years old was deemed a hostile witness as she refused to answer any questions posed to her by the prosecution.
Her testimony from the preliminary enquiry and her statement to the police were read to the jury.
WPC Toussaint and the girl’s mother were the only two other witnesses called to testify in the matter.
The jury took a little over two hours before returning with guilty verdicts on all five charges.
