Crown will appeal sex offender sentence
(CNS): Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryll Richards has said her office will be appealing the six month sentence handed down to a convicted sex-offender in Summary Court last week by the chief magistrate. The local man was given three sentences after he had admitted molesting his 8-year-old daughter and making her watch pornography. The longest sentence for indecent assault was nine months and two other assault sentences were ordered to run concurrently by the judge, who then suspended three months, cutting the man’s jail time to just six months, despite the severity of the crime and the trauma suffered by the young victim.
The DPP’s office issued a short statement Monday to Cayman 27 stating that the matter had been reviewed by the office and a decision to appeal had been made.
The sentence outraged the community and local activist Sandra Catron started a petition on Friday to press for an appeal in the case and ask legislators to introduce minimum sentences for sex offences. The petition has already collected close to 500 signatures, reflecting the concerns that many people have that the issue of child abuse, which the judiciary has acknowledged is all too prevalent in our small society, is not being taken seriously.
"I am very pleased that the DPPs office has decided to do something about this offensive sentence," Catron told CNS Tuesday following the DPP's decision. "This demonstrates the power of the people’s voice in this community and we need to speak out more. This addresses the immediate issue with this particular matter but I encourage people to still continue signing the petition. The larger issue of low sentences for this type of offence has to be addressed and a long term solution implemented," she said. "I would like to personally thank all of the people who have stepped up and voiced their opinion on this topic."
As well as minimum sentences, Catron wants to see the implementation of a counselling facility with specialized professionals with experience in child sexual abuse.
Related article on CNS:
Sex offender sentence outrages community
Category: Crime
Why is the DPP not appealing the sentence of the 31 year old man convicted of "defilement" of the 14 year old after he broke into her bedroom, pulled her from under the ebd where she was hiding and raped ehr. A two year suspended sentence?
Moron? Is that what Jesus would say?
"Brood of vipers!" Is that better?
It shouldn't come to this. Judges and prosecutors are being paid by the public and should protect the young, the old and the vulnerable. It disgusts me to know a horrific crime has been committed against one of our children in the community and the perp only gets a slap on the wrist. So sad for our community and our country on a whole.
Congratulations on doing the right thing.
You did the right thing! And who needs that kind of "family'? A FAMILY member dosn't prey on its own and most innocent.
Sadly 09.41, according to all reports I have read, it is always most likely to be family or close friends that indulge in this sick behaviour.
And so they should along with many others that are simply a joke and a slap in the face to those innocent victims.
This man should be hang
You people make me sick to the bone.You say you are christians but you want these people castrated and killed and all that, People that do these sorts of things are sick they need help lets seek help for them not kill them..
Which people? Jordanians?
This would have NEVER happened if certain persons were not speaking out. Why have the other sentences which where completely suspended not challenged?! You may not like it but by Sandra Catron pushing this issue it has forced them to pay attention and appeal it.
Have you all signed the petition?
The DPP should have to explain why they charged him with the lesser offence in the first place! That should be the question here! But instead people have decided to attack the judges once again instead of the root of the problem. The legal department seems to be extremely bias when it comes to it conclusions on who to charge and how heavily to prosecute. They should all be replaced!
Actually sexual assualt on a child carries a max of 10 years, so it is the magistrate's fault. The basic tariff should be 5-6 years, he should receive one additional year for breach of trust being her father, another year because this was repeated over a period of 2 years, and a discount of 2 years for the early guilty plea, leaving a sentence of 5-6 years.
In case you were not aware, the 44 year old man was not in FACT charged with sexually molesting his 8 year old daughter overa period of 2 years, it was during a period of 7 months… BETWEEN the ages of 8 and 9… his charges were those of INDECENT ASSULT,… Not justifying his crime here, but one should be careful how we put a lable on these men. Bare in mind that while speaking out is always good thing on such crimes, this child is now between the ages of 12 and 13 years old, and herself and family had started to rebuild their relationships… NOW this child is being forced by the PUBLIC (you/us) to relive her ordeal. No one's a winner here! For those of you who know this man, being in jail for 6 months is like a life time to him (I know him, I know is daughter, I know the familly personally).. however he was prepared to serve whatever time they gave him, it just so happened that he was only given 6 months by the court of law. Another crime similar to this happened earlier part of this year where a man raped a 13 year old and got a 2 year suspended sentence, NO jail time and yet no scandal was made about him… he is walking free amoungst us. Becareful of what comments we make in these cases, we don't have all the FACTS in the matter.
11:05, judging by the immense success rate of the DPP and cohorts in our court system as of recent, I would hazard a guess that they could not charge him with a "more serious" offence because of lack of evidence or other reasons such as there being a real threat that the case would be thrown out before the get go allowing the sick bastard to walk free.
At peast someone in authority has not lost all senses of what is just and fair. How can anyone Judge in the free world allow this man to get off with six months. When you look at the Cayman Islands as a society we are morrally bankrupt. We have gangs prisoners running.free a lot of alcoholism a fair share of drug abuse high burglary broken homes and now a Judicial system that and not just in this case has shown tolerance to such horrific acts. If the law does not provide for longer custodial sentences than shame on past and present LA members for not changing this or for not having changed it. You do ten years for a firearm but six months for sexually terrorizing your own child? Thhan the strong protests of a no sex offenders list. As a community while these pigs cannot hide as we are small but why should they be allowed to live next door in secret? Something is wrong but yet gambling is opposed as it is considered a root to evil and sin……please give me a break. If this is tolerated than Casinos should be allowed to be up and running in no time. Society has been ruined with this disease called tolerance. There are certain things a community should never tolerate.
That is the way it should be done. Not trial through public opinion on matters most are not qualifed to talk on.
Don't get me wrong, personally I thought it was a bit of a surprise, but Nova Hall is no fool.
Thank you Sandra!!!! There is a God!
That would be the same all-powerful God that allowed the abuse in the first place?
Yes, the same one who allows us freewill even to do evil. Moron.
Moron? That's really the best you can do? One hesitates to be drawn into a battle of wits with an unarmed man and I fear a discussion of Augustinian philosophy may be wasted on you.
So he prefers allowing free will over preventing child abuse? Doesn't sound like a very nice person to me.
He prefers that we follow his will over sin, including child abuse. Sounds like a very person to me.
All of a sudden you are concerned about one particular sin?
1) English please. 2) Answer the question.
Incoherent purveyors of greed and hatred – the church at its best. If there were a god (and there's not) and that god had a plan for all of us (which is ridiculous) then that god's plan specifically designed the rape of children. Your all-knowing, all-loving omnipotent god designed this sequence of events so that children get raped and sexually tortured. Yeah, right. Here's my question: if you pray to change god's plan to stop the child rapes aren't you presuming you know better than god as to what the plan should be? Isn't that wrong? Of course the answer is that the whole discussion is stupid because it is premised on a lie: the existence of an all-knowing, all-loving omnipotent god, but of course there's no reasoning with you on that (literally speaking) so I'll leave that issue there. By the way, I really liked your "moron" argument – that was a particularly compelling bit of rhetoric; the church's work at its best.
Same old hackneyed, predictable nonsense. You don't know that there is not a God. That is simply your belief. It is obviously a completely ridiculous non-sequitur that if God has a plan for all of us then that means he has designed the rape of small children. God having a plan or a purpose for us is obviously not the same thing as us following that plan. If that is too difficult for you to get your brain around, think of it like this. God may have set a destination androute for you on your GPS but that does not prevent you from taking your car off that route even though it gives you multiple warnings that you are off route and alternate ways to get back on track. That would be the freewill part.
You haven't written anything that remotely resembles reasoning.
This really is much better! Although your assertion of a non-sequitor is unsupported by any reasoning whatsoever. Nevertheless, all in all a vast improvement onthe moron stuff: 3 out of 10. Help us with this though – the young girl (who also had free will) and presumably chose not to be molested – why was her free will less important to god than that of the pervert? Was god prepared to sit back and watch her pain just to make a point?
It is explicitly reasoned by an illustration. "Plan" does not equal "determinism", as you seem to think. As to why God allows evil to exist for the time being, that is a mystery. No one can pretend to know the mind of God above what he has revealed. If we were able to explain him perfectly we would be equal to him.
Oh dear "…why God allows evil to exist,,,that is a mystery…" etc. This really is a step back. At least "moron" had the merit of being a response (of sorts). Fail.
That all powerful God gave everyone free will. Depravity crept in and turned him into an evil excuse for a human. Let that be a message to you!!
Speak up for our children and force them to take action with such matters.!!!! Good!
Thumbs down all you want you ol' sick Caymanian perverts. Your days are numbered all of you. You sick bunch will have the light shed on you real quick. Just wait…this kind of abuse has been happening for dog years in Cayman, and the sick cycle NEEDS TO END.
This man, this father, this 44 year old….he will NEVER be any better than what he is. Lets face the facts. He is sick beyond help and needs to be kept away from society. People like him are what we call predators. Human rights will not allow for hanging or the death penalty anymore so lock him away for as long as you can, when he comes back out WATCH and see if he doesn't repeat the very same behaviour.
The judge is smart enough to know this, maybe that is why she gave him this slap on the wrist to show that in another 6 months, back out; he will be a repeat offender.
Never-the-less….he is one of MANY of these type of men we have here in Cayman. (YES, people like this exist everywhere but lets deal with our country first before pointing fingers at our neighbors.)
SICK, SICK SICK. :-/