A 52-year-old man has been sentenced to 39 years in jail for having sex with his 12-year-old stepdaughter with the judge saying he had taken advantage of a child who looked up to him as a father figure and also depended on him for economic assistance.
Justice Brian Cottle said that the aggravating features of the crime far outweighed the mitigating factors and that the only reason he would not impose consecutive jail terms on the convicted man, whose name has not been released, was because of the man’s age.
He sentenced the man to 12 years on each of the three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and three years for indecent assault. The man had been convicted of the offences on March 15TH and when he came up for sentencing on Tuesday, Crown Counsel Sejilla McDowall said that breach of trust was a major aggravating factor in the case.
She told the court that while he offered the girl food and money, he did so specifically when sex occurred. The court heard that the social inquiry report had indicated that the convicted man had expressed no remorse.
