Arthur Green, Gleaner Writer
A 57-year-old man was convicted of indecent assault on a 12-year-old girl and sentenced to six months suspended for one year in the Morant Bay Resident Magistrate's Court last week Friday, November 11.
The court was told that on June 22 this year, the police discovered Neville Douglas in a room at a guest house in Prospect with a minor. The child told the court that Douglas had made several inappropriate sexual advances towards her and when the police arrived, he was about to force her into sexual activities.
BEGGED FOR LENIENCY
Prior to handing down the sentence, Ms. Justice Norma Bertram-Linton took final submissions from Douglas' attorney, Horace Grey, who begged for leniency, given his client's usefulness to society.
He made an impassioned appeal describing Douglas as a man who many in the prison had come to rely on in times of crisis - with his ability to move heavy duty equipment to any troubled spot.
The magistrate chided Douglas for what she described as improper behaviour and warned that acts such as the evidence brought forward make young girls almost like endangered species on the brink of extinction.
"While I agree that the danger was averted, the thought is serious enough to warrant making a strong statement," the judge told the accused, adding that he ought to be standing out as a father figure and a role model.
"Instead, you, Mr. Douglas, were threatening to rid a child of her childhood and for that you need to be reminded that the state is watching you," she said.
She added: "Tek sleep mark death," before handing down her sentence.
