Father in Bahamas found guilty of having sex with daughter

NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC – A High Court judge in the Bahamas has set June 11 as the date for sentencing for a father who was unanimously found guilty of incest over a four-year period.

Justice Petra Adderley thanked the nine-member jury, including seven women, that had deliberated for nearly three hours in finding the father guilty.

The father, who had been on bail during the trial, showed no emotion as he was handcuffed and led away by officers.

The Supreme Court heard that the father had engaged in unlawful sexual intercourse with his daughter between 2015 and 2019 when she was just 10 years old at the time.

The now 19-year-old daughter told the court that she initially kept the abuse a secret out of fear, but by age 15, it had become too much bear and she began experiencing nightmares, and in March 2021, she confided in her mother by allowing her to read a journal where she had written what happened to her.

The teenager later turned over the journal and her cell phone containing alleged voice recordings of her father to the police.

However, neither item could be located initially.

The court heard that the sexual acts were committed in Abaco when the father visited her and in Freeport when she and her brothers spent summers with him.

Adderley, in her summation, reminded jurors that the burden of proof rested entirely on the prosecution, which had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the offences.

She also noted that the defendant, through his attorney, denied the allegations and chose not to testify.

"He does not have to prove anything,” she said, adding that his silence should not be taken as an admission of guilt.

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