PHILIPSBURG–A 25-year-old man was sentenced to fifteen months, five of which were suspended, on two years’ probation, for having had sexual intercourse with a girl who was twelve years old.

The Court of First Instance found it legally and convincingly proven that Dimetry Chery had committed lewd acts on the young girl between August 1 and September 27, 2018, the Judge announced Wednesday.

It was also found proven that the defendant had a machete and a Smith & Wesson revolver with six rounds of live ammunition in his possession during a search of his car on Bush Road on December 30, 2018.

The defendant’s statement that he had found the revolver earlier that day and had intended to bring it to the police station were dismissed by the Court as being incredible.

The victim’s mother filed a complaint against the defendant on August 24, 2018, after her daughter failed to come home for the night. According to the mother, she had found out that her daughter had had intercourse with a man nicknamed “Doctor.” A Facebook search had led her to the defendant.

Her daughter told the police during questioning that she had met the man on a basketball field in the neighbourhood on August 23, 2018. According to the defendant, they had sex three times, but he claimed it had always been on the girl’s initiative.

The suspect had told the police and the Court that he did not know that the girl was 12 years old. He said he had “assumed” she was 16 or 17, but later admitted that he had “assumed the age and just flowed with it, because I have a habit of doing that.”

The Court held it against him that he had breached the girl’s “physical and psychological integrity” and stated that it was irrelevant whether the girl had agreed with the sexual acts or not.

“The suspect apparently was guided by feelings of lust and thus ignored the legislator’s underlying idea that juveniles under the age of 16 should be protected in their personal and sexual development,” the verdict read.

The Judge also held it against the defendant that he had had a loaded gun and a machete with him on the public road. “In doing so, the accused created an unacceptable danger to the safety of other people,” he said.

Sexual border-crossing behaviour or a sexual disorder have not previously been established with the suspect. According to the Court, the accused committed the offence “for opportunistic reasons.”

The Court attached Parole Board supervision to the sentence, as well as a ban on any contact with the victim.

Bron: Daily Herald