Crying convict gets 9 years for sexually assaulting 7-yr-old girl

One day after showing intense emotion after being found guilty, Troy Jackson was on Wednesday sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment by Sexual Offences Court Judge Simone Morris-Ramlall.
A 12-member jury, by 10-2, determined that Jackson was indeed the perpetrator of an indecent assault that occurred on October 20, 2016 in the county of Demerara.
The charge detailed that Jackson placed his penis against the seven-year-old female victim’s genitals. In an impact statement read out by ChildLink Counsellor Celeste Mullin, the young victim stated that she was upset over what the offender did to her and that she was very sad at the time because she did not like it. She added that even though it only happened once, she did not want the same to ever happen again.

“I hope Troy Jackson gets punished for what he did to me,” the victim expressed.
Ibeli Kendall, a woman who knew the defendant from childhood, took the stand and testified to Jackson’s character, saying that he never created problems. However, when questioned by lead Prosecutor Seeta Bishundial, the witness could not vouch for Jackson’s character while he lived in a community in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice). Jackson, 33, was originally a resident of Kitty, Georgetown and got married in February 2018.
During his plea of mitigation, Jackson’s lawyer, Adrian Thompson, suggested that his client did not have a favourable childhood as his mother died while he was six and his father when he was 11. The court heard that Jackson only had a primary education and that he was seen as a person of “good character” prior to the incident. On this basis, the Attorney appealed for mercy, but Justice Ramlall was of the view that Jackson could have expressed his own remorse to the court. She considered the breach of trust, age of the child and the prevalence of sexual offences in sentencing the defendant.
The Judge, however, observed that penetration was not involved and based on the mitigation plea, subtracted one year from the maximum 10-year prison term. As such, Jackson’s sentence was nine years, but he would have to serve eight years before he was eligible for parole.
Guyana Times International understands that the defendant was a family friend of the victim’s relatives and had even lived with them at one point.
Upon hearing the jury’s verdict on Tuesday, Jackson broke down in tears, but was much calmer at Wednesday’s sentencing. State Counsels Narissa Leander and Orinthia Schmidt assisted on the prosecution’s case.