TRINIDAD: Father convicted for rape of teen daughter, claims mistook girl for her mother

SOURCE: TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO GUARDIAN- A 54-year-old man from Debe has been convicted of repeatedly raping his 14-year-old daughter. 

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, was convicted of two incest charges and one grievous sexual assault charge at the end of his judge-alone trial before Justice Kathy-Ann Waterman-Latchoo, yesterday morning. 

The man was accused of attacking the teenager multiple times over the course of a week in 2007 after the child’s mother moved out of the family’s home because he physically assaulted her (the mother). 

The first incident occurred on May 12, 2007. The teenager was sleeping in a room with her younger sister when her father woke her up and raped her. 

The following day, the man was watching a pornographic movie in his room and invited the teenager to join him. He reportedly asked her to have sex but she pulled away and went outside. 

Later that night, he forced her to perform oral sex on him. 

The third and final attack came almost a week later when the man again raped her in her bedroom. The attack only ended when the house phone started to ring. 

Recommended for youThe girl then reported the attacks to her mother. 

Her mother confronted the man, who admitted that he sexually assaulted their daughter. However, he allegedly claimed that he did it because he mistook his daughter for her (the mother). 

The mother made a report to the police and the teenager underwent a medical examination, which confirmed the abuse. 

When police officers came to the family’s home to arrest the man, he tried to run away but was eventually apprehended. 

The man did not testify in his trial and his lawyers challenged the allegations against him by cross-examining witnesses including the victim. 

The man is expected to be sentenced on December 4.

Under the Sexual Offences Act, the maximum sentence for incest is life imprisonment. 

The case was prosecuted by Dylan Martin and Niara Boodan, of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). 

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