A former athlete has been found guilty on two counts of serious indecency after a High Court jury determined he sexually abused his young daughter on multiple occasions between 2022 and 2023.
According to Antigua Observer, the all-female jury, sitting before Justice Ann Marie Smith, convicted the man of digitally penetrating the child and placing his genitals against her rear on separate occasions. He was acquitted on the remaining count.
During the trial, the complainant testified that the abuse occurred while she was living with her father, on occasions when his girlfriend was absent from the home. She told the court that he would invite her into his bed, instruct her to remove her clothing, and then subject her to the acts. She further testified that she later resisted her father's attempts to have her return to live with him, stating she feared the abuse would happen again.
Under cross-examination by defence attorney Wendel Alexander, the child denied that her grandmother or anyone else had coached her to fabricate the allegations, maintaining that her testimony was truthful.
The child's grandmother also gave evidence before the court. She testified that her relationship with the accused deteriorated after mid-2022, when he blocked her from contacting the child directly. She described an incident in which the child became visibly distressed and hid in a closet rather than leave with her father, and another occasion on which the pair returned shortly after departing because the child would not stop crying.
The grandmother rejected suggestions made during cross-examination that the abuse allegations had been invented or that the child had been neglected while in her care.
Sentencing is scheduled for July 24.
