A public service vehicle (PSV) driver found guilty of abducting an 11-year-old boy with intentions of having sexual intercourse with him on January 25, 2009 will serve eight years behind bars for the crime.
Madam Justice Pamela Beckles presiding over the No. 5 Supreme Court, today imposed the sentence on George Lamar McLawrence, of 7th Avenue, Skeetes Road, Ivy, St Michael.
During the trial, which took place last year with Senior Crown Counsel Krystal Delaney prosecuting, the victim, who is now 20 years old, told the nine-member jury he was walking along Independence Drive, Husbands, St James around noon when McLawrence stopped his ZR and asked him if he wanted a ride to his destination to which he agreed.
However, the driver drove past his stop, to a hedge near Prior Park, St James, stopped the vehicle and told him to come into the back.
He explained that he could not get away because the door of the vehicle was to his back, the hedges were on the side and the accused was blocking the other point of exit.
“So I got in [the back]. He sat in the seat behind the front passenger seat. . . . I was standing in front of him. He pulled down my pants and underwear. I was uncomfortable and scared and he touched my bottom. I started struggling with him [and managed to] pull up my pants and ran out.”
The maximum sentence for such an offence is ten years in prison.
Justice Beckles however settled on a starting point of seven years but after taking into consideration the aggravating and mitigating factors she adjusted the sentence up by a year given among other factors, the age and vulnerability of the complainant at the time.
“The breach of your position of trust, in that the complainant took a lift from you, a route taxi driver, expecting that you would have delivered him to his destination safely and not attempt to commit any criminal acts upon him,” the judge said adding that McLawrence had been assessed by the probation office as having a moderate to high risk of re-offending.
“Given your criminal history and your lack of remorse [as well as] the effect that this offence is having on the complainant; It has negatively affected his life, he has developed trust issues and no longer feels comfortable among strangers,” Beckles disclosed.
The judicial officer then credited McLawrence - who has a conviction of theft, wounding and serious indecency on his record – for the 66 days already spent on remand, which means that he now has seven years, 299 days remaining to serve of that sentence which will run concurrently to any other sentence.
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