BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Sept. 13, 2012
A 50-year-old married man, Dennis Fraser, charged with aggravated assault of an indecent nature on a child, now 11 years old, was given the maximum sentence of 3 years today in the #1 Magistrate’s Court after he was found guilty of the charge.
Fraser is a laborer of Burrell Boom.
The Chief Magistrate, Ann Marie Smith, who imposed the sentence, said she would have given him more jail time if she had the power to do so.
The incident occurred between 11:15 a.m. and 11:20 a.m. on April 26, 2012, at the child’s home.
The child, who was 10 years old at the time, testified in camera. She said her older sister had gone to fetch water and had left her and her 7-year-old sister alone in the house.
She said she had just finished sweeping the living room when Fraser entered, and sent her 7-year-old sister to the shop to buy a bottle of Coca Cola.
As her sister left, the child said, Fraser pushed her on the sofa in a sitting position and covered her mouth with his hand.
She said she bit Fraser on his hand and Fraser slapped her, then he pulled down her pants and underwear to her knees and inserted his middle finger in her vagina while he took out his penis.
The child testified that her older sister entered the living room at the same time and Fraser put his penis back inside his pants, removed his finger, got up and left.
The older sister testified and said that when she entered the living room she saw Fraser kneeling on the floor in front of her sister and her sister’s pants and underwear were down to her knees. She said Fraser’s penis was exposed.
Fraser testified and said that the child was to be blamed for what had happened. He said that the child called him inside the house to fix a chain, and after he fixed the chain, the child took off her underwear and told him, “look ya.”
At the same time, the child’s older sister entered the living room, said Fraser.
But Chief Magistrate Smith did not believe his testimony and she found him guilty.
Fraser was not represented by any attorney.
Inspector Carol Tucker represented the prosecution.