PHILIPSBURG–A 22-year-old musician entertaining guests at a hotel was sentenced Wednesday to eighty hours of community service for having sex with an underage guest.
Defendant Jean C. told the Court that the girl, who he thought was almost 17 years old, had taken the initiative to the sexual encounter.
He confessed to having had intercourse with the girl, who in fact was only 14 years old at the time. He told the Court that hotel management had warned him not to get involved with the girl. It is hotel policy for employees not to get personally involved with guests.
C. said he had intercourse with the girl twice between January 4 and January 11. “She seemed very mature and started texting me…We were having intense and sexual conversations. She told me she wanted to do it and I got along with it and we had sex,” he told the Judge.
The girl’s parents were very upset when they found out and filed a complaint with the hotel. At first, C. denied he was involved. “I was scared,” he said, but confessed later. He was held in detention for 11 days.
The Prosecutor’s Office considered sexual abuse of a minor proven, punishable by 80 hours of community service.
Attorney-at-law Geert Hatzmann, who in vain called for a closed-door hearing, said this was a “difficult and emotionally charged case.” He pointed out that contrary to the “average” middle-aged sex offender with a “beer belly,” his client was a young man, who had not abused his authority to get his way with the girl.
In pleading for his client’s acquittal, the lawyer claimed that the girl’s parents were also to be blamed as they had let their underage daughter drink “one cocktail after the other.”
As the sex had been consensual and the girl should not be considered a victim, Hatzmann found lechery not proven.
The Judge said that adults are not allowed to have sex with minors below the age of 16 in order to protect their physical integrity. C. was sentenced according to the Prosecutor’s demand.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/66652-hotel-employee-sentenced-for-sex-with-underage-guest
View comments
Hide comments