Man on trial for sexual assault on his stepsister

September 30, 2016

PHILIPSBURG–The Court of First Instance, on Thursday, heard the case of a 26-year-old man who is suspected of having committed sexual assault on his mentally-challenged stepsister.

Suspect O.J., who is born in the Dominican Republic, denied the allegations. The Prosecutor considered the charges proven and called for a three-year prison sentence.
J. is suspected of raping his stepsister, who is in her 20s, on April 2. That night she was sleeping at her stepfather’s house. According to the victim, her stepbrother raped her in the bathroom. The defendant refuted the allegations and said he had only assisted his sister after she had wet her clothes.
The victim reported the incident to her mother, her sister, and also at Sister Basilia Centre. She also said her stepbrother, who is a married man, had fondled her in a lewd manner.
The victim’s mother reported the incident to the Police on April 12. A medical doctor, who examined the victim, could not ascertain whether she had been raped or that violence had been exerted. It was, however, established that the victim was sexually active.
Based on the victim’s consistent statements to her family and to Sister Basilia Centre, the Prosecutor considered rape proven.
Attorney-at-law Safira Ibrahim questioned the reliability of the victim’s accounts, especially those made during questioning by the Police some three weeks after the incident.
The lawyer said that the questions posed during the interrogation, which was recorded on video, were not open but seemed to guide the victim in a certain direction.
The suspect said the false allegations were to make him pay for the broken relationship between his father and the victim’s mother. He provided bed sheets to the Police in evidence that nothing indecent had transpired between him and his stepsister.
The Judge, who posed a number of critical questions during the hearing, will give his decision October 20.