By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Christian Council president Bishop Delton Fernander yesterday condemned a deacon sentenced to 20 years for sexually assaulting a ten-year-old girl, stressing the man was already a convicted felon and not a trusted member of the clergy.

A 59-year-old deacon was sentenced on Friday to 20 years in prison for molesting his niece, then aged ten.

“It’s very concerning,” Bishop Fernander said yesterday. “If you read the details of the story, he is a convicted felon. I know people highlight that. He said he was a deacon, but the highlight of the story was he’s already not a trusted member of the clergy in The Bahamas. We stand against that kind of behaviour. If it’s in the law, if it’s in the parliament, wherever it is, it’s unacceptable.

“That which was meted out to him was due, and we stand with all that punishment that has been meted out. But we as a church, we do not condone those in our ranks who do not live up to the standards of Christ in their daily life.”

He also pushed back against what he called unfair stereotypes of the church.

“It is not the church because the church is the people. We are made up of the community. The stereotype that is being pushed, I believe, per capita is not the case that you have more trusted voices. You have more trusted people that have raised - myself and a whole generation and brought us to where we are today. They are few bad apples, and we’re trying to weed them out,” he said.

According to the Nassau Guardian, Justice Dale Fitzpatrick, who handed down the sentence, said sexual offences against children remain a serious problem in the country and require strong deterrents.

“There is a problem with the frequency of these types of crimes in this community, requiring a message of deterrence and denunciation by the courts,” Justice Fitzpatrick said.

The victim was living with the convict and his wife — her maternal aunt — after her mother’s death. Prosecutors said the man raped her three times in his bedroom in January and February 2023 while his wife, who had limited mobility after a stroke, was in another room.

A school guidance counsellor later alerted authorities, leading to the man’s arrest.

A jury convicted him on May 9 of two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a dependent.

Before sentencing, the man asked for leniency, citing his role as caretaker for his disabled wife and elderly mother and claiming he could mentor young men as a deacon.

Justice Fitzpatrick rejected his plea.

“We are dealing with an extremely vulnerable victim, a ten-year-old who was preyed on by a 56-year-old she considered as her father,” he said. “That relationship should be one of safety and security. Anal penetration of your child is breach of trust.”

The judge noted that while the convict “embraced the teachings of the Bible”, Jesus cherished children and sought to protect them.

Prosecutors Terry Archer and Ashton Williams had requested a sentence between 15 and 30 years. The convict will receive credit for the two months he spent on remand.