NASSAU- The prosecution’s appeal against the sentence imposed on a bus driver, who indecently assaulted a schoolgirl, will be heard next month.
Dennis Clarke was on February 26 convicted of caressing the 14-year-old C V Bethel student’s thigh after a trial and fined $200.
Clarke paid the fine, avoiding one month in prison.
The prosecution has appealed the “unduly lenient” sentence.
Clarke could have been sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison.
The case, which was reported exclusively by Bahamas Court News, sparked public outrage.
The court heard that the victim and his daughter boarded Clarke’s bus on Soldier Road on October 27, 2019.
The father paid the fare for her and left.
Before Clarke drove off, he turned to the girl, who was seated behind him and said, “You pretty bey.”
Then he put his hand under the girl’s skirt and rubbed her thigh.
The child pushed his hand away and told Clarke she would tell her father.
She immediately reported the matter to her grandmother, who works at her school, and they went to the East Street South Police Station.
Police arrested Clarke when he came to a station to press charges against the girl’s father.
After learning about the assault, the father waited for Clarke on Soldier Road. He boarded the bus and struck Clarke with a cellphone.
