NASSAU- The Court of Appeal has overturned the conviction of a man accused of the sexual assault of his 12-year-old stepdaughter who tested positive for an STD.
The 40-year-old man, whose name has been withheld to protect the identity of the child, was jailed for 14 years in 2018.
Public defender Marianne Cadet argued that the conviction was unsafe and unsatisfactory, because the child tested positive for an STD her stepfather didn’t have.
Cadet said the child and her mother could have made up the complaint against the man because he was physically abusive and unfaithful.
The Court said, “In our view, the evidence against the appellant was weak and tenuous, that is to say, we held the view that the judge ought to have highlighted the implausibility of Child A’s complaint in light of the fact that the appellant did not have gonorrhea although it was alleged he had unprotected sex with Child A who was suffering from that disease.”
