NASSAU-A senior citizen convicted of caressing a toddler’s butt has been sentenced to one year in prison.
Thomas Deal, 73, faced a maximum of three years in prison for the indecent assault of the three-year-old girl.
Deal, a fisherman, spent seven months on remand pending trial and with a one-third reduction for good behaviour will be freed from prison next month.
The child’s aunt caught Deal with his hand in the child’s pull-ups, rubbing her butt.
Deal had offered to let the child’s family watch TV because their home had no power, the court heard.
The aunt was watching television with them when she stepped outside briefly. When the woman left the home, the toddler was sitting on the floor.
She was shocked to find Deal fondling the child on his lap when she returned. She shouted at him and a startled Deal put the child back on the floor, the aunt recalled.
At his trial before Magistrate Samuel McKinney, Deal denied touching the child inappropriately.
However, he admitted holding the child on his lap with his arms around her.
According to him, he picked up the child to prevent her from following her aunt out of the home.
Deal said the woman accused him of improper conduct when she returned, saying, “All these women around here, you fooling with a little girl.”
The girl’s mother tried to confront Deal about the aunt’s claims—but he refused to come out of the house.
So, she pelted the home with rocks.
The mother made a complaint to police but they didn’t catch up with Deal until January.
