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The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) has ordered the release of Richardson Fontaine who was serving a ten-year jail sentence for unlawful sexual intercourse with an 11-year-old female.<\/p>\n
Fontaine then aged 52, was sentenced on Tuesday 29 September 2015 by Justice Errol Thomas after being found guilty by a nine-member jury.<\/p>\n
According to the facts of the case, Fontaine, who was married, was engaged in an extra-marital affair with a woman named Miranda, who is a cousin of the virtual complainant and who lives in the vicinity of the VC\u2019s home.<\/p>\n
On 23rd October 2012, the child spent the night at Miranda\u2019s home, where Fontaine had sexual intercourse with her.\u00a0 On the morning of 24th October 2012, she returned to her home and left later that morning to go to school.<\/p>\n
After she left for school, her mother noticed what appeared to be blood on the underwear which the child was wearing when she returned from Miranda\u2019s home.\u00a0 Upon her return home from school, her mother questioned her about the blood on her underwear and the child told her what had happened at Miranda\u2019s home.<\/p>\n
The mother then went to Miranda\u2019s home to show her the underwear that the child had been wearing when she came home from Miranda’s that morning.<\/p>\n
The child was taken to the Health Centre and examined by Miranda who worked as a nurse; a few days later she was taken to the Portsmouth Hospital where she was examined by a medical doctor. A report was then made to the police; investigations were conducted and Fontaine was arrested and charged for unlawful sexual intercourse and indecent assault.<\/p>\n
He appealed and advanced 8 grounds of appeal against conviction and one ground of appeal against sentence claiming it was harsh.<\/p>\n
Justice of Appeal Mario Michel, who wrote the Court’s decision, stated, \u201chaving regard to the fact that what the jury had to do in this case was essentially to determine whether they believed the appellant or the VC, the prejudicing of the jury\u2019s mind against the appellant was at the very least capable of causing a miscarriage of justice, and I cannot say that no miscarriage was in fact caused.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIndeed, the fact that the case turned on the very issue of whether or not the jury believed the VC or the appellant, it cannot be said with any certainty that the verdict of the jury would have been the same if their minds had not been prejudiced against the appellant.\u00a0 I will accordingly allow the appeal and quash the conviction of the appellant.\u00a0 The appeal against sentence will fall away as a result,\u201d Michel JA stated.<\/p>\n
He continued, \u201cI would dismiss 7 of the 8 grounds of appeal against conviction and uphold 1.\u00a0 The ground upheld (adjusted to reflect its amalgamation with a kindred ground) complained about the trial judge\u2019s several interruptions of defense counsel in her closing address to the jury which had the effect of prejudicing the minds of the jury against the appellant.\u201d<\/p>\n
The appellant\u2019s appeal against his conviction should, therefore, be allowed and his conviction and sentence set aside, subject however to section 38(1) of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Dominica) Act31 (the Supreme Court Act),” Michel stated. “The only issue which remains for determination is whether there ought to be a retrial of the appellant.<\/p>\n
He said the court, in looking at the matter and “in the public\u2019s interest,” decided against having a retrial.<\/p>\n
“The appellant himself would have been 49 at the date of the incident and is now 57 years old.\u00a0 Justice will probably not be served with respect to either of them if the events of that night in October 2012 have to be virtually relived by the parties and others around them,” Michel explained. “Witnesses may also be unavailable or unwilling to participate in a new trial likely to take place more than 8 years after the events or circumstances about which they testified at the previous trial.”<\/p>\n
The Justice of Appeal said the balance was further swung against retrial by the fact that the appellant (Fontaine) has spent in excess of 4 years and 9 months in prison between the date of his conviction on 14th July 2015 and the date of this judgment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) has ordered the release of Richardson Fontaine who was serving a ten-year jail sentence for unlawful sexual intercourse with an 11-year-old female. Fontaine then aged 52, was sentenced on Tuesday 29 September 2015 by…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":249706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[265,282,19,36,11,17,235,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid-19","category-covid-19-news","category-crime-court-law","category-economy-development","category-general","category-health","category-homepage-carousel","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n