Spanish Town

"Leave our children alone, we need them to grow properly." These were the words of Resident Magistrate Marcia Dunbar-Greene shortly before she sentenced an ex-policeman to two years' imprisonment on for assault with intent to rape a 13-year-old girl.

RM Dunbar-Greene sentenced Dennis Hobbs of St Catherine in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate's Court after he was convicted for attempted rape a schoolgirl whom he had picked up in his vehicle earlier this year.

Sentence for rape

The Crown led evidence that sometime in May, Hobbs who had recently finished a six-year prison sentence for rape picked up the child and, while driving her to her destination, told her that he had to divert on a dirt road to pick up someone.

After driving for some time, he stopped the vehicle and said "a likkle p.. p... mi want". The child resisted and he opened a compartment in the motor vehicle, where a knife fell out. The schoolgirl started to cry and the court learnt that he told her to stop crying, as this action only makes him want to kill her and throw away her body. He then held on to her clothes, and burst her skirt open. She managed to run from the vehicle into bushes.

The schoolgirl related her ordeal to a man. The police were nearby and she made a report and the 35-year-old Hobbs was picked up shortly after and the knife was found.

Defied logic

Before handing down sentence, RM Dunbar-Greene told the former policeman that his defence was one that defied logic, as he was at best inconsistent and that she believes every word that the complainant said, as she as no reason to lie. She said even though Hobbs claimed that he wanted to collect his fare, at no time did he suggest that any money was passed and that he was properly identified and should know much better.

Defence attorney, Peter Cham-pagnie, begged for leniency, citing that his client spent five months in custody before he was granted bail.

The RM told the lawyer that Hobbs had the option of pleading guilty. She told the lawyer that the two-year sentence is the maximum for the offence and it cannot be otherwise, seeing that his client had been convicted of a similar offence previously.