Posted: Wednesday, November 27, 2024. 4:06 pm CST.
By Aaron Humes: Accused of ten years of sexual terror of an eight-year-old girl, 34-year-old Robert Usher was convicted of five counts of sexual crimes on Monday in the High Court.
Now 22, the complainant testified in court that she was taken advantage of between the ages of eight and 17, despite telling her mother about the abuse, then confessing to an aunt after three separate instances of rape which prompted a police investigation.
High Court Justice Candace Nanton will decide on an appropriate sentence by next January 6, 2025. Still, in her ruling, she indicated that while the victim’s memory had faded in some instances as to precise dates and time, her evidence and testimony about her ugly childhood trauma, on the whole, could not be shaken nor disproven.
Usher was charged with aggravated assault of an indecent nature; indecent sexual assault and three counts of rape dating back to September 2010 in Belize City until she left her neighborhood at the age of 17. The case was tried in October where the victim testified in camera, a screen shielding her from her alleged tormentor.
The victim said the horror began on September 28, 2010, with an inappropriate touch while alone, and her pleas not to do it ignored, or silenced by threats of hurt.
The inappropriate behavior advanced to rape at the age of 13. The victim had told the court that when he was touching her inappropriately, she told her mother and she didn’t believe her.
Usher, represented by attorney Lynden Jones, denied the allegations in unsworn testimony, claiming he was working at the time. However, the judge found that the child had been left in his care along with other children on several occasions during the period in question.
The medical evidence confirmed sexual intercourse, but not necessarily who the culprit was. But the evidence of the victim pointed to Usher alone, and the testimony – with slight inconsistencies notwithstanding – bore that out.
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The post Robert Usher, 34, convicted of 5 counts of sexual crimes against minor appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
Posted: Wednesday, November 27, 2024. 4:06 pm CST. By Aaron Humes: Accused of ten years of sexual terror of an eight-year-old girl, 34-year-old Robert Usher was
The post Robert Usher, 34, convicted of 5 counts of sexual crimes against minor appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
