By Breaking Belize News Staff: Twenty-two-year-old Mark Stephen Godoy Jr. has avoided an immediate prison sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl, with High Court Justice Nigel Pilgrim instead imposing three years’ probation after considering Godoy’s significant intellectual disability.
Godoy admitted to having sexual intercourse with the girl on two occasions in March 2024, when he was 20 years old and she was 14.
Justice Pilgrim initially assessed the offences at a five-year starting point under the sentencing guidelines, finding the harm to the victim to be high and noting significant psychological effects. The provisional sentence was later reduced after the court considered the absence of violence, coercion or grooming, as well as Godoy’s guilty pleas, lack of previous convictions, remorse, family support and intellectual impairment.
The court ultimately found special circumstances justifying a departure from an immediate custodial sentence and placed Godoy under the supervision of a Community Rehabilitation Officer for three years. He must report as directed, comply with reasonable instructions and notify the supervising officer of any change of residence.
Public reporting on Monday’s ruling similarly said Justice Pilgrim considered imprisonment disproportionate in light of Godoy’s permanent intellectual limitations and warned that the probation order was not simply a “slap on the wrist.” A breach or new criminal offending could return him to the High Court for sentencing.
The case followed months of litigation over whether Godoy was legally competent to face the charges. Crown Counsel Kirk Brown, representing the Director of Public Prosecutions, fiercely contested the defence position and argued that although Godoy had intellectual limitations, he could understand the charges and participate in the proceedings with appropriate assistance.
Two psychiatric reports had identified intellectual impairments, with evidence before the court placing some aspects of Godoy’s functioning around the developmental level of an eight-year-old. The medical experts considered him unfit to stand trial, but Justice Pilgrim ruled in June that the legal test was different from the clinical assessment. He found that Godoy could understand the proceedings, make a plea, instruct counsel and give evidence if questions and concepts were simplified.
Godoy subsequently pleaded guilty to the two USI counts on July 29.
According to the facts, Godoy began communicating with the girl through Facebook Messenger and Instagram sometime after February 14, 2024. He allegedly told her he was 20 and she told him she was 14.
They later met on March 1 and again on March 5, 2024, and had sexual intercourse on both occasions.
The court’s decision comes months after a separate Magistrate’s Court matter in which firearm and ammunition charges against Godoy were struck out after he was also found incompetent to stand trial in that proceeding.
The post Man who likes to play with guns and little girls given no jail-time once again as psychiatrists insist he has ‘the mind of an 8-year-old’ appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Breaking Belize News Staff: Twenty-two-year-old Mark Stephen Godoy Jr. has avoided an immediate prison sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl, with High Court Justice Nigel Pilgrim instead imposing three years’ probation after considering Godoy’s significant intellectual disability. Godoy admitted to having sexual intercourse with the
The post Man who likes to play with guns and little girls given no jail-time once again as psychiatrists insist he has ‘the mind of an 8-year-old’ appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.