Father sentenced to 19 years for incest

While it was father versus son in Belize City, in the Belmopan Magistrate Court a thirty-nine year old man was sentenced for the crime of Incest on his eleven year old daughter. The father was convicted on August sixth of three counts each of Incest and an unnatural crime and one count of Threat of Death. Today Justice Troadio Gonzalez handed down a sentence of fifty-seven years and six months, which breaks down to seven years for each count of Incest, twelve for each count of an Unnatural Crime and six months for Threat of Death. But the Roaring Creek resident won’t even spend half that time in prison since the jail term for each count of incest and unnatural crime are to run concurrently. That means the father will only be behind bars for nineteen years. In her testimony during the trial, the child claimed that her father had sex with her on several occasions between 2003 and 2006. The abuse started while she lived with her father in Roaring Creek and continued after they moved to Belize City. She says her father threatened her on each encounter that he would kill her if she told her mother about his actions. On behalf of the father, who denied the allegations, two character witnesses took the stand to beg for leniency and described him as a good person and father.