Accused of molesting a 4 year old, Judge says Not Guilty

Dean Lindo

Today the thirty-four year old man who was accused of committing an indecent assault against a four year old relative walked out of court a free man, as Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith found him not guilty of the charges.  The alleged incident occurred last year and the frantic, outraged mother spoke to most media houses about her frustration about the laid back attitude she felt the police department was taking in dealing with the investigation. The trial began on August twenty-seventh of this year and the first witness was the victim herself, who said the assault occurred on a bed.  However under cross examination she said the incident occurred on a chair. The mother of the child was then called to the stand and she testified that she had sent the babysitter to pick up her daughter from school, but when the sitter arrived, she was told that the accused had left with her. She examined her daughter later that day because of strange behavior and she found what appeared to be signs of an assault. The doctor was not called to testify but an initial report allegedly said there was blood while a final report said that the hymen was intact. And if there were any substance found, it could have been the result of a urinary tract infection or bad hygiene. One of the prosecutor’s original witnesses was not called to the stand by the prosecutor but by the defense. She corroborated what the accused had said. She also maintained that the child was under her observation the entire time she was at her house, therefore, no assault could have taken place. So Chief Magistrate Smith found the accused not guilty of the crime. News Five spoke to the attorney for the defense, Dean Lindo about his win in court.

Dean Lindo, Attorney

“What the mother or relatives say on the street is not necessarily what really happens, you know because a lot of these people come and they want to get in front of that TV camera. And what they say out there is quite different from what they say in court because in court it’s not like you can make up story and you are going to get away. The lawyer on either side will chastise you.”

Jose Sanchez

“What did your client say actually happened the day when he picked up the child?”

Dean Lindo

“Oh no, my client denied it completely. In fact, he took the witness stand. The case is the police against Usher, where he was accused of aggravated assault. And that was one of the issues we took about the case; how did they reach aggravated assault? Aggravated as we appreciate suggests that he might have held up somebody with a gun or a knife or something like that. And there is no such evidence and we challenged that early in the case. So they brought several witnesses and we contested that the child was so young, confused, etc, etc, etc—there was no corroboration. We argued a lot of contradiction and in generally what we were arguing in fact it was a weak case that, in my view, the police should have never brought this case to court. But the magistrate met this morning and both sides addressed her and she ruled that this man was not guilty and so they let him go.”

Jose Sanchez

“You mentioned the definition of aggravated, but they are saying of a sexual nature, he may have raped her, he may have fondled her…”

Dean Lindo

“But you see, they have to make up their minds—if it is rape it is rape. But they didn’t charge him with rape. You can’t tell me rape and charge me for aggravated assault or vice versa. You have got to make up your mind because as the accuse, I have a right to know what it is I have to answer—they have to come up with a charge. In my view, it was that they went and presented a story to the police of this man on rape when rape never entered the case and of course we had no evidence; no question of rape.”