PHILIPSBURG--The Court of First Instance has sentenced a man to five years in prison for having repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted his stepdaughter from 2017 and 2021, when the girl was between ten and fourteen years old.
R.L.W.J. (49) was also ordered to pay his victim almost NAF. 21,200 in damages. However, the judge declined to immediately send J. to prison – a move that had been requested by the prosecutor – because the now-convicted man has fully complied with the conditions of his July 2023 release from pre-trial detention.
This newspaper will not publish J.’s name in an effort to protect the identity of the young victim.
In his verdict on Thursday, the judge ruled the girl’s testimony to be reliable and filled with “authentic details and observations”.
The victim described a pattern of intensifying sexual abuse over a four-year period, ultimately culminating in her stepfather raping her multiple times a week in the bedroom he shared with the girl’s mother.
She told investigators that her stepfather made threats to ensure her silence, saying he would go to jail and she and her unemployed mother would end up homeless and hungry, and that her mother was sick and would die if she learned the truth. He also pointed out that he was a police officer, telling her: “It is my word against yours”.
The girl said he would give her money and, if she rebuffed his sexual advances, he took her mobile phone away until she gave in.
The judge ruled that the victim’s testimony was supported by changes in her behaviour around that time. This was confirmed by her mother and staff at several schools she attended, who said her grades began to drop and she was skipping class and getting into fights with other children.
The girl’s siblings also told investigators that their stepfather often called her to the bedroom and closed the door behind them.
It emerged from court documents that the girl’s mother and one of her siblings recorded telephone conversations with J. after they heard about the sexual abuse allegations.
In one conversation, J. told the sibling that he had discussed “the issue” with the mother. However, the judge noted that “there is no denial on the side of the defendant that he had done something, which would be expected with such serious accusations”.
In another conversation, J. told the mother that “this issue inside the house ain’t police business”.
“The defendant grossly abused his role as stepfather and caused the girl long-term mental damage,” the judge said in the 22-page verdict.
The court’s sentencing guidelines call for four years in prison for raping a child under 12 years old.
However, the judge increased the sentence by one year due to the frequent, long-term nature of the abuse and the misuse of J.’s “mental and physical authority”. The judge also considered the significant age difference and the imbalance of power between stepfather and stepdaughter.
During J.’s trial last month, the prosecutor considered the charges proven and demanded an eight-year prison sentence. Defence lawyer Shaira Bommel pleaded for an acquittal on insufficient evidence, arguing that the girl’s testimony was unreliable and not properly substantiated.
