Paul Guiste of Marigot is now an inmate at the Dominica State Prison in Stock Farm for the crime of “unlawful sexual connection and indecent assault” back in May 2018.
Brief facts
Guiste was a bus driver in the community and a close family friend of the young lady then aged 19 years. She was also a regular passenger on his bus. On May 9, 2018, she was a passenger on his bus, and he brought her to Farm Road and attempted to have sex with her against her wishes. He showed her two twenty-dollar bills, but she declined saying “I don’t have sex for money.”
She asked him where he was going with her and when she tried to open the door of the bus, he drove faster resulting in her falling while he was driving the vehicle. He then forced himself on her and forcefully opened her legs removed her panty and started to suck her Vagina against her will. The matter was reported to the police and Guiste was arrested and charged. On June 2 he pleaded guilty to the two charges.
State attorney attached to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Daina Matthew prosecuted on behalf of the State with defense counsel Wayne Norde on behalf of the prisoner.
Plea in mitigation
Defense counsel Wayne Norde told the court that his client now farms over 10 acres of land and is the father of 11 children and misunderstood the situation and when he realized she was not interested he exercised “great control.”
He asked the court to give him benefit for “exercising great control” stating that the incident was “not the worse of the worse of a sexual nature and that no violence was used.” The client he stated was “remorseful and has made several attempts to apologize to the victim but it was rejected by her and her mother.”
“We ask Your Ladyship to temper justice with mercy, the virtual complainant at the time of the incident was not a minor,” he said.
But in response State Attorney Matthew told the court that he has shown “no genuine signs of remorse, yes, he is regretful of the incident but claims he was framed and wrongfully accused. He should be given a custodial sentence,” she said.
Sentencing
In a Social Inquiry report ordered by the court, the victim stated that “the experience will forever be etched in her mind, she felt bad, worthless, embarrassed and humiliated especially since he was a trusted close family friend.”
People she said called her “slot and prostitute” and accused her mom of “prostituting her.”
Justice Wynante Adrien-Roberts stated that Guiste despite pleading “guilty” has shown “no remorse” for his actions. The offense she stated was “itself of a violent nature” since he forced open her legs against her wishes. She also noted that the aggravating aspects of the case were the abuse of trust, the money offered, the significant force used, and also the age difference (33) years. Guiste is now 56 years and the victim was then aged 19 years.
The maximum sentence for unlawful sexual connection is 14 years in jail and for indecent assault 5 years in jail. In following the Sentencing Guidelines as laid down by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, she gave a starting point of 6 years, 3 months 18 days for an unlawful sexual connection and 2 years 3 months for indecent assault. For the aggravating factors, she added 9 months to the unlawful sexual connection which was then reduced by 30 percent for his guilty plea, and for his 14 days spent on remand he also had that removed from his sentence.
He was then sentenced to 4 years 9 months and 5 days in jail to run concurrently with his sentence of indecent assault.
It doesn’t matter if she was an adult at the time,u are a bus driver u cant just take someone to a farm road and offer dem money for sex and if she didn’t agree what the fuck u trying to open d person legs for or even drivin faster if the person didnt agre with ur shit u claim u have 11 children and dat u want to do to someone else own 4 years is no fuckin time put some value on the young lady. Further more if a matter in court hand he didn’t had to try to tell she or her mother anything in Dominica once u can pay a lawyer u does walk away with alot of shit
Isn’t this.a not.graphic for news reporting? How about sexually assaulting the cidt? Why the need to “spread” and “suck”. Let’s keep the reporting professional and have one or two proofreaders.
Isn’t this a bit graphic for news reporting? How about sexual assault? What connection are we referring to? Why the need to list “spread” and “suck”? Has she not been violated sufficiently? Let’s keep the reporting professional and have one or two proofreaders edit before sharing.
Why does the prosecutor seek to lighten the plight of the young lady? She has been violated by a predator!