A 50-year-old man has been found guilty of indecently assaulting a young girl.
A jury found Adelio Camara Marques guilty of one count procuring an act of gross indecency, and three counts of indecent assault.
The girl said that over a two-year period when she was under 12-years-old, Marques had touched her indecently on several occasions, and had once performed a sex act on himself in front of her in a car park, and got her to touch his penis.
She told the court during cross-examination by Crown Advocate Julian Gollop, prosecuting, that a number of years on from the incidents, she "couldn't keep it a secret anymore”, saying that the assaults had left her feeling “disgusting” and “numb.”
During a police interview following his arrest, Marques suggested that the girl had lied, potentially due to influence from others. Defending Marques, Advocate Adam Harrison also pointed to inconsistencies in the girl's accounts to different people of what happened as evidence she was not being truthful.
However, Advocate Gollop said that the girl was “a credible witness; she was measured, very clear in her evidence”, and suggested it would be more suspicious if she had given a “word for word” recollection of the historic assaults every single time.
In the end, Marques was found guilty by a unanimous verdict on the count of procuring an act of gross indecency, and on a majority verdict for the three counts of indecent assault.
He is now subject to notification requirements of the Sex Offenders Law, and is remanded in custody until this Friday, when he will appear in court again for a sentencing date to be fixed.
Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith was presiding throughout the trial.
Following the case, Detective Inspector Paul Ryan said: “Firstly, I would like to thank and commend the victim in this case, for showing tremendous courage in speaking up to reveal her abuser as she did.
“Marques’ crimes shows how he took advantage of his position, being known to his victim, to abuse her for his own gratification, and I am thankful that the jury has found him guilty of this.
“I hope his conviction and subsequent sentencing goes some way to providing comfort to his victim and her family so that they may move forward knowing justice has been served.”
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