Regina v Derrick Miller (CR 37 of 2021; CR 38 of 2021) [2022] TCASC 14 (12 May 2022)

Flynote

Criminal law

Case summary

The Court sentenced the Defendant to 9 years imprisonment on each count of attempted rape, and 11 years imprisonment on each count of rape. The sentences are to run concurrently and time spent on remand is to be taken into account. In arriving at the sentences, the Court considered a victim impact statement, a pre-sentence report and took the principles of sentencing, including the totality principle into account. The Court bore in mind that it had to balance a number of competing interests and objectives; and therefore to tailor the sentence to suit the offence(s) and the offender, while maintaining a level of transparency. The Court considered the vulnerability of the victims, as a result of extreme youth and personal circumstances; and culpability, due to the Defendant’s abuse of the trust reposed in him as the Pastor of the Church which the victims attended. As well as, evidence of grooming behavior towards the victims, and also places of the offending. The Court stated that religious and community leaders are entrusted with children and the vulnerable for their care and protection, not for that trust or for the children to be used and abused. Persons in the community have come to admire, look up to and respect religious leaders, and when those in positions of trust abuse that trust, it damages not only victims but also has a negative impact on the community.

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