A 14-year-old victim of buggery and other sexual offences displayed a sense of calm and peace that his mother has been longing for since she first heard the final outcome in court last Friday.

And even after justice took a U-turn onto a lane of unexpected “unfairness”, the boy continues to maintain an admirable tranquillity, having learnt that his aggressor had been sent to prison, though not for the time that would have satisfied him.

“God has the final say. Maybe He has a reason for the years going down so low. Maybe He has something planned. We will just have to have faith,” the 14-year-old boy told the Jamaica Observer.

Twelve, and six years old at the time, the boy and his brother were left to heal after one of their most fundamental rights as children was grossly violated in 2021 — their right to protection from abuse as reflected in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.

They waited for two years to hear that their perpetrator, Sheridan Shepherd, had been brought to justice. Shepherd, of a St Mary address, was charged on June 17, 2021 for buggering seven minors. Shepherd, now 40 years old, had pleaded guilty on four separate indictments for six counts of buggery, four counts of grievous sexual assault, one count of indecent assault and one count of sexual touching in 2021. He was 38 years old at the time of the offences.

Last Friday, Judge Simone Wolfe Reece slapped him with a cumulative 77-year sentence in the Supreme Court, which was whittled down to 17 years and 11 months based on the fact that the prison terms were ordered to run concurrently.

“It made me angry, because I am saying, if he got 77 years, how did it get reduced to 17? He deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison. I don’t know how it is like this. I thought he was going to get life in prison,” the boy said of his initial reaction, but admitted that said emotion has since subsided.

The boy had displayed a level of maturity beyond his years when he and his mother first spoke to the Observer in July 2021. he melodiously belted lyrics to God Answers Prayers, leaving his mother to hold back tears.

‘If you’re ever feeling down; Like you have nowhere to go; If you’re feeling like an outcast as your problems overflow; Just remember there is someone; And all it takes is for you to know; Is that God is the answer; And God answers prayer,” he sang.

Shortly after Sheridan was charged, the boy had to sit the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations and landed a school of his choice. He told the Observer that since then, academics have been his sole focus.

“I read one of the stories about the case, and I read it one time. I am just trying to focus more on school. And I am just trying to do that and reach where I want to go,” he said, while offering advice to youngsters like himself who have been wronged and are waiting to see their perpetrators brought to justice.

“Just keep faith and pray, because God has everything planned.”

His mother, on the other hand, can’t help but feel like both her sons were cheated. Sheridan benefited from discounts for his guilty pleas and deductions based on time already spent in custody and the mitigating factors in the case. He will become eligible for parole after he has served 12 years in prison.

“I feel broken more than how I was broken already. I am broken right now. Jamaica doesn’t have a justice system. It’s sickening. I don’t even have words to explain how I feel right now. This feels like a big slap in the face. This feel like when me a walk pon my back step the other day and drop straight through the step,” the woman said in distress.

“I am glad I didn’t go [to court] because maybe if I went, I would be the one getting life in prison right now. No mother nuh supposed to be standing up in court and a listen to all of that. I was not going to tolerate that. They would have locked me up, so I am glad I did not go to the court,” she continued.

She said her son’s molester should have got life in prison and nothing less.

“He pled guilty on all counts so they should’ve just given him life. I don’t know what that judge was thinking. When we were in court and he pled guilty, the judge was telling them not to read anymore as if she was annoyed at it. It was like it was too much, so I was not expecting this. I don’t know what is that,” she lamented.

“I don’t know what is going to happen. I was looking forward, and expected it to be stern. This is shocking to me. They are just sending him out to come do the same thing again, but maybe he won’t be lucky next time. The breath of life may leave him. It is just God and time,” the mother said.