NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC) – A high court judge in the Bahamas has rejected a plea for a lesser sentence from both the prosecution and the defence and sentenced a 37-year-old father to five years in jail after indicating that he had committed a serious breach of trust.

The father faced a potential maximum sentence of eight years.

“A child should always be able to rely on the strength of their father. You are their safe space. In that safe space that was their home, you sought to abuse these two young girls,” Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson said as she imposed the sentence on the man who was convicted of sexually abusing his three-year-old twin daughters in July last year.

The man admitted to indecently assaulting his twin daughters with his 16-year-old daughter breaking down in tears as she recalled how she saw her naked father touching one of her siblings intimately.

The man was arrested for two crimes in August 2024 and was not released on bail.

The court heard that the father shared a bedroom with his children. He slept in the same bed as the toddlers, one of whom is autistic, while his teenage daughter had her own bed.

In passing sentence, Justice Grant-Thompson heard from the man’s attorney, Sonia Knowles and Director of Public Prosecutions, Cordell Frazier, that due to his relatively early guilty plea and his lack of similar convictions, they believed a four-year sentence was appropriate.

But as she departed from the sentencing recommendation the senior judge imposed a sentence of five years to take effect from February 7. The time that the father spent on remand was taken into consideration.

Justice Grant-Thompson also recommended that the father receive counselling for sex abuse as well as a psychiatric evaluation and treatment.