Trinidad court sentences cancer patient to five years in prison

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC -A High Court judge in Trinidad and Tobago has sentenced a 79-year-old man, who is suffering from stage four esophageal cancer, to five years in prison after he was convicted of the sexual penetration of a 14-year-old girl in August last year.

Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds, in sentencing Lloyd John Williams, said “the just desert is for him to serve the entirety of the term I have calculated unless death visits upon him soon”. Williams has also been ordered to register as a sex offender.

Justice Ramsumair-Hinds began with a sentence of 17 years and after several discounts for his guilty plea and other mitigating factors, the convicted man was left with a total of seven years and two months to serve. But the judge brought it in line with a maximum sentence indication (MSI), sentencing him to five years.

The judge emphasized that a non-custodial sentence would be inadequate for Williams’ “predatory conduct,” and releasing him on probation would not be appropriate. She noted, “He has received substantial benefit from the court because of his circumstances,” highlighting the clarity of the court’s responsibilities in sentencing.