Tonight, 43 year-old Patrick Payne is behind bars after he was handed a 3-year sentence today in one of the quickest convictions for indecent assault recently in the Magistrate's Court.
As we reported, a 16 year-old female told police that on August 13, while she was asleep, she felt someone touching her privates. She woke up and caught Payne in the act.
Police arrested Payne, charged him with aggravated assault of an indecent nature, and took him before Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith who remanded him on August 15.
2 adjournments later, the victim came and testified to the court the exact same thing she told police, and when the prosecution closed its case, Payne offered his own defense.
He denied the allegation and simply said that the victim was telling lies on him. Chief Magistrate Smith, after considering the evidence, found him guilty of the offence, and she sentenced him to spend 3 years in prison.
It is important to note that this is Payne's second conviction; back in 2004, he was convicted for the exact same thing. In his arraignment, the prosecution used this conviction as one of the main grounds to convince Chief Magistrate Smith to deny bail.
