23 year-old Stanwell Bernardez, a construction worker of Antelope Street Extension, is spending the first night of a 3-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to fondling a 3 year-old girl.
It happened at about 1 a.m. on Tuesday morning. The child's mother took her to the Police Station, where she reported that a few hours earlier, her common-law husband allowed Bernardez to sleep over at their house after a night of socializing and drinking. She said that she got up at around 1, and she went into the living room, where she found Bernardez with her daughter. She said that she took the child to bed with her.
At next morning, the child complained to her that Bernardez touched her inappropriately on her private parts. A doctor classified her injuries as harm, and police subsequently arrested and charged Bernardez with aggravated assault of an indecent nature.
He was arraigned today before Senior Magistrate Sharon Frazer, where he pleaded guilty to the offence and explained that it was an accident. He claims that he was playing with the child when it happened, and he pledged not to do it again.
Senior Magistrate Frazer didn't believe him that it was accident, and handed him the maximum sentence for this charge. Before the Magistrate passed sentence, she commented, quote, "You said that you accidentally touched her? Well, I will accidentally give you 3 years." End quote.
