The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE case of a man accused of sexual assault of a minor over a number of years has been adjourned for another two weeks.

Yesterday’s expected hearing before Justice Vera Watkins did not take place, instead discussions were held in chambers on a plea agreement concerning 50-year-old Prince Philip Rahming’s alleged sexual assault of a girl between April 1997 and February 2013.

Following the ten-minute-long discussion, the matter was adjourned to October 28.

Justice Watkins released the jury in August after the accused’s lawyer Ramona Farquharson-Seymour informed the court that an informal plea agreement had been reached in which Rahming would face a fraction of the minimum seven-year sentence for sexual assault of a minor.

While a conviction for the sexual assault of a minor carries a prison term of seven years for the first conviction and 14 years for a subsequent conviction, the court has the discretion to impose a stiffer penalty if the circumstances of the case merit a longer sentence.

The discretion, however, is restricted if a signed plea agreement exists between the Crown and lawyers for an accused that pleaded guilty to an offence in exchange for a mutually-agreed sentence.