By FARRAH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
A 27-year-old man who claimed he accidentally groped a little girl in the back of a local food store because he was high on drugs was yesterday fined $1,000.
Aaron Coakley was arrested after he grabbed a 12-year-old girl’s buttocks at E & G Convenience Store on February 5. He pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault during a hearing before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis.
The court was told that the minor was standing at the back of the shop when Coakley walked up to her, hugged her and grabbed her behind. The prosecution said the little girl then pushed the accused away and went back to the front of the store to report the incident to her parents. After they filed an official complaint, Coakley was arrested.
During the hearing, the accused told the magistrate he only committed the act because he was high on ecstasy and narcotics at the time.
As a result, Magistrate Rolle Davis accepted his guilty plea and fined him $1,000 or six months in prison.
Yesterday, a 26-year-old man also appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes for a similar offence.
Police said Jerome Russell Jr indecently assaulted a 13-year-old girl in Devil’s Point Cat Island sometime in August last year.
He denied the allegation and his case was adjourned to April 19 for trial.
In the meantime, Russell Jr was granted $5,000 bail.
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