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Guilty of Carnal Knowledge of Child
posted (July 16, 2010)
A jury of eight women and one man deliberated for a little over three hours before they found 42 year old fudge vendor Bernard Pratt guilty of 4 counts of Carnal Knowledge of an 11 year old girl. It happened today in the Courtroom of Justice Herbert Lord.

The jury's verdict was unanimous for the third count and was in the proportion of 7 to 2 for the other counts. The incident occurred between June 1st 2008 and July 31st 2008 at Hattieville. The child testified in closed court that Pratt entered her bedroom through a window and had sex with her while her grandmother was not at home.

Her sister also testified in closed court that on one occasion when she was sleeping in a separate bed she woke up to see Pratt on top of the 11 year old. She said Pratt went over to her bed and asked if he could sit beside her and she refused. When the sisters told their grandmother about the incidents she did not believe them. Pratt gave a statement from the dock in which he denied committing the offences. He called his ex-girlfriend as a witness and she testified that at the time Pratt was living with her and he could not have committed the offences.

Crown Counsel Christelle Wilson represented the prosecution.

Justice Lord has deferred sentencing until Friday, July 23 - in order to give Pratt, who was not represented by an attorney time to prepare a plea for mitigation.

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