Man Sentenced to 16 Years’ Imprisonment for Child Sexual Abuse

The Bermuda Police Service (BPS) notes the Supreme Court sentencing of 26-year-old Maleke Martin today, Tuesday 11^th April 2023, to 16 year’s imprisonment regarding sexual exploitation of a child offences.

Those incidents occurred two years ago and a police investigation commenced.

Following a Supreme Court trial, Mr. Martin was found guilty in December 2022 of two counts of child sexual exploitation and one count of showing offensive material to a child.

At trial, the Special Measures for Child Witnesses in Criminal Cases legislation was utilised for the first time locally, a key provision of the Child Safeguarding (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2019, as outlined by Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs & Constitutional Reform, the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons, JP, MP, in her Ministerial Statement Monday, 27^th February 2023. This new legislation allowed for pre-recorded evidence from the child to be used during trial, instead of the child giving evidence in front of the defendant and a jury.

Specifically, Mr. Martin was sentenced as follows:

• 1^st count – 13½ years’ imprisonment for sexual exploitation of a young person, being a person in trust;
• 2^nd count – 16 years’ imprisonment for sexual exploitation of a young person, being a person in trust;
• 3^rd count – 6 years’ imprisonment for showing abusive images to a young person.

All sentences are to run concurrently and at least half of the 16 years’ imprisonment must be served, before parole eligibility.

Additionally, Mr. Martin will be placed on the Sex Offenders Register and upon release from prison, will have to complete a 15 year supervision order.

The BPS takes our role in child safeguarding seriously, which involves ongoing partnerships with the Government, the judiciary and relevant community organisations to help protect young, vulnerable people.

Any content which is considered unsuitable, unlawful, or offensive, includes personal details, advertises or promotes products, services or websites, or repeats previous comments will be removed.

User comments posted on this website are solely the views and opinions of the comment writer and are not a representation of or reflection of the opinions of TNN or its staff.

TNN reserves the right to remove, edit or censor any comments.

TNN accepts no liability and will not be held accountable for the comments made by users.