A 64-year-old man has been sentenced to six years behind bars after he admitted having unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl ten years ago.

Kevin Goater, from Loyal Hill, Devonshire, was sentenced on May 22 and is to be placed on the sex offenders register on release from custody.

Goater’s identity was earlier protected by a reporting restriction that was lifted because the Supreme Court took the view that his name would be public once on the sex offenders register.

The Royal Gazette confirmed details about the sentence yesterday with the Department of Public Prosecutions.

Goater, who was 53 at the time of the offence against the girl, who was under the age of 14, was previously a pastor in Bermuda.

In March, he pleaded guilty to a single count of the offence, which took place on an unknown date between December 2013 and December 2014.

The court heard how the man took the victim’s hand and placed it on his genital area before having sexual intercourse with her.

In March 2022, the victim video-recorded the man talking about the incident and admitting he had “made a mistake”.

Once the recording was made, the victim reported it to police and the man was arrested last June.

In an impact statement read to the court on her behalf, the victim said that what Goater did to her “could never be forgotten and never be changed”.

She added: “He stole my innocence and victimised me.

“I was just a child and he decided to molest me. He was a grown adult … He was someone who thought he knew God.

“I remember it like it was yesterday, I remember the pain I felt, the words that were said, crying my eyes out and running downstairs not knowing what to do.

“I get so emotional when I talk about it. I am stressing so much.”

The victim said she did not regret speaking up and was able to feel “grounded” that others may be protected by the man’s incarceration.

Goater earlier denied a separate charge of intruding on the privacy of a woman.

The Crown indicated then that it would not pursue prosecution of that charge at the time given his guilty plea for the other offence.

The court made an order that Goater’s name, photograph and intended address be entered in the sex offenders register.

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