Log In

Reset Password
BERMUDA | RSS PODCAST

Man who sexually assaulted young boy is jailed

Sentenced: Jomar Caines was yesterday sentenced to 12 years in jail after he locked a ten-year-old boy in a bathroom stall and sexually assaulted him.

A man who locked a ten-year-old boy in a restaurant bathroom and sexually assaulted him has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.Jomar Akbar Caines, 36, from Pembroke, also attacked two people who attempted to intervene after hearing the victim’s cries, swinging a hammer at one and punching the other repeatedly.Caines has a history of committing sexual offences against young boys and was still on parole at the time of the incident for a previous offence of attempting to provoke a young male to perform an indecent act.In Supreme Court yesterday, Crown counsel Cindy Clarke said that at around 7.30pm on March 29, the victim, who cannot be identified, and his family were having dinner at Hamilton’s Pasta Basta restaurant when Caines entered.Caines approached another boy, who was in line by the food counter, and asked where the bathroom was. The boy pointed to the restrooms and Caines entered the foyer, which gave access to the bathroom, but returned shortly after. He then approached the victim, asking again where the bathroom was.The victim, who was carrying his younger brother, walked Caines to the foyer. Caines told the victim to put the toddler down.Ms Clarke said: “The defendant suddenly grabbed the complainant by his shirt and forcefully pulled him into the men’s bathroom.“Once inside, the defendant secured the room by locking the door and proceeded to fondle the chest area of the complainant, who is now terrified and began to frantically shout for help and bang on the closed door.”Nineteen-year-old Sakina Tucker was one of two patrons who heard the victim’s cries and pounded on the bathroom door while calling for help. Caines then emerged from the bathroom with a claw hammer in hand.“The defendant suddenly swung at Ms Tucker with the hammer,” Ms Clarke said. “Ms Tucker instinctively moved and avoided the blow, after which the armed defendant fled into the busy dining area where he indiscriminately punched at customers in an attempt to evade their grasp and make his way towards the exit.“Allen Bean, the other concerned patron, tried to prevent the defendant from leaving and the defendant repeatedly punched Mr Bean in his head and back as he shielded a toddler who was stood vulnerable within the doorway the defendant was trying to exit through.”Caines was chased by several people to Hamilton Police Station, where he was arrested and cautioned.He told officers: “I am sick” and “It wasn’t sexual.”The court heard Caines was convicted in 1997 for sexual assault, unlawful carnal knowledge, deprivation of liberty, and in 2002 was sentenced to a year in prison for burglary with intent to commit a felony, specifically sexual assault. In each case the victim was a young male.In 2010, he was convicted of attempting to provoke a young man to perform an indecent act. He was released from prison on October 14, only five months before the incident at Pasta Basta.He has also been convicted for possessing cannabis with intent to supply, possessing an offensive weapon, and assaulting an officer.Ms Clarke said that since the incident, the victim has been in counselling and has shown a noticeable change in behaviour.She said Caines needs to be separated from society, noting his history of sexual and violent offences and issues with alcohol and cocaine.He is a diagnosed schizophrenic but experts had indicated his mental illness was not connected to his sexual proclivities, Ms Clarke said.Caines’ lawyer, Mark Pettingill, said it was clear that the mental condition and the offences were linked.He described his client as having a reduced intellectual capacity, saying: “If you take an eight-year-old and fill him with testosterone, there are going to be sexual issues.”He lamented the lack of a residential care facility for offenders like Caines, saying the limited options were frustrating.“Some people take the view we should just lock him up and throw away the key,” he said. “That doesn’t work. In the end, what that creates is something out of a Mary Shelly novel.“What would make the difference would be a different type of facility.”Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons responded: “You build it and they will come because this court will send them.”Caines apologised to the victims, the court and to society.“At the time I wasn’t taking my medication,” he said. “I feel that any help that is necessary, I’m looking forward to it.”Mrs Justice Simmons jailed Caines for 12 years for sexually assaulting a minor and four years for depriving the victim of liberty.He was sentenced to four years in prison for assaulting Mr Bean and nine months for common assault against Ms Tucker. He received an additional year for each as the offences were committed near a school, an increased penalty zone.All of the sentences were ordered to run concurrently with time already spent in custody taken into account. Caines must serve half his sentence before he is eligible for parole.Mrs Justice Simmons ordered that he take part in sexual, psychological and drug rehabilitative programmes while incarcerated.Ms Tucker told The Royal Gazette: “I saw a chain of events that was quite disturbing and I did what any other right-thinking Bermudian would do, I intervened. I believe we have to protect our children at all costs.“Justice has been served in that the perpetrator is incarcerated. I hope that he gets the counselling and treatment that he needs so that at the end of his incarceration he can be safely reintegrated back into our society.”

Lawyer laments lack of mental health facilities

Lawyer and MP Mark Pettingill yesterday lamented the lack of a residential mental health facility following the sentencing of 36-year-old Jomar Caines.

Caines, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a ten-year-old and depriving him of liberty, is a diagnosed schizophrenic with a history of sexual assaults on boys.

During yesterday’s sentencing, Mr Pettingill said that the offence was “a parent’s worst nightmare,” and that it highlighted the need to create a facility for offenders like Caines.

Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons responded: “If you build it, they will come because this court will send them.”

Following yesterday’s sentencing, Mr Pettingill said that all too often individuals with serious psychological illnesses are released into the public, but still require daily counselling and medication.

“These types of offences are not done by people who are well usually,” he said.

“The sad truth is we have a Mental Health Act that is woefully out of date. Unfortunately we seem to have a rather high incidence of schizophrenia and people that have mental health issues.

“We need to have something between prison and letting them loose in society that really caters to their needs. It’s not enough to just have people locked up. They have to come out of prison eventually.”

He said the existing system has too often created a “revolving door” with mentally ill offenders being released back into the public only to offend within a brief period.

And that revolving door mentality, he said, can put the Island’s young people at risk.

He also noted a story in yesterday’s

The

Royal Gazette regarding residents in Devonshire expressing concern after seeing Shiloh Payne walking in the area.Payne, who is also schizophrenic, pleaded guilty in October to stabbing his neighbour and trying to hit him with a concrete block after failing to take his medication and was sentenced to an indefinite period of treatment at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute (MWI).A spokeswoman for the Bermuda Hospitals Board could not comment on the specifics of that case, but said the fear of mental illness often leads to discrimination.“We would note that patients are not referred to MWI for treatment, not incarceration,” she said. “Individuals treated at MWI are regularly assessed through their recovery journey and, if they have been an inpatient, this journey will include a gradual reintroduction to the community in a measured and controlled manner.”