Seventy-one-year-old Oliver Chesterfield Fields has to spend an additional 10 years and eight months behind bars for raping a female pensioner in 2020.
Madam Justice Wanda Blair sentenced the Edey Village, Christ Church resident to 15 years in prison for the offence but then deducted two years for his previously clean record, his low risk of reoffending, and favourable pre-sentencing report. Another two years were taken off because of Fields’ medical condition and there was also a discount for the period he was on remand.
Earlier this year, Fields was found guilty, in a majority verdict, of having sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent, knowing that she did not consent or was reckless as to whether she consented, on September 28, 2020.
The elderly complainant, who was 70 at the time of the incident, had told the court that Fields was a family friend for several years and was at her home tiling the shower when he pushed her onto the bathroom wall and demanded sex. She refused, but he eventually raped her on the bathroom floor.
In his defence, Fields admitted that he had sexual intercourse with the woman but claimed that it was consensual and instigated by her.
As she delivered her ruling on Friday in the No. 4A Supreme Court, Justice Blair agreed with the aggravating factors outlined by Senior State Counsel Joyann Catwell and State Counsel Maya Kellman, including the age and health of the complainant, the breach of trust as the accused was a family friend and a spiritual leader, the physical and psychological trauma experienced by the elderly woman, the sex was unprotected, and the act occurred in the sanctity of the woman’s home.
“Rape is one of the most serious offences which can be committed against a woman. It is used to physically subdue and violate the woman and utterly degrade her. It is cruel and humiliating since the woman is forced to be intimate with a man against her will in circumstances where she is completely helpless and at the mercy of her attacker. Sex is designed to be an enjoyable experience, not used as a tool for someone’s perverse gratification. This often results in physical, emotional and psychological harm to the victim, sometimes for life,” Justice Blair stated.
Fields was represented by attorneys Neville Reid and Kristin Vanderpool.
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