BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – HIS Lordship Justice Errol Thomas yesterday (June 28) chastised a 58-year-old man, whom he termed a predator, for indecently assaulting a young woman and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment.
“Carl Warner is a bad example…has done no good and deserves no mercy,” the judge said at the Basseterre High Court moments before sentencing the accused.
The Lodge Village resident was found guilty unanimously by a jury made up of 11 persons, with one lawfully absent on June 8, for indecently assaulting a 23-year-old woman at his home on August 28, 2010.
Warner was represented by Attorney John Cato but Senior Counsel Dr. Henry Browne mitigated on his behalf at his sentencing hearing.
Dr. Browne asked Justice Thomas to be as lenient as possible with Warner, stating that all was not lost and that he could still be of service to the community.
The Senior Counsel also said that the offence was not the most heinous of crimes or attached to physical violence, “in the street sense”, and thinks that Warner could be rehabilitated.
Justice Thomas said that although it was not the most heinous of crimes, Warner’s social inquiry report indicated that he had committed a number of minor and serious offences.
The judge also said that in 1999 Warner was sentenced to serve seven years at Her Majesty’s Prison.
“Carl Warner, at a mature age of 58, father and grandfather, is supposed to protect and guard but instead he’s a predator. One cannot tell young people to behave themselves when you are committing crime,” he said.
Warner was shortly after transported to Her Majesty’s Prison where he will remain for the next 10 years.
