A man charged with burglarizing a home in Freeport before sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl and attempting to do the same to two other minors on the weekend was denied bail yesterday.
Marvin Stuart, 31, was arraigned on Monday before Deputy Chief Magistrate Helen Jones on one count of burglary, one count of unlawful sexual intercourse, assault with intent to commit rape and two counts of indecent assault.
The Sea Horse Village resident was represented by Attorney Simeon Brown and was required to plead on the indecent assault counts to which he pleaded guilty.
The magistrate noted that because the others were indictable offences, a preliminary inquiry will be heard into all of the matters.
It is alleged that between 11:30pm Friday, October 28 and 3:00am Saturday, October 29, 2011, Stuart burglarized the Freeport residence and had unlawful sexual intercourse with a seven-year-old female.
Police also allege Stuart assaulted the young girl with intent to have sexual intercourse with her against her will.
As for the indecent assault charges – the first is in relation to an eight-year-old girl and the other a three-year-old male.
Police Prosecutor Corporal Berkley Simmons objected to bail, pointing out that it is believed that if Stuart received bail he would interfere with the young witnesses.
However, Defense Attorney Brown insisted his client did not know the youngsters and said it is impossible to understand the allegations without looking into the facts of the case.
Brown further pointed out that his client is alleged to have carried out the offences in a short space of time – some 10 to 15 minutes.
“Your Worship, the devil is a liar, my client tells me that it never, ever happened,” he said.
He also disclosed that his client had only been in Grand Bahama for a week and informed the court that the defense is alleging malice in the matter, before requesting bail.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Helen Jones, however, informed Stuart that she was denying him bail because of the amount of charges, the serious nature of the charges and the fact that there are young individuals involved.
Stuart was remanded to Her Majesty’s Prison and the PI into the matters is expected to begin on January 17, 2012.
By LEDEDRA MARCHE
Freeport News Senior Reporter
