The Court of Appeal has ruled to hear the appeal challenging Freeport Deputy Chief Magistrate Helen Jones’ order to acquit 43-year-old police sergeant Juan Pratt. Pratt was charged with and acquitted of having sexual intercourse with two underage girls who were wards of the state.
Defending attorney Murrio Ducille argued that the 1996 amended Court of Appeal act which allows magisterial orders and sentences to be challenged did not include acquittals, but wisely Justices Anita Allen and Stanley John did not agree.
Mr Pratt – a police sergeant and the son of the country’s first female Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia “Mother” Pratt – will return to the Court of Appeal on September 12, where crown attorneys will argue that his acquittal was ‘unreasonable.’
It was alleged that between May 5 and May 6, 2007, Mr Pratt had sex with two girls, aged 14 and 15, at his home. The girls were wards of the state and under the care of Mr Pratt and his wife, who was off the island at the time of the alleged incident.
