Man guilty of underage sex

A MAN accused of raping a 15year-old girl in New Town last year has been found not guilty of the charge, but guilty of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a young person.

Sentencing Chauncy Aaron Bell yesterday, Chief Justice Alan Blow said Bell was reckless as to the girl’s age in relation to both crimes.

“As cases of drug administration and underage sex go, I regard this as quite a serious one,” Chief Justice Blow said.

Bell, 35, was tried twice. At his first trial, the jury found him guilty of supplying a controlled drug, in this case ice, to a child, but was unable to reach a verdict on the rape charge.

On Monday, the jury in the second trial returned a verdict of not guilty of rape but guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 17 years.

Chief Justice Blow said the girl was with a male friend at the Clarendon St, New Town house where Bell was staying in the early hours of October 13 to buy drugs. He said Bell injected the girl with the drug ice because he was worried she would harm herself if she did so, and was not injecting the girl in an effort to seduce her.

He said the girl was vulnerable and still has serious psychological symptoms. The court heard they had intercourse on a grassy area they walked to from the end of Clarendon St.

“You left her in the dark to look after herself as best she could. She had no money, she had no shoes, she had no transport, her mobile phone was flat,” Chief Justice Blow said.

He said Bell had “had a terrible life”, had developed a drug problem at an early age and had been “in and out of prison all your adult life”.

He said Bell had made efforts to stop using drugs. Chief Justice Blow sentenced Bell to 14 months’ jail, backdated for time served while on remand. Bell was yesterday eligible to apply for parole.