By Zaya Williams
Duffield Destin has been sentenced to 8 years and nine months in prison for two serious crimes committed against underage girls.
In the first case, Destin is convicted of two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old.
He sent the minor a request on Facebook in 2019 and began speaking to her regularly, although the victim is said to have told him her age.
The conversations grew sexual in nature and eventually the then 41-year-old met up with the young girl by picking her up at school.
He first forced himself on her at a beach in Five Islands and then at his home.
The girl’s father saw the accused driving her home and made his daughter confess to the ordeal.
The defendant claims that her Facebook stated that she was 16.
The second incident is where the convict is accused of unlawfully confining a 12-year-old, all because he was frustrated that someone whose family lived in the area owed him money.
That incident occurred on October 12, 2021, when the accused pulled a young girl from the street into his car and held on to her tightly while beating her to force her to stay put.
A passerby noticed her predicament, overheard the distressed child’s cries for help, and observed the defendant restraining her.
Inquiries were made into the situation, and the defendant falsely claimed that the minor had run away from home, and he was merely facilitating her return.
Eventually, the passerby intervened, successfully prying her away from the defendant who admitted that he didn’t even know if the girl was related to the man who owed him.
Destin was sentenced by Justin Ann-Marie Smith to 4 years and 3 months imprisonment for each count of unlawful sexual intercourse which will run concurrently and 4 years and 6 months for unlawful confinement.
The sentences for the two unrelated offences will be added together and time served will be deducted.
As a victim of child molestation/ rape myself , I find this mentally and emotionally distressing. I believe that stealing a child’s innocence in this manner should warrant the death sentence since the act in essence is a death sentence to a child’s innocence. In other words: your life should be taken if you kill a child’s innocence. Perpetrators are getting away with much too lenient punishment in my humble opinion.