Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
A 66-year-old Diego Martin man has been found not guilty of molesting a five-year-old girl he was hired to transport to and from school.
Jeffrey Hodgkinson was acquitted at the end of his trial before Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds and a nine-member jury on Tuesday.
Hodgkinson had been accused of sexually penetrating the child in January 2020.
During the three-day trial, State prosecutors called four witnesses: the alleged victim, now 11 years old, her mother, her grandmother and the police officer who investigated the report.
The grandmother testified that the child told her she had been touched inappropriately by Hodgkinson while she was bathing her after school.
The family reported the matter to police. Hodgkinson had been hired by the child’s mother to transport the girl and her brother to and from school almost three years before the alleged incident.
He was charged with the offence, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment upon conviction, in July 2021.
Hodgkinson was granted $175,000 bail pending trial.
He elected not to testify in his defence but, through his attorney Christina Carter, denied the allegations and claimed they were fabricated.
Carter highlighted several inconsistencies between the child’s trial testimony and her initial statement to police.
She also questioned why no medical evidence was obtained or presented to support the allegation that the child had been sexually assaulted.
After hearing the evidence, the jury deliberated for just over two hours before returning a unanimous not guilty verdict.
The prosecution was led by Charmaine Samuel and Gilliana Guy.
