Coach gets 18 months for ‘sexting’ with teen
(CNS) UPDATED: Trinidadian-born track star Ato Stephens was found guilty Thursday of abusing an ICT network in connection with a catalog of indecent messages he sent to a teenager he was coaching at his Cayman-based athletics club in 2015/16. But he was acquitted of two counts of indecent assault and one of gross indecency. The judge said there were troubling elements to the teen victim’s account and other evidence, meaning he couldn’t be sure the coach had the opportunity to assault the girl.
However, the judge described Stephen’s behaviour as disgraceful regarding the messages and said the pictures he had encouraged the teenager, who was 14 and 15 at the time, to send him were pornographic. Given his findings, he sentenced Stephens to 18 months in prison for those messages, and ordered his deportation once the sentence is complete. As the coach has been in jail since his arrest in the United States last year he has served a significant part of the time. He is expected to be released from HMP Northward shortly and immediately deported to the US, where he is now a citizen.
As he delivered his verdict, the trial judge, Justice Michael Woods, who heard the case without a jury, pointed to the failure of the investigating officer in the case to contact any of the other teenagers who were members of the athletic club at the same time as the girl. The judge said it was extraordinary that no effort was made to speak with the potentially important witnesses and it should not have been left until the week of trial for the information to come out.
Justice Wood said it would have been unsatisfactory in any case but far worse in one involving a young victim.
The victim had stated that the coach had touched her and exposed himself on two or three occasions in his car when he had taken her home after practice. But the defence tracked down three of the youngsters who were also given regular lifts home by Stephens and they all indicated that there was never an occasion when the girl would have been alone with the coach in the car. They all said that the complainant was not regularly driven home by Stephens as she would usually go with her friend’s mother, but on the rare occasions she was taken home by the coach she would never be dropped off last because she lived in the middle of the drop-off route.
The judge said it would “have been a convoluted route” for Stephens to have dropped the girl last as he pointed to what he said were troubling elements of the case against Stephens regarding the indecency charges. He also said that while he found the young girl to be a credible witness, and he was not accusing her of lying, there were material inconsistencies in her evidence regarding the location of the alleged assaults.
He also said that although she implied that Stephens had coerced her into what was a ‘sexting’ relationship there were no messages to support that accusation and in addition to the sexually charged messaging between Stephens and the girl much of the communication, if it had been between two adults, would have reflected an affectionate and close relationship. He also noted that the girl had denied being sexy or flirtatious in her evidence but the messages painted a very different picture.
But the judge pointed out that the coach was more than twice the age of the girl and while Stephens had accepted that the messages were inappropriate that was “an understatement to say the least”. Justice Wood added that it was obvious Stephens had derived sexual pleasure from the ‘sexting’ with the child and his attempted explanations during the trial were ludicrous.
Despite what he described as a “degree of reluctance” that there was not enough evidence to support the alleged assaults, as he acquitted Stephens on three of the charges, Justice Wood said there was no doubt in his mind over Stephens’ guilt on the count of abusing an ICT network.
He told the coach he was lucky to have the defence team he did that was able to raise enough doubt regarding the more serious charges. Stephens was represented by Amelia Fosuhene of Brady’s who had instructed visiting attorney, Paul Keleher QC.
The case was prosecuted by Cheryll Richards QC, the director of public prosecutions, and it has never been made clear why Stephens was not charged with possession of child pornography given the picture that Stephens had solicited and received from the underage girl.
Category: Courts, Crime, Local News
Just want to send some love and support to a directly impacted 3rd party in this case.
She is one of the most beautiful souls to grace this earth and it pains me to know she was dragged into this mess.
Stay strong. We know your heart and character. This too shall pass.
– Who
Friends, remember that cases are deciddc on the evidence presented in court. If a judge fails to respect this basic tenet of justice then the conviction on the related charges will simply be overturned by appellate courts.
What has come across — yet again — are failures at the investigatory end of the Justice system. That is definitely a weakness that must be addressed in the Justice system.
Duly noted.
– Who
How can anyone thumbs down that sentiment? You are going to blame completely innocent people just because they have the misfortune to be associated with this man? I don’t often agree with Who, but he is 100% on the mark here, and you should be ashamed of your guilt by association narrow minds.
Thanks for taking the time – much appreciated.
I completely agree as well.
– Who
It is so unfortunate that a little fame (married to a track star) and special preveleges, has made him an embarassment. Which makes why teaching our young men to suppress carnal desires in today’s society so important. Our educational system must ensure lessons on morals and spirituality, are not just another man’s myth. You do wrong, wrong will follow you like a dark shadow.
Here was a man who had a wife and family, yet through weakness or already-made character, yielded to temptations. Instead of proving himself a man of fortitude and morals, he acted like a boy! Hope whilst in prison, he repent and learns from his huge mistakes that will follow him for the rest of his life.
Typical justice system in Cayman. Break someone’s jaw you get 2 years for the physical harm inflicted. Ruin a childs life by inflicting emotional harm through “sexting” you get a slap on the wrist
So no consequence for leaving the jurisdiction just in time? I wish the judge would have slapped another few years on top because he obviously knew that he had done something wrong. Truly disgusting!
Thank goodness for the ICT Law. At least they were able to get his for something.
Foreign cops Foreign perps =No justice yes Cayman this is exactly what we keep funding and allowing or economy to be raped by. Time to act Cayman or they will continue to hemorrhage this place until it becomes just their homelands.
Puritan – you will always get foriegn cops until your homebred can pass the entrance tests.
Very accurate observation Puritan. HOLD FAST.
Its only minor crimes when comes to foreign nationals it would appear Caymanians gets the stretch some caymanians have gone for 10-15 for mere attempts certain dangerous foreign individuals got 7 months committing these heinous crimes. This bias and disparity in justice will manifest itself no doubt i just hope we are ready for it what it will bring to these little islands.
Putsch – not if you are a civil servant, and that’s a very large slice of the local population.
10 to 15 years for “mere attempts” – what, like attempted murder?
Justify your remark with some specific examples, cause I can’t think of any.
Our children will continue to be abused as long as our courts and laws allow minor sentencing for major crimes against children. 18 months for encouraging a child to send these kinds of photos is a disgrace. When will we accept that children can not in any way give legal consent to sexual activity of any kind? The photos alone are proof positive of sexual assault, even if there was no “touching”, which I doubt.
The only thing I’m glad about is that myself and the other athletes will never to never see his face again whenever we go to track practice.
It never sat well with me when I saw his young female athletes, half of them pre-pubescent, compete in such skimpy revealing uniforms. Belly showing and all. They’re just kids and didn’t need to look like that! No other child athletes were out there looking like that during competition. We all know why now, their coach was a huge perv.
Was his back ground checked? Is this his first incident? Would be lucky if he doesn’t have a shady past.
Parents are placing far too much trust in coaches, teachers, pastors, and neighbors. How many cases like this do we have to see before parents wake up and start paying closer attention? Talk to your kids. Show up unexpected once in a while. Be a little suspicious. Inconvenience yourselves by picking up your own child after practice. And parents, if older men are buying your teenager daughters clothing and phones, confront these men. No, parents cannot be everywhere at all times but most can certainly make a lot more effort.
Another botched trial by the Director of Public Prosecutions!
When will she be fired for her incompetence?
Public what? Has been in that position forever, what else can you expect?
And Jefferson gets 10 years for NO PRINTS/NO DNA/NO EVIDENCE that the gun is his and this MONSTER only gets 18 months to continue destroying all children lives.
I understand why the judge dismissed some of the charges, but, like him, I do not believe for one minute that this girl lied about the sexual contact. These pedofiles are devious people and in any case that was his objective.
I congratulate the parents for taking the action they did. It took a lot of courage. But it was absolutely necessary to take the action they did to try to stop this man from damaging other young girls and to achieve some redress for the wrong done to their daughter — for the sake of the daughter’s future emotional well being.
Her potential future resentment of this man and this episode in her life will be considerably assuaged by the outcome we are now seeing. I know, because in my own case nothing was ever done and I still feel resentful that the abuse was never acknowledged and punished. So her parents must understand that what they did was not just punishment for this man but a step in the right direction for ultimately standing up for their daughter’s future well being.
I pray that this young lady will get the counseling and necessary support to overcome this sad episode in her life and that she will understand clearly that this was not her fault.
How many times will we read about incompetence leading to short or no sentence for morally bankrupt people like this guy? It must be quite a feeling to work in an organization that couldn’t care less how much you mess up.
I hope he is listed as a registered sex offender in the rest of the world.
He was not convicted for that offense, so highly unlikely…
when will the police learn evidence win cases not emotions ,
And yet again the police screw up an investigation, think it is time to clean house in the police and let’s just bring in UK cops and rotate them once a year. No friends or family and we might get some people who know what they are doing. I say UK cops as we are a UK territory so probably easier than bringing in US cops.
No U.S. cops please. They kill black people on the regular without reason, and get paid leave for it.
Regularly, SOMETIMES with out reason.
Why so much USA and President Trump bashing? Maybe you would prefer some N. Korean cops Instead of those constitutional U.S. cops. Bet your’e an Obamite.
Macron?
18 months? that is it????
For the young victim in this case, where is the justice? First of all, unsurprisingly, our unqualified, untrained “investigators” botched the case from the outset by not understanding how to collect evidence and damning her case from the outset. When will we ever spend the money necessary to bring in cops trained in the various disciplines of police work? Why are we protecting a force that employs so many non-nationals that are so pathetically incompetent? If they were Caymanian it would be bad enough but why are we protecting a force of non-nationals who clearly do not understand police work?
Then in the courtroom the judge found the victim’s story about being touched and the pervert exposing himself unbelievable simply because of the pervert’s alleged “lack of opportunity” due to the convoluted route he would have had to taken to drop her home. Really? Perverts don’t mind the inconvenience of going out of their way to commit their perverse acts. And the judge seemed to ignore the girl’s testimony that she cooperated with the pervert in fear of being thrown off the team. Of course her texts would sound flirtatious in that case but she is the victim here, not the perpetrator who by the way, is an adult who had a duty of care to the child. And you are going against her testimony in this instance to acquit him? Shameful. He should have the parts he exposed cut off as part of his sentence.
The only good thing about this is that the pervert is being deported. Let us hope the US authorities are made aware of a child molestor coming back to roost so other innocent lives are not destroyed by this creep.
how would you know what perverts would do? Hmmmmmm?
She was not his first victim and she will certainly not be his last…..
If you can prove that, take it to the police. If you cannot just shut your Marl road mouth, because its only heresay…and therefore pointless.
If you think he will either stop at this case or his behaviour won’t escalate you’re very much mistaken, this is how paedophiles operate. Educate yourself before sticking your head in the sand and dismissing others.
The law is the law, like I said, you got proof, take it to the police and stop writing bs on here. Tell me how your comment helped anyone?
Beyond a reasonable doubt is the criminal standard – guess there is a reason he went for trial by judge. Even if he didn’t touch her tho, what he did do puts him beyond the boundaries of what is normal and acceptable. Hope he gets a stiff sentence, followed by deportation so he doesn’t darken our doors in future.
Reading the reports during the trial, I thought it was all pretty damning stuff, however if the evidence does not add up or is incorrectly obtained then the verdict can only be as it was…however reprehensible the behavior he admitted too…and it was completely reprehensible.
…and yet people wonder why vigilante justice exists?! SMH…