Mother defends man convicted of raping her daughter

(CNS): Noel Baker (50) was found guilty last week of raping a pre-teen girl on at least five occasions between March and September, but despite the verdict, the mother of the child has taken to social media to defend the rapist and accuse her daughter of lying. The woman cannot legally be identified by the press as this would lead to the identification of the child and would be in violation of an existing court order. However, the courts have issued a statement and are understood to be investigating the posts made by the mother.

Baker was found guilty last week on three charges of rape and two counts of indecent assault but these were ‘specimen charges’ as prosecutors contended that Baker was abusing the child regularly. The child had been too scared to tell her mother and had instead told a school counsellor, after which Baker was arrested. In the wake of the verdict, he was remanded in custody until his sentence hearing in November.

During the trial, the jury heard a specialist video interview with the child, during which she said she was afraid to tell her mother and did not think she would believe her. This was borne out during and after the trial when the mother took to social media protesting Baker’s innocence and blaming her daughter.

When Sandy Hill, the owner of Cayman Marl Road, questioned what was being done about the postings by the victim’s mother, given that the media cannot name her because it would identify the child, who is protected under the law, the courts issued a statement making it clear that the media gag order applies equally to everyone, including the child’s mother.

“During the criminal trial of Noel Baker, Richards J instructed the public, including the media, in open court, to adhere to reporting restrictions which can be found in section 12 of the Youth Justice Act (2021 Revision),” a spokesperson said in the statement.

“As such the media is reminded that, in addition to any primary content they may publish, any republication of third-party statements, content, photos which can identify or contribute to the identification of the victim, equally fall within the same restrictions. All members of the public are advised that ‘reporting restrictions’ apply to any person who publishes any information or makes any content available online.”

The media was told that we must not mention what connections there are between Baker and the child’s mother because that too could lead to identifying the girl. However, all the details that the courts said must not be published, including pictures of the child, have been posted by the child’s mother on various social media pages such as Facebook and Instagram.

The courts are now in possession of several of the posts by the girl’s mother that fall foul of the legislation and CNS understands that this has been passed on to the police and prosecutors.

The media is prevented from re-posting any of these social messages, which include allegations against other family members.