KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The lawyer representing an American national convicted for having sexual intercourse with a 12-year-old girl says the court has upheld an application he made for him to withdraw his representation of the man.
Attorney Christopher Townsend said he is concerned about the mental State of Robert Benoit, 59, who had appeared in the St James Circuit Court last Friday for sentencing after he had been convicted in March this year for the offense against the child, who is now 14 years and in the custody of the State.
Benoit allegedly committed the act in December 2020, two days before Christmas.
Media reports said that sentencing was postponed after Benoit became boisterous and demanded a new lawyer.
“Unfortunately, he seemed to have lost confidence in my ability to represent him, and I am most concerned about his state of mind,” Townsend told the Jamaica Observer.
“He seemed to have been talking a lot and saying all kinds of things in the courtroom to the point where the judge had difficulty controlling him, and so that having been the case, I was constrained to make an application to withdraw from the matter,” Townsend added.
He said that the application was upheld by the learned judge who saw the circumstances.
“He had expressed a desire for a particular counsel to represent him. I made contact with the counsel, and hopefully, on the next occasion, when the matter will be brought to Kingston, that counsel will be able to represent him adequately,” Townsend said.
A seven-member mixed jury had found Benoit unanimously guilty of the offense even as he claimed then that “corruption” and racism had a part in his verdict.
Benoit is now scheduled to be sentenced at the Supreme Court on Friday, September 29, 2023.
The court had heard that Benoit, a regular visitor to the island, and the girl’s mother said in her evidence that she was responsible for taking care of his rented home in the area and would go there to cook and clean for him. She, however, denied knowing what transpired between him and her child.
According to prosecutors, on the night of December 23, Benoit visited the family’s home. According to the child, her father instructed her to spend the night with the then 57-year-old man and “bring back the money.” She said right after that statement was made to her, Benoit bought her father a bottle of Magnum and left with her.
The young girl said that night, while she was at his house, she was awakened from sleep by Benoit, who was atop her. She said the man had intercourse with her.
and then 