Court clears Freeport teacher accused of sex with student
By ARTESIA DAVIS, NG Senior Reporter, artesia@nasguard.com


A magistrate wrongly convicted a physical education teacher of having sex with a student, based on the "uncorroborated, unreliable evidence" of the teenager, the appellate court has ruled.

Magistrate Helen Jones last May sentenced Marlon Henfield, a teacher at Sunland Baptist Academy in Freeport, Grand Bahama, to two years in prison after she found him guilty of having relations with the 15-year-old girl.The girl reportedly developed a crush on Henfield and obtained his phone number by borrowing his phone to call her mother, so that the caller ID facility would record the number. The girl then began sending text messages to Henfield and regularly spoke to him at school. She claimed that Henfield picked her up on two occasions -- July 25, 2004 and August 23, 2004 -- and took her to his apartment where they had sex.

But Henfield's lawyer, Murrio Ducille, discredited the accuser when she admitted that her testimony contradicted her statement to the police, and that she had told her parents that she had not had sex with Henfield, but with another man.

Henfield denied ever having sex with the teenager. And his girlfriend supported his claim that he spent the night of July 24, 2005 at her home, and remained there until 11 a.m. on July 25, 2005.

Court President Dame Joan Sawyer and Justices of Appeal Milton Ganpatsingh and Emmanuel Osadebay, found that the magistrate should have dismissed the case at the close of the prosecution's case.

The Court ruled: "The appellant in his case denied the offenses and presented a defense of alibi, which was not properly considered by the learned magistrate. He called two witnesses --his girlfriend and his girlfriend's mother-- who supported his alibi unchallenged. The magistrate, in rejecting the defense, offered her own speculative comment to the effect that the witnesses might have been asleep when the offense was alleged to have occurred, and for that reason they could not be certain that the appellant was in their residence at the time of the offense.

"The appellant's defense revealed nothing to boost the case for the prosecution. We are of the view that the appellant was wrongly convicted and the conviction was unsafe and unsatisfactory."

form of punishment for the young lady????

form of punishment for the young lady????

Form of punishment for the Magistrate???? She was careless in her decision.

Form of punishment for the Magistrate???? She was careless in her decision.

Yes, something needs to be done.........

Helen Jones is a spiteful ***** you'll ladys out there excuse me but she is.
She is an unfair judge and don't need to be on the bench she judge people from sh*t that happen in her life.

Court clears Freeport teacher accused of sex with student
By ARTESIA DAVIS, NG Senior Reporter, artesia@nasguard.com
A magistrate wrongly convicted a physical education teacher of having sex with a student, based on the "uncorroborated, unreliable evidence" of the teenager, the appellate court has ruled.
Magistrate Helen Jones last May sentenced Marlon Henfield, a teacher at Sunland Baptist Academy in Freeport, Grand Bahama, to two years in prison after she found him guilty of having relations with the 15-year-old girl.The girl reportedly developed a crush on Henfield and obtained his phone number by borrowing his phone to call her mother, so that the caller ID facility would record the number. The girl then began sending text messages to Henfield and regularly spoke to him at school. She claimed that Henfield picked her up on two occasions -- July 25, 2004 and August 23, 2004 -- and took her to his apartment where they had sex.
But Henfield's lawyer, Murrio Ducille, discredited the accuser when she admitted that her testimony contradicted her statement to the police, and that she had told her parents that she had not had sex with Henfield, but with another man.
Henfield denied ever having sex with the teenager. And his girlfriend supported his claim that he spent the night of July 24, 2005 at her home, and remained there until 11 a.m. on July 25, 2005.
Court President Dame Joan Sawyer and Justices of Appeal Milton Ganpatsingh and Emmanuel Osadebay, found that the magistrate should have dismissed the case at the close of the prosecution's case.
The Court ruled: "The appellant in his case denied the offenses and presented a defense of alibi, which was not properly considered by the learned magistrate. He called two witnesses --his girlfriend and his girlfriend's mother-- who supported his alibi unchallenged. The magistrate, in rejecting the defense, offered her own speculative comment to the effect that the witnesses might have been asleep when the offense was alleged to have occurred, and for that reason they could not be certain that the appellant was in their residence at the time of the offense.
"The appellant's defense revealed nothing to boost the case for the prosecution. We are of the view that the appellant was wrongly convicted and the conviction was unsafe and unsatisfactory."

This magistrate is an azz. My coworker has an 8 year old daughter whose father 8 years out of her life, comes back in (the little girl had NEVER met him) and demands overnight visitations with her.

Well, social services said it was too soon as the man was a virtual stranger and to see how things in the relationship went before overnights.

This idiot magistrate says that when she was 16 her parents divorced and she was not allowed to see her daddy which is why she feels the little girl should be made to spend the night at her daddy's house (a man SHE NEVER MET BEFORE). Its on appeals.

She basically makes up her mind and doesn't care about the facts of the case.

form of punishment for the young lady????


Yes some form of punishment needs to befall this girl, even it is it is say 100 hours of community service. She could have destroyed this man's life with her lie.