A Grand Court jury on Wednesday found Noel Baker guilty of repeatedly raping a pre-teen girl.
The jury of four women and three men, after deliberating for four hours, returned unanimous guilty verdicts on three charges of rape and two counts of indecent assault.
Baker, 50, seated in the dock, did not visibly react as the jury foreman delivered the jurors’ verdict.
Baker, who had been on bail, was immediately remanded into custody pending sentencing, as Justice Cheryll Richards said he had been convicted of a serious offence and was a flight risk.
Richards set a sentence hearing for 1 Nov., following the submission of social inquiry reports and a victim impact statement.
The five charges against Baker were ‘specimen’ charges, representing numerous offences against the victim between March and September 2022, the judge had told the jurors before they began their deliberations.
The indecent assault charges stem from Baker touching the girl’s thigh, the court had heard.
The jurors had heard from the victim, who is now a teenager, via video link in the course of the trial. Her video-recorded interview with police was also played to the jury.
Baker was arrested after the girl told a school counsellor about what Baker was doing and police were called.
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