A 40-year-old St George’s man has been jailed for 18 months for the sexual exploitation and intrusion of privacy of a 10-year-old girl.

The court heard how Craivon Seymour admitted to touching the girl for sexual purpose and intruding on her privacy at some time between January 2, 2015 and June 30, 2016. He also admitted to intruding on her privacy in her school’s restrooms.

He was said to have brushed up against the girl in her school. While both parties were fully clothed, Seymour made contact with her genital area with his own genital area.

At a later date he was seen by a teacher talking to the girl at the restrooms.

Representing Seymour in court, Elizabeth Christopher attempted to persuade magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo to have the matter heard in the Mental Health Court as a psychiatric report indicated that while Seymour did not have a mental illness or mental disorder, he did have a “mental impairment”.

Seymour had spoken about his fixation on the young girl, saying they were “kindred spirits”.

He said due to his mental impairment, he misjudged the girl’s age, thinking she was older. His Social Inquiry Report spoke to evidence of his “skewed thinking” and he was deemed to have an average-to-low intelligence level.

Ms Christopher said she believed putting him in Westgate Correctional Facility would “send him on the wrong path” and that it would not be adequate to treat him due, in part, to his diminished intelligence.

She described him as “pliable and open to reform” but only given the right treatment and in the right environment.

Asked by the judge whether he had anything to say to the court, Seymour made apologies to the girl in question, her family, the school, his own family and the court.

He went on: “I want to stay closer to God. My mentality had a lot to do with it. Something went wrong with my mentality and I thought she was older than she was — I didn’t know what I was doing.”

The judge described the act as “a very serious offence” and deemed that the matter did not require being heard in Mental Health Court. Seymour was given 18 months each for the first two counts of sexual exploitation to run concurrently and six months for the third count of invasion of privacy also to run concurrently. Time he had already spent in custody would also be taken into consideration.

He will be placed on probation for two years.