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‘Wolf in sheep’s clothing’ found guilty of sex offences against sisters

A jury convicted a 59-year-old man of a string of sex offences against two sisters that took place more than 25 years ago.

After several hours of deliberation, John Dexter Seaman was found guilty last night by a majority verdict of eight offences including two counts of unlawful carnal knowledge, two counts of attempted unlawful carnal knowledge and four counts of sexual exploitation.

All of the offences allegedly took place between 1992 and 1997.

Puisne Judge Juan Wolffe remanded Seaman into custody until July 10, when he is expected to return to court for sentence, and ordered a report on his likelihood of reoffending.

During the course of the Supreme Court trial, the court heard evidence from two sisters who said Seaman had preyed on them during their childhood.

Neither can be identified for legal reasons. The eldest of the siblings said she met Seaman when she was about 11 years old and he was about 30.

She recalled an incident in which he sexually touched her in his van and attempted to have sex with her after taking her to the cinema.

The witness said that the offences against her continued for years, describing a separate incident that took place when she was 13 in which he had sex with her on a mattress at a private members club.

The second victim, meanwhile, told the court of several incidents, with the first taking place as she was getting ready to go to school when she was 7 or 8 years old.

She said another incident took place in a car, when she was 8 or 9, near the former Club Med resort in St George’s, and another took place in a cave near the Railway Trail when she was about the same age.

The witness said she could not recall how the sexual contact was initiated in any of the incidents, but that the defendant would sometimes begin by touching her and sometimes by offering her candy.

The witness also told the court of an occasion when the defendant attempted to have sex with her in his room when she was aged 10 or 11.

Neither defendant made a police complaint about the incident until 2018.

In his closing speech to the jury, Charles Richardson, for the defence, highlighted that the older of the two siblings admitted that she had made false allegations of sexual assault in the past.

He further argued that the evidence of the younger victim was too vague to stake a conviction on.

Nicole Smith, senior Crown counsel, however, said the victims had no reason to fabricate stories of past abuse.

Ms Smith said that the defendant was “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” who took advantage of the girls’ absentee parents to “use them as he liked”.

She said that while the older alleged victim had lied about being sexually assaulted in the past, this was done while she was young and afraid and had nothing to gain by telling another lie almost 30 years later.

Seaman had been convicted of offences of indecency in the past.

In September, 1988 he was sentenced to a year in prison for three counts of wilfully committing an indecent act and in 1982 he was found guilty of committing an indecent act with intent to offend or insult.

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