A SANTA CRUZ man will serve the three years left on his 19-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting his two nieces in 2015.

Justice Gillian Scotland sentenced the man, who was previously on a murder charge, on July 12. He was charged with sexual touching of a minor, exposing a child to pornography and sexual penetration of a child.

He received discounts for his guilty plea and the time he has spent in prison was also deducted, leaving him with three years to serve.

According to the evidence in the case, the girls, ages seven and eight, were vacationing at their grandmother’s home on July 28, 2015, when their uncle called them into his bedroom, promising to tell them a secret. While there, he showed them a pornographic video on his phone.

He told one of the girls he was going through to do the same to her.

He began touching the victim and penetrated her with his finger while she begged him to stop. He also made the two victims perform a sexual act on him.

When one of the girls left the room and made a noise, waking up their grandmother, the man told them to go to bed and threatened to beat them if they told anyone what took place.

The girls’ great-aunt overheard a conversation and became suspicious, eventually speaking with the victims, one of whom told her what she saw their uncle do to her sister.

The great-aunt took the girls to the Santa Cruz Police Station and one of the girls was medically examined.

After investigations, the man was charged.

WPC John-Isaac of the North Eastern Child Protection Unit, Morvant Police Station, was appointed substitute complainant in the matter.

Rebecca Trim-Wright prosecuted and Arden Williams represented the man.

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