A man has been jailed for four years and nine months by the Royal Court for sexually touching two teenage girls.
The court heard that Manuel Mila (60) touched the breasts and buttocks of one of his victims while giving her a massage, while the other had been touched on her buttocks.
Three counts of sexual touching, the first involving a girl under the age of 13 and the others relating to a girl aged under 16, were denied by Mila, but he was convicted following a two-day trial by Jurats in early October. Neither victim was a family member, the court was told.
The defendant also faced three further charges, which he admitted, relating to the possession of a total of nine indecent images featuring children aged from six years old and above: three of Category A (the most serious), two of Category B and four Category C.
Advocate Christina Hall, prosecuting, said the images had been found on a mobile phone belonging to Mila, with a police investigation also finding a history of Google searches for images of adults engaged in sexual activity with children.
Both of Mila’s victims had spoken about how they had been affected by the incidents, Advocate Hall added. One had been unable to sleep for some time and struggled to trust adults, while the other had said when being interviewed how scared the ordeal had left her.
Advocate Chris Baglin, defending, acknowledged that his client’s not-guilty pleas had left the victims obliged to endure a trial. He said that denial was often a “coping mechanism for those convicted of sexual offending”.
The instances of sexual touching were brief, he added, and none had involved genitalia.
Mila followed proceedings from the dock in his native Portuguese with the help of a translator. The court was told that he had moved to Jersey 20 years ago and obtained “settled” status four years ago, working as a self-employed painter and decorator during this time.
The Bailiff, Sir Timothy Le Cocq, was presiding, with a panel of Jurats from the Superior Number, which is convened for the most serious cases. Jurats Austin-Vautier, Averty, Le Heuzé, Opfermann and Berry were sitting.
Sir Timothy told Advocate Baglin that his “coping mechanism” comment did not provide any help to victims trying to obtain closure after what they had gone through, leaving an enduring suggestion about whether their claims were true or not.
The first two sexual-touching charges resulted in consecutive prison sentences of a year and three years respectively, with the third charge given a 2½-year sentence to run concurrently. The most serious indecent-image charge led to a sentence of nine months’ imprisonment, to run consecutively, with the lesser charges subject to concurrent sentences of six and three months respectively.
Sir Timothy said the court was ordering that Mila be made subject to restraining orders and the provisions of the sexual-offences law for ten years, and that his mobile phone be destroyed. The reasoning behind the sentencing would be published in written form at a later date, he added.
