Repeat sex offender teen gets extended jail sentence

Monday 11 March 2019

A teenager who is already serving a prison sentence for making and possessing pornographic images of children will be behind bars for a further six months, after being sentenced for an indecent assault.

Carl Halker, 19, appeared in the Royal Court on Friday, having previously pleaded guilty to one charge of indecent assault against a girl who was 15 at the time.

The court heard that Halker was 17 at the time of the incident in June 2017 in which he admitted touching a 15-year-old girl intimately. The encounter took place at the house of a mutual friend when the pair were sitting next to each other on a mattress. 

Halker originally pleaded not guilty to the charge but changed his plea on the morning of his trial at the end of January. 

Guernsey's Royal Court heard how the pair walked between two addresses on the day of the incident with the victim walking slightly apart from the defendant, who said she could feel he was "staring" at her and making her feel uncomfortable. When they arrived they sat on a mattress along with the resident of the house, another male. When he left the room for a short period to get changed, Halker began touching the victim through her clothes before putting his hand down her trousers.

During his sentencing hearing last week, Judge Russell Finch reminded the court that Halker was to be sentenced on his own version of events as the evidence which was given on behalf of the victim, that the sexual contact was not consensual, was done so in a "Newton" hearing last month.

This meant that the argument given by defence Advocate Liam Roffey was that the encounter was consensual despite the victim being technically under the age of consent. Crown Advocate Fiona Russell gave an outline of the prosecution case including text messages which appeared to show the victim referring to the incident.

Advocate Russell read the text messages sent in the following days in which the victim said "you scared me, I kept moving away, you kept touching me". Advocate Roffey argued these were in reference to a separate event.

Judge Finch told the court that the defendant posed a danger to pubescent females and sentenced him to a further six months in prison. 

Halker had been due to be released from prison on 21 March but his six month sentence will run consecutively with that, meaning he won't be released until later this year.