A serial sex offender on Tuesday lost his bid to have his six-year prison sentence for indecent assault quashed.
Sidney Cooper argued that Magistrate Samuel McKinney had exceeded his jurisdiction by sentencing him to six years when the maximum penalty for the offense is three years.
However, Cooper’s argument failed as the magistrate relied on a provision that permits the doubling of a sentence for a recidivist.
Cooper was convicted for the indecent assault of a teenage girl in the downtown area in June 2019. He re-offended soon after his release from prison for groping a nine-year-old girl at a public pump and a policewoman while on trial in 2016.
Cooper’s history of sexual offenses dates back to 2000.
Cooper, 45, of Exuma Street, The Grove, has been diagnosed with frotteurism — the practice of achieving sexual stimulation or orgasm by touching and rubbing against a person without the person’s consent and usually in a public place.
The Court of Appeal dismissed Cooper’s appeal against sentence and ordered that Cooper retrieve treatment for his condition while in custody.
