Cruise Bruise Blog
September 19, 2009
September 19, 2009
Man Arrested In Bahamas For Child Sexual Assault Back In U.S. For Trial
Those of you who are avid Cruise Bruise readers will recognize this story out the gate. Yes, it is an old story, but somehow it comes back to the light and I am working to figure out what really happened here.
Apparently, on December 31, 2006 a child of 13 was lured by threat of being tossed overboard, to a lower deck of the ship where she was allegedly sexually assaulted by a male passenger, 21, from Rochester, New York.
When this story was originally reported, the man was identified as Lucas George Wicker and the assault was alleged to have taken place at sea aboard the Disney Wonder, as the ship sailed into the Bahamas. Both the American newspapers and the Bahamas newspapers reported his name as Wicker.
Original reports say that when the girl's parents reported the alleged assault, Wicker was taken off the Wonder and jailed in the Bahamas.
Last week, as I followed up on this case, I could find no evidence Wicker had his day in court in the Bahamas. While local newspapers originally reported the case, they simply dropped it, with no follow-up. This is not unusual, many cases in the Bahamas and Bermuda both simply vanish from public view if they take place on a cruise ship.
Since I could not ascertain whether Wicker had been convicted or not, I removed his case from the data base of my new Cruise Ship Sex Offenders website. I could not find a conviction record, and he was not found to be a registered sex offender.
However, had he been convicted in the Bahamas, he would not be required to register in the U.S. as a sex offender. If he was indeed guilty, that is a dangerous scenario, because he could come home and would not be monitored, the public unaware of the danger he posed. Further research was going to be needed, but for the time being I had hit a brick wall.
Now, imagine my surprise, only a few days later, the case comes to the surface again. This time, WHEC television out of Rochester, New York is reporting that a man, age 24, named Lucas George Wickes is awaiting trial for this very alleged crime. When I saw this report, I immediately recognized the case. I also recognized the name was different, as was the age of the defendant.
According to the WHEC report, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Lee is going to prosecute this case, nearly three years after the incident took place. Lee says that Wickes has been released and is on home arrest, with GPS monitoring. The story quotes a court date of October 16.
I was able to confirm that a Lucas George Wickes lives in Rochester, New York along with Diane S. Wickes and George L. Wickes, both in the 50s, along with another female in what is likely the family home. It would seem that the original reports stating the name of the defendant were incorrect.
What has been going on since January 1, 2007 when Wickes was arrested? Where has he been for the past three years? Was he in the Bahamas, or at home on house arrest? These are questions that WHEC has not addressed in this half-told story.
It would seem, in piecing this case together, for the past nearly three years the U.S. Attorney's Office worked to get a man they call Wickes out of the Bahamas, with the promise and intent of bringing him back to the U.S. for prosecution. At what point they accomplished this, we don't know at this point.
But, we now assume, come October 16, Wickes as he is now called, will be in court, and if there is no continuance, maybe we can begin to get to the bottom of this case.
With nearly three years having past, I have serious doubts that if this incident took place as originally reported, we will get a conviction. Three years is a long time for little girl to remember, in exact details, what took place on a given day. We are talking about a period of time that comprises roughly a quarter of her lifetime at this point.
We can hope that the original investigators took a very detailed account of the incident, word for word, and can produce that statement for the alleged victim, to help her mentally revisit that day well enough to convince a jury the incident took place, as originally stated.
I know that when a person has been sexually assaulted the incident is played over and over in the mind for many years to come. But, as time passes, some of the more minor details dissolve into space. These are the very facts the defense will exploit for the purpose of saying the victim doesn't remember the incident correctly, and therefore the jury must acquit.
Frankly, I am very surprised this case is still in the process of being prosecuted. It is very common for young victims to become so fearful, they simply refuse to follow through to see a conviction. The fact is, most are so fearful the crimes are never reported to begin with. Threat of death is a powerful silencer for a child.
I will be following up on this case in October. Please check back.
