**ANTIGUA OBSERVER:** A 42-year-old construction worker has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison on Friday for indecent assault of a 10-year-old girl.

Earlier this month, a jury convicted Damian Williams, a Jamaican national, on two counts of indecent assault.

The charges stemmed from incidents that occurred on March 29, 2022, when Williams was 39 years old.

Evidence presented during the trial revealed that he was residing as a tenant in the same household as the victim, her mother, and two younger siblings.

The mother, also a Jamaican national, had taken Williams in to help with her financial struggles, and charged him monthly for a room. She reportedly trusted him due to his connections with her child’s father and mutual friends.

According to testimony presented in court, Williams inappropriately touched the child on her buttocks or thigh area and kissed her near her lips.

After she told her mother of the assault, the police were subsequently notified and Williams was arrested and charged following an investigation.