The court found S.A. guilty of sexual interference and sexual assault against his niece, D.D., who was four years old at the time of the alleged incident.
The decision turned on the credibility and reliability of the complainant’s evidence, which the court found to be internally consistent, age-appropriate, and corroborated by peripheral evidence.
The court rejected the defendant’s denial as not credible and found that the complainant’s one instance of fabrication did not undermine her overall reliability.
The verdict was based on a careful application of the reasonable doubt standard and the law on assessing the evidence of child witnesses.
