Teen boy impregnates his counsellor

A 24-year-old man has vowed to fight tooth and nail to get custody or access to a child he claims to have fathered with a counsellor when he was a minor.

The accuser, whose identity is being withheld by this newspaper due to the nature of the alleged incident, said the woman was asked by his guardian to help work through his problems, but she reportedly became his sexual partner less than a week after they met.

"I was about 13 going 14 at the time, but the same lady who was supposed to counsel me became my babymother," the man alleged.

He claims that during his first sexual experience with the woman, whom he claims was married but living in a different household from her husband, he was absolutely shocked. Still, he participated because he felt as though he had to be a man despite being a young teenager.

After that experience he claims the woman asked him to move in with her, convincing him to drop out of school which he did. During this period, he alleged that the woman became pregnant and birthed his now nine-year-old son when he was just 15. His name does not appear on the child's birth certificate, even though the boy has his last name.

The man readily admits that the teenage chapter in his life did not unfold the way he imagined it. He told THE STAR that his youthful days were so turbulent that his mother reached out to the counsellor to assist in putting his life on a positive path. He said that at the time he had a "bad reputation" in his community. He claimed to have been accused of stealing a laptop computer when he was about age 12, and found it difficult to stave off the avalanche of verbal attacks and ridicule that came his way.

"It drove a negative impact on me, mentally. Even in schools everyone called me names about being a thief. I started drinking and smoking to help me not to care about what people were saying about me," the man said.

He alleged that his parent became concerned about his future and reached out to the guidance counsellor, who lived in another community for help. That was when the seed for his abuse was planted. He said that his counsellor became his means of escape from an environment where he was hated. He told THE STAR that he confided in the counsellor, telling her about his fears and how he felt like an outcast in his community. He said that she assured him that she would take care of him and he should not worry.

He claimed that the woman who is one year older than his mother, made him feel that his life would be transformed for the better. He said that he lived with the woman for four and a half years as romantic partners. The man said that she pulled him from school despite his pleas to be enrolled in a learning institution.

"Every single day mi tell har, listen mi wah guh back a school. First time mi ask har bout school was not long after we live together and she seh 'she wouldn't like fi si har man a guh a school in a no khaki [uniform]," the man said.

He said that he now understands that he was a victim of sexual crimes perpetuated by his counsellor lover. The man said he is filled with regret because he now understands what happened to him was not right. He said it negatively affected his life.

"Mi never mature enough fi have a level of understanding or have enough experience fi know seh, yow yuh childhood really matter when it comes to determine yuh adulthood, yuh future," he said.

Jamaica's Sexual Offences Act criminalises sexual relations between an adult and any person under the age of 16. The law prescribes a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and not less than 15 years behind bars where the person convicted of the offence is an adult in authority.

Now struggling to shake his past, the man, who admits to getting into his fair share of trouble with the law, has only one desire -- to rekindle his relationship with his son he last saw four years ago.

"Mi grow him til him a five. ... Bathe him a morning time and dem supme deh, put on him uniform, bring him a school and pick him back. Mi and him have a bond, him know mi as him father .. Him nuh know nuh other body," the man said.