PHILIPSBURG:--- The Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld the verdict handed down by the Court of First Instance against Emmanuel York the basketball coach that was convicted by for sexual abuse against minors. According to a statement from the spokesman for the Prosecutor’s Office Gino Bernadina the court found York guilty of raping two young boys of 15 and 17 years old in 2014. One of the victims was repeatedly raped during a prolonged period of time. E.Y. was convicted on Wednesday March 23rd 2015 to a jail sentence of four years. On January 7th, 2015 the court of first instance had sentenced him to 5 years in jail.
E.Y. approached its victims by using Facebook and pretended to be able to help them realize their (sporting) ambitions. According to the joint court of justice E.Y. abused the trust the boys and their parents thought they could have in him, as a well-known person within the basketball community on the Island. He focused on teenage boys who are possibly insecure about their sexuality which also made them vulnerable.
E.Y. made appointments early in the evening in remote areas, as if it was a practice session, where he forced his victims into sexual acts. By means of his verbal and physical superiority and by using emotional pressure, and in case of one of the victims by using violence and his sudden actions, he deliberately forced his victims in enduring sexual acts against their will.
