The Hour
December 16, 2011
http://www.thehour.com/story/516251/norwalk-minister-to-serve-five-years-for-sex-crimes
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A Norwalk minister was sentenced to five years in prison at Queens Supreme Court for sexually molesting a young relative.
The Rev. Phillip Joubert, 50, was facing up to seven years in prison after he was convicted in November of five charges related to the abuse, including first- and second-degree sexual abuse.
"Pastor Joubert's unwillingness to admit guilt or express contrition did not help his case," said Joubert's attorney Philip Russell. "However, it was impossible to answer to the charges in any other way."
Joubert, the founding pastor of New Light Missionary Baptist Church in Norwalk, was accused of sexually assaulting a female relative on two occasions at his Queens, N.Y., home in the summer of 2009.
The rape allegations against Joubert came to light after a Nov. 14, 2009, child abuse incident at Joubert's Norwalk home, police said.
During the incident, Joubert allegedly hit the female victim in the face and several times about the torso after he came home to find his Lexington Avenue apartment was messy, according to his arrest warrant affidavit.
While officers were interviewing the victim and her mother, the victim revealed that Joubert sexually abused her at his residence in Queens, police said. Norwalk officers turned the rape investigation over to the New York City Police Department.
New York City Police arrested Joubert on Nov. 24, 2009, as he arrived at J.F.K. International Airport after a trip to Israel.
Joubert admitted to touching the victim's breasts and vagina during a videotaped interview with New York City Police, but . . .
the victim alleged that he physically assaulted her and forced her to have sex with him, court documents show.
The case went to trial in November after Joubert turned down a plea deal in which he would have been sentenced to nine years in prison.
The jury at Joubert's trial was not allowed to see the videotaped confession, because Joubert was misinformed about his rights prior to making the statement. However, Detective Shari McAuliffe, the investigator from the Special Victims Unit who obtained the confession, testified about it in trial.
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