The three Barama workers who allegedly took turns raping and sodomising a 17-year-old dryer female operator several days ago at the company’s Land of Canaan plywood plant, were brought to the Providence Magistrate’s Court yesterday to answer joint charges.
Paul Abrams of Plaisance, East Coast Demerara; Claude Craig of Barama Quarters, Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara and Holston Melville called Pumpkin, were not required to plead to the joint and indictable charges of rape and buggery which were read by Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.
They were all later remanded to prison.
It is alleged that the trio committed the acts on the teenager during the wee hours of Wednesday morning at Barama’s Land of Canaan site.
When the case was called just after 9 am, the entire court was cleared and an in-camera (closed door) hearing commenced.
Two of the accused were neatly dressed in shirts and trousers, while the third wore a t-shirt and three-quarter pants.
None of them was represented in court yesterday and they declined to say anything on their behalf when asked by the magistrate. The prosecutor objected to bail being granted to the trio.
Relatives took the virtual complainant (VC) to court yesterday and even though three days have elapsed since the acts were committed, she was unable to walk unaided and appeared to be in excruciating pain.
She could not even sit without being in some discomfort.
After the hearing, scores of relatives from both sides and Barama workers packed the courtyard. Emotions ran high.
One woman, who this newspaper understands is the mother of one of the accused, broke down and had to be comforted by persons standing nearby. The woman wept uncontrollably for about ten minutes before being whisked away.
Relatives of the VC shed tears as well, while the VC also looked as if she too had been crying.
The girl’s relatives told this newspaper that they had been approached with monetary offers “to end the case” and had also suffered verbal abuse from relatives of the accused.
Reports are that on the day in question the teen was working the 11 pm -7 am shift.
Around 2 am, one of the accused who is a supervisor reportedly asked her supervisor for her help to do some writing.
The teen went with the accused who allegedly took her to a room where he forced her into having sex with him.
He then left, locking her in the room. Soon after, the man returned with a colleague who forcefully sodomised her. Then a third man came and forcibly performed the same acts.
After she failed to return, her supervisor decided to check and eventually found her lying naked and crying on a bed in the room, which had to be opened from the outside.
Police were called and the trio was arrested.
They will make their next court appearance on January 29 next year.
