A man was convicted by a jury yesterday afternoon for the rape of a 12-year-old girl, for which he now awaits sentencing.
Following close to two hours of deliberations, a 12-member jury returned with a unanimous guilty verdict for a visibly-shocked 41-year-old Morris Johnson, who was tried for sexually penetrating the child between August 12th and 13th of 2017.
After the verdict was announced, defence attorney Ronald Burch-Smith asked the court to defer his client’s sentencing to facilitate a probation report.
Justice Brassington Reynolds, who presided over the in-camera trial proceedings at the Sexual Offences Court of the High Court in Georgetown, granted counsel’s request and adjourned until August 26th, when sentencing is expected to take place.
The judge ordered that a victim impact statement be prepared for presentation on that day also.
Johnson, who was previously on bail, was handcuffed as he was informed by Justice Reynolds that he would have to be remanded to prison to await sentence.
The state’s case was presented by Prosecutor Abigail Gibbs, who appeared in association with Seeta Bishundial.
