Andre Hetsberger, who is currently awaiting a new trial for the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl, was granted bail more than a week ago, but remains incarcerated due to what his attorney termed an “administrative hiccup.”
While confirming that his client was granted his pretrial liberty on August 9th, attorney Dexter Todd said Hetsberger has still not been released from prison because another charge levelled against him, which ought to have been already withdrawn by the office of the Director of Public (DPP) Prosecutions, remains on the records as existing.
When contacted, the lawyer explained to this newspaper that Hetsberger had been charged with two counts of rape, committed on different dates, against the same virtual complainant—October 17th, 2014 and October 15th, 2015.
While he was committed to stand trial and convicted on the October 17th charge, for which the Court of Appeal last month ordered a retrial, Todd said that the other charge had been badly laid for which his client should not have been committed in the first place.
According to him, while the particulars of that charge alleged sexual penetration, there was never any evidence presented to substantiate such. He noted, however, that though it was subsequently realised that that charge needed to be withdrawn, steps by the state to so do were never taken and so the matter remained as extant.
This, he said, was detected only after the man’s relatives turned up to pay the $200,000 bail he had been granted by High Court judge Jo-Ann-Barlow almost two Fridays ago.
Counsel explained that given the circumstances, he has since contacted the DPP’s office, which he says is in the process of rectifying the problem.
With the lapse of 10 days since the grant of bail, Todd yesterday said that his client is now at the mercy of the DPP who has to issue him a letter which he will then take to the Clerk of Courts reflecting that the particular matter against his client is to be withdrawn.
Once this is done, Todd expects that his client will be released from prison.
Finding among other things that the summation of his case to the jury was prejudicial, the Appeal Court last month ordered that Hetsberger be retried on the charge that he raped the teenager on October 17th, 2014.
Delivering the judgment of the court, acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire, who heard the appeal along with Justices of Appeal Rishi Persaud and Dawn Gregory, noted that certain aspects of the evidence presented at trial were more prejudicial than probative to the accused.
In allowing Hetsberger’s appeal, the judge then said that having regard to all the circumstances of the case, and having reviewed the grounds of appeal, his conviction would be set aside and a retrial ordered.
Unanimously convicted by a jury back in 2016 for raping the teenager, Hetsberger was sentenced to 25 years in jail by trial judge Navindra Singh.
