A young man now faces sentencing after admitting to raping a 10-year-old girl in an attack in August, 2015
Appearing before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow yesterday morning at the Sexual Offences Court of the High Court in Georgetown, the young man pleaded guilty to two counts of having raped the child on two separate occasions.
He pleaded guilty to charges of rape of a child under 16 years, which stated that he sexually penetrated the young girl.
The accused, who had been brought before the court late last year, had initially pleaded guilty to the charges, but later said he was forced to do so.
As a result, the court could not accept his pleas and not-guilty pleas were entered instead.
At yesterday’s hearing, however, the young man made it clear to the judge that he wanted to plead to the offences, while stating that he was not pressured.
His sentencing has, however, been deferred until Friday, March 13th, to facilitate the preparation of a probation report and victim impact statement, which are to be presented prior to sentencing.
The proceedings were held in-camera at the Sexual Offences Court of the High Court. In accordance with the Juvenile Justice Act 2018, the identity of an individual who would have committed an offence while a minor ought not to be published since the person, although now an adult, was a juvenile at the time the offence was committed.
Part IX, Section 100 (1) of the Act states that “a person shall not publish the name or any information related to a child or juvenile, if it would identify the child or juvenile as having been dealt with under this Act.” In addition, Section 42, which deals with sentences, states, “Where a juvenile is found guilty of an offence under any law, the finding of guilt shall not be recorded as a conviction.”
It is noteworthy that once the individual was a juvenile at the time the offence was committed, the protection of the law against publishing their identity remains intact, even if at the time of passing sentence that person may have since become an adult.
This is the second such case to have engaged the court’s attention in the last week.
The offender was represented by attorney-at-law Maxwell McKay.
The state’s case, meanwhile, was presented by Prosecutor Teriq Mohammed, in association with attorney Tyra Bakka.
