Rickardo Maniram, called ‘Rocky,’ was yesterday acquitted in the rape a 16-year-old girl who prosecutors say he had also impregnated.
Maniram’s defence, advanced by his attorney, Everton Singh-Lammy, had been that the sexual encounter with the young girl was consensual.
Following Justice Jo-Ann Barlow’s summation of the case yesterday morning, the 12-member jury retired to deliberate and returned some hours after with its unanimous verdict, finding Maniram not guilty of the offence.
The charge against him stated that in October of 2014 he sexually penetrated the 16-year-old without her consent.
The court had heard that the young woman had become pregnant, but claimed not to have known until June the following year, via an ultrasound, after her teacher told her father that the teen appeared fat.
Maniram, who was 32 years old at the time was subsequently charged, but his story is that the complainant had consented and that they had had an “affair.”
Following the announcement of the verdict, Maniram was informed by Justice Barlow that he was free to go.
The trial proceedings were held in-camera at the Georgetown Sexual Offences Court.
Maniram was represented by Singh-Lammy and attorney Cicelia Corbin, while the state’s case was led by Prosecutor Sarah Martin, in association with Nafeeza Baig.
