Twenty-five years jail for ex-cops who raped woman in Turkeyen station

Ex-police constables Delon Chapman and Leon Ashby who raped a woman who had gone to the Turkeyen Police Station to make a report back in 2018, have each been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

The sentences were handed down yesterday afternoon by Justice Jo-Ann Barlow who underscored their disregard in upholding the law and the Guyana Police Force’s motto “to serve and protect,” which they disgraced.

Highlighted by the judge also, was the convicts’ lack of remorse even in the face of the verdict rendered by their peers and their desire to shift blame onto others.

A jury last month unanimously convicted the men of sexually penetrating the woman without her consent on January 1st, 2018. Their sentencing had, however, been deferred for probation reports and an impact statement from the victim.

Referencing the facts presented at trial, Justice Barlow said that the conduct of the two from the beginning was indicative of their devious intent of assaulting the woman.

Recalling the woman’s request to use the washroom, the judge said that though there were facilities on the ground floor of the building, the virtual complainant was directed to an upper flat in the barracks room area which was more secluded.

This act, she said, was calculated by the convicts to get the woman away from where her cries could be easier heard.

The judge said it was abhorrent the assault meted out to the woman, but more so the manner in which it was done, as one restrained her as they each had their way with her.

In arriving at the sentence, the judge said that the manner and circumstances under which the assault was carried out, coupled with the fact that the perpetrators were police officers and had gone further to threaten to kill the woman if she spoke out, all amounted to aggravating factors.

Justice Barlow added to that list, too, the fear and anxiety by which she said the victim is still troubled as indicated by her impact statement.

The judge noted that while a plea for clemency was presented by counsel for the convicts, the mitigating factors were far outweighed by the aggravating ones, and could therefore in no way mitigate the sentences imposed.

In his brief address to the court, Chapman, 23, the father of a two-year-old, said that he was innocent and offered that if the case is ever tried again, “y’all would see that none of this ever happened.”

Meanwhile, Ashby who also maintained his innocence, said that he has always been a law- abiding citizen and spoke of how his career had been damaged.

Before eventually having to be stopped by the judge, the father of four alleged that the charges against himself and his colleague were trumped up, which he said stemmed from a firearm charge involving “some people.”

“This thing never happen. I never would have done such a thing,” he said, before concluding, “we are victims of circumstance.”

As part of their sentence, the judge ordered that both men be exposed to programmes tailored for reforming sex offenders.

In his address to the court, defence attorney Ravindra Mohabir had asked the judge to consider that his clients were relatively young and have potential for rehabilitation towards making meaningful contributions to society.

He asked, too, that the ages of their children be taken into account, submitting that the father figures and disciplinarians would be absent from their lives, which he said would create a void.

Justice Barlow, however, noted that the Court could not consider the hardships occasioned by the families of the men, noting that they would have to find the means of support otherwise to deal with those hardships. 

For her part, Prosecutor Sarah Martin asked the Court to consider the nature, gravity and prevalence of the offence; the manner too in which it was committed and the fact that the then policemen would have breached their motto to “serve and protect.”

The prosecution’s facts were that the woman had gone to the Turkeyen Station on the day in question and lodged a report with policeman “Keizer” about an individual who had thrown a squib at her son.

Before leaving the station, the woman asked to use the washroom and Keizer called Chapman who the court heard guided her to the upper flat of the building where a toilet was located.

The woman had told the court that after she was finished using the washroom, Chapman grabbed her by the neck and he and Ashby took her into a room, threw her on a bed and took turns raping her.

She said she tried to scream but could not because she was restrained by the men.

The court had heard from the woman that after the approximately 30-minute ordeal, she ran into the station and screamed “rape,” and told Keizer what had happened to her but he refused to take her report; and instead instructed Chapman and Ashby to “take [her] away” stating that she could “not make two reports at once.”

The woman would then go on to relate her refusal to go with the men who had moments before attacked and assaulted her; but that they nonetheless pulled her by her hand and pushed her into the back passenger seat of a vehicle while they sat in front.

From there she said they set out in search of the man who had thrown the squib at her son. The court had heard from the woman that it was that very man to whom she complained of being raped by the two policemen.

She said that she then told her husband what had happened to her and he took her back to the Turkeyen Station where she said Keizer again refused to take her report.

The woman said it was not until she had stripped her clothing out of frustration, that her report of having been raped was eventually taken.  

The case was tried at the Sexual Offences Court of the High Court in Demerara.