Interdicted police officer Wayde Padmore has been sentenced to the maximum 10 years in prison following his conviction by a jury earlier this month for engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl.
Underscoring as he has been consistently doing in recent weeks with the volume of cases before the Sexual Offences Court and convictions, a visibly concerned Justice Sandil Kissoon reiterated that sexual offences, particularly against children, have reached “crisis” levels in Guyana.
Lamenting the need for children to be protected by adults, the Judge said that it was especially abhorrent that Padmore, whose duty as a policeman was to serve and protect, and therefore deter the commission of such crimes, was instead the very perpetrator.
Recalling the evidence presented during the trial, the Judge said that Padmore had premeditated to assault the teen, visiting her home and after her mother had left for work, sent the only other occupant of the house at the time on a “fool’s errand,” so that he could carry out his depraved act.
“You are unfit ever to have” been a member of the force, the Judge told him. He added, “You have heaped shame on your uniform.”
The Judge told an expressionless Padmore that the aggravating factors against him were overwhelming and that there were no mitigating factors which the Court could have considered.
On this point, the Judge pointed out the offender’s lack of remorse, and refusal to take responsibility for his actions even though all that he had done had been caught on camera by the teen who, according to the prosecution, was determined to record him, having alleged that he had raped her before.
Padmore faced trial for three sex assault charges—but was found guilty only of engaging in sexual activity with the teen.
The panel was deadlocked as to whether he had raped the child, while it unanimously acquitted him of causing her to watch him perform a sex act.
It was hung evenly regarding the rape charge for which he faces a retrial.
Padmore’s denial in the face of the video recording, evidence to which the Court made reference, raised Justice Kissoon’s ire, as he also recalled the offender’s wife collapsing in the witness stand after herself seeing the video for the first time.
The court heard at the sentencing hearing yesterday that Padmore had in fact told his wife that it was he who was on a video, but had lied and told her that he was with another woman who had made the video and leaked it.
When, however, the wife saw the video and all that it truly revealed, she collapsed.
Senior Probation and Social Services Officer, Anand Sharma said that in his interview with the offender, he sought to profess his innocence, saying that the story had been fabricated against him.
To defence attorney Clyde Forde’s pleas for clemency, Prosecutor Caressa Henry asked that he instead be visited with the maximum penalty, pointing out that notwithstanding the verdict of his peers and the video evidence, Padmore was still bent on not accepting responsibility for what he had done.
Meanwhile, the probation officer said that in his interview with the now 16-year-old victim, she shared being left feeling not only disgusted by the assault, but suffering from sleeplessness, lack of appetite and fear of self-harm.
Sharma said that the young lady’s call was for her abuser to face the maximum penalty for what he had done to her.
The court also heard from Forensic Psychiatrist Dr. Meenawattie Rajkumar, who said that the teen’s “psychological trauma is not fully cured,” and that she still feels anger towards the offender.
Following all the presentations, Justice Kissoon informed Padmore that he would be sentenced to the maximum sentence of 10 years. He further ordered that he undergo counselling tailored for child sex offenders.
Background
A jury at his first trial earlier this year was unable to arrive at a verdict on any of the charges against the cop; thus warranting him being retried.
The first count against the now 24-year-old Padmore—for rape of a child under 16 years—alleges that he sexually penetrated the girl who was then thirteen years old, between December 1st and 31st, 2019.
The second count of sexual activity with a child under 16, on which he has been convicted, stated that he engaged in sexual activity with the girl—between October 1st and October 31st, 2020—while she was 14 years old.
Meanwhile, the third count on which he was acquitted alleged that he had caused the teen to watch him ejaculate.
Prosecutors say that in December of 2019, he allegedly raped the teen and then close to a year after— in October 2020— he attempted to rape the child a second time, but after failing, proceeded to masturbate in her presence.
The trial proceedings were heard in-camera at the Sexual Offences Court of the High Court in Demerara.
