Soldier admits to raping 16-year-old neighbour

Jun 21, 2012 News

---

– victim forced to re-live ordeal

 

A soldier has reportedly admitted to raping his 16-year-old neighbour. He is now under arrest at Army headquarters, Camp Ayanganna.
The incident occurred a fortnight ago, and the soldier has reportedly sent text messages to the young lady apologizing for what he had done.
The young lady had just returned home after writing her last subject for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams when she was reportedly assaulted.
The teen’s parents are frustrated that the Guyana Police Force has not yet charged the accused with rape, even though, he admitted to the crime.
They are also furious that their traumatized daughter was forced to confront her attacker twice in one day after the incident- once at the Leonora Police Station and the other at the victim’s house.
At their residence, the victim was forced to demonstrate what the accused did to her, the woman related. The accused, who was also given the opportunity to demonstrate his encounter with the teen, admitted to the unlawful act.
The distraught mother feels that the police have added to her daughter’s grief as she was forced to relive those horrifying minutes.
Though unaware of the background of the case, former Minister of Human Services and Social Security and pilot of the Sexual Offences Act of 2010, Priya Manickchand, disagreed with the actions of the ranks if the allegations by the victim’s mother are accurate.
Quoting from the Act, Manickchand stated that under section 42 (1)  “Where a report is made of an offence under this Act, at no point during the investigation shall the complainant be required to recount the complaint or any part of it, in the presence of the accused unless the complainant wants to do so.
She further stated, 42 (2) “The complainant shall not be required to view or be in the presence of any person referred to in the complaint as having perpetrated any offence under this Act save for the purposes of an identification parade and then only.”
According to the teen’s mother, she went to the Office of Professional Responsibilities, Eve Leary, yesterday, and was told that the Police Force cannot stop the army from collecting a military personnel involved in a case. In addition, the police have three months to investigate the matter.
A police source stated that since the accused is military personnel the Director of Public Prosecutions has to advise on the matter. There is a possibility that by Friday the accused would be charged.
However, the woman is confused as to why the Force needs to investigate the matter further even after the accused admitted to the act. In addition, a medical examination at the West Demerara Regional Hospital proved that the teen was raped.
She noted that the accused has sent about six text messages apologizing for his wrongdoing.
The tearful victim during an interview, related details of her ordeal. Minutes before the attack the accused, who is a family friend and next door neighbour, uplifted a package from the teen’s home.
The teen recounted that the accused spent 30 minutes in the kitchen watching television whilst waiting on a phone call from her mother, who was at La Grange, West Bank Demerara.
Following a brief telephone conversation with her mother the accused left the premises, she noted.
“I locked the front and back doors after he gone. Only the verandah door was opened because six toddlers my mother takes care of were sleeping there. About 15 minutes after he left he appear in the house again asking me if we gah cream and I said no. I was shocked to see him but didn’t make anything of it,” the teen said.
She added, “He gone in front and I think he leave so I continue…bam. Next you know he come lean in front me and tell me he ready for the ‘cat.’ I ask he which ‘cat’ and he said ‘the one between your foot’.”
Overpowered by the attacker, the teen said that she was pressed face down to the ground with only her left hand free.
She said she screamed for help, but these calls went unanswered. “I was able to get on my back and kick him off and I try crawling to the fridge but he grabbed my foot and pulled me into his control again. This time my body froze and I had no energy to fight him. He inserted two fingers in me,” the child said.
She stated that after the accused was finished he ordered her to stand and stop crying. He was irate with her noncompliance and tried to help her up but was unable too.
“He fixed my tights and leave me there on the ground. I was afraid to call my mother so I texted my sister in Canada and she called my mother and told her about what happened. My mother came home and we went to Den Amstel Station and the ranks there apprehended him,” she said.

---

---