Husband takes stand in wife’s rape trial

Jun 30, 2012 News

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The husband of the security guard who was raped at Bare Root, East Coast Demerara, as she walked home from work on the night of June 11, 2009, testified yesterday before Justice Roxanne George and a mixed Demerara Assizes jury as the trial continued.
On trial for rape is Devon McFarlane, called ‘Kang.’ He is represented by Attorney-at-law, Ronald Burch-Smith while Prosecutors, Judith Gildharie-Mursalin and Renita Singh are appearing on behalf of the State.
The woman’s husband, a soldier, said that on June 10, about 2:30pm, his wife, who was dressed in her uniform, left for work as she was scheduled to work the 4:00pm to 12 midnight shift. He remained at home with the couple’s three children, aged six, four and one-year. He said that he expected her to return home by 1:00 the next morning as was the norm when she worked that particular shift.
According to the husband, the security firm with which his wife was employed would provide a bus to take her from her site location to the bus park and from there, she would join a minibus which would drop her off at the Bachelor’s Adventure Public Road. She would then have to walk about 45 minutes to reach their home at Bare Root.
When she failed to arrive home at the designated time, the man said that he was wondering where she was as he waited on the landing for a while, then he went into the house and watched television. He had also fed the baby and put her to sleep.
He subsequently saw a person walking towards his home and he realized it was his wife. She was crying and he observed that her pants were rolled up to her knees, her shirt was out of her pants, she had no hat on and there was mud on her.
He said that he asked her three times why she had come home looking like that but she did not answer him. When he asked her a fourth time, then she told him that if he had been looking out for her that would not have happened to her. She then proceeded to tell him that she had been raped by a man with a gun.
He said she explained that she was heading home when the man rode past her and “their eyes make four.” Then he rode off and shortly after, she saw the same man on his bike in a street she was approaching. He came up and placed a gun to her head and told her not to scream or say a word, after which he led her  to a” half-done concrete house” where he told her to take off her clothing.
She told him she had a little baby that was nursing but he told her to obey his orders. He then proceeded to rape her, while the weapon was placed at his feet. After he had “completed his mission,” the husband told the court, the man then told his wife to put on her clothes which she did.
He then asked her if she had any money at home and she said no, then he asked her if she had gold and she said yes. He took her to her home and as they approached it, he asked her if her husband was at home and she said no. But the alleged rapist looked through a window and observed the woman’s husband on the bed with the baby and he said to her, “How yuh tell me yuh husband ain’t deh home? He sitting on the bed wid a baby.” He then led her back to the road where he told her not to say anything or he will come back for her in the morning. He then left.
According to the witness, he conducted “investigations” by asking his wife to describe the man who had raped her and she said that he was dark skinned, about 5 ft. 5 inches tall, with “knotty” hair to his neck, full eyes and she described the clothing he was wearing.
He said he told her they would wait until “day clean” to go to the police station since, if they walked, it would have taken them about one and a half hours and they had three small children and they had to consider also ,that there was a man with a gun in the darkness out there.
At about 7:30am, he took his wife to the Vigilance Police Station where they reported the matter. They were then placed in a Patrol vehicle and taken back by Ranks where his wife pointed out the unfinished house. Two men were standing on a nearby bridge and she identified one of the men as the person who had raped her. That man is the accused.
The VC was later escorted first to the Enmore Clinic but there was no doctor there. She was then taken to the GPHC where she was examined and a medical certificate issued by the doctor.
On Thursday, the virtual complainant had testified that a confrontation was held by the police between her and the accused during which she had repeated her story. At the conclusion, the accused had said, “I is a married man. How I gon do that to you? I know yuh husband.”
Both the VC and her husband testified that the wife of the accused is the cousin of the VC’s husband.
The VC maintained that it was the accused who had raped her as she was able to see his face clearly because on the Bachelor’s Adventure road there were street lights as well as lights from nearby houses.
The woman had told the court that as the accused led her at gunpoint to the house, he had thrown his bicycle in a drain. She also testified that as he sexually assaulted her, it was a very painful fifteen minutes for her and all sorts of things were running through her mind, foremost was whether he had any diseases and what would happen to her after he was finished.
Under cross-examination, she denied that she had told the police the man who raped her had beads on his penis. She declared that the only beads she knows of are the ones that are put in a person’s hair and she had never known that men cut their penis and insert beads. She also denied telling the police that the man who raped her “was a bald head.”

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