Former Barama supervisor, employees jailed for raping 17-year old

Jun 25, 2016 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

The rape trial involving Barama employees accused of committing the act in the Barama factory since December 2007 finally came to an end on Thursday.
Those accused were Paul Abrams, Claude Craig and Holston Melville. They appeared before Justice Joanne Barlow.
It was alleged that Paul Abrams lured the victim into a dark room and forcefully raped, sodomised and put his penis in the victim’s mouth against her will.
He then locked her in the room and returned with Melville who committed the same act. As the men finished they locked the room again. Later Craig came into the room and he also sodomised the girl against her will.
A supervisor at the factory eventually went into the room and discovered the naked victim crying and humming to herself on the bed in the dark room. She could barely walk and had to be assisted by staff.
The jury which deliberated for over five hours on Thursday set Melville free but found Abrams guilty of buggery and indecent assault and found Craig guilty of indecent assault.
The jury was undecided about whether Claude Craig had sodomised the victim since nine jurors had viewed that he was guilty but three believed that he was not guilty. He will therefore have to receive a new trial for the offence of buggery.
Before the sentence could be handed down defence counsel, Nigel Hughes, begged for leniency on behalf on his client.
He noted that Craig was 39 years old and had four children, the youngest of whom is two years old.
He noted that Craig enjoys an impeccable reputation but that he was misled to do the act by information fed to him by his friends.
Hughes insisted that the sole act committed by his client warranted a short sentence. Bernard De Santos, SC asked the judge to give Paul Abrams a low sentence since he is married with four children. Paul Abrams refused to say anything to the Court.
The judge in turn sentenced Paul Abrams to 25 years’ imprisonment for buggery and four years for indecent assault.
These sentences will run concurrently. Claude Craig was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for indecently assaulting the victim. Justice Barlow made clear that the Court must send a strong signal to society regarding the atrocious nature of the offences committed.
She said she saw little to no circumstances in favour of the accused but very strong aggravating factors.
State Attorneys Siand Dhurjon and Shawnette Austin represented the State. The prosecution called about eight witnesses to the stand during the two-week trial.

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Former Barama supervisor, employees jailed for raping 17-year old

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