Accused denies rape of nurse at Wismar Hospital

Mar 24, 2017 News

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By Rehanna Ramsay
Accused rapist, Wesley Carlos Payne, called “Piggie” has denied allegations that he visited the Wismar Hospital on September 10, 2008, the same date a nurse was raped at the complex.

The accused is on trial for the rape/robbery of nurses at the Wismar Hospital in Linden.
Reports had indicated the accused forcefully gained access to the Casualty Ward of the Hospital Complex, where two female nurses were on duty.
He allegedly robbed one of the nurses before ordering them to the back of the hospital, where he raped the other nurse. The incident occurred on September 10, 2008, at the Wismar Hospital complex, in Linden.
His trial commenced before Justice Navindra Singh at the Georgetown High Court on Wednesday. Payne, of Christianburg Wismar, Linden has since pleaded not guilty to the allegation before the Judge and Jury following an empanelment at the High Court.
The matter is being presented by State Attorneys, Siand Dhurjon, Tuanna Hardy and Tomieka Clarke. Payne is unrepresented by legal counsel.
When the trial continued yesterday, the prosecution called their final witness. The accused subsequently led his defence. He elected to give a sworn statement in which he denied the allegation. Payne told the court that he was not present at the hospital at the time the offence was committed.
The accused gave the court an account of an incident during which he was arrested and tortured by the police over allegations of some stolen AK47 guns.
Payne told the court that it was after he was arrested that he was accused of the rape.
“I know nothing about the incident,” Payne stated adamantly while under cross-examination.
His testimony followed the evidence of Police Officer, Silvan Jonas. Jonas told the court that he witnessed the taking of the Caution Statement.
The policeman also tendered the medical certificate obtained from the examination conducted on the victim. He read out the information contained in the document to the court.
However, the document was brought into question by the accused. Payne asked whether he had any way of confirming the authenticity of the document but the witness said he had no way of doing so.
When the trial began on Monday, the victims of the attack recounted their experiences.
The first witness, a nurse recounted the chilling ordeal of being raped by a masked stranger in the pediatric ward of the Wismar Hospital.
The second nurse also detailed that she was on duty with her colleague at around 1:15 in the morning of September 10, 2008 when there was a knock on the door of the Casualty Ward of the Complex.
She said that the other nurse responded to the knock and a stranger presented himself at the door.
Within a short space of time, the witness said that the man forced himself into the ward.
“A gray jersey covered his face; only his eyes were visible. He had something in his hands; it was wrapped in an orange jersey.”
The woman said that the intruder was also wearing blue three-quarter pants and a pair of white sneakers.
The witness noted that the man was topless,” and there were several blackish spots which appeared to be sore marks on his chest.
She said that the man demanded the DVD player, a cell phone, and jewelry that she had in her possession before ordering them to the back of the hospital.
There, the nurse recalled that they were placed on the floor.
The witness recalled hearing the intruder speaking over a phone. He uttered the words “Yes boss, deh done dead already…”
She said that the robber later took her colleague from the floor and started asking her (the colleague) questions.
“I could not hear them clearly and did not see because I was lying facing the walls but I could hear nurse (name given) making sounds like she was in pain and crying.”
“I could hear him say yuh frighten fuh dead, but you gun still dead.”
Asked if she did anything in response, the witness told the court that she was scared, so she wept.
The woman said the ordeal lasted for about five to eight minutes and her friend was placed on the ground again.
The woman said that when the robber left, she and her friend called the hospital security. They later made a report to the police.
Questioned by the jury about the intruder, the woman said that she remembers his voice; it matched that of the accused.
The Caution Statement procured from the accused was subsequently tendered as evidence by former Police Detective, Simon Benjamin.
Benjamin told the court that acting on information received in September 2008, he was arrested and put the allegation of rape to the accused.
The witness said that Payne told him that he did commit the act but that it was set up by a woman, who had an ongoing issue with the nurse.
Payne told detectives that he only agreed to do it because he had owed the woman $20,000 and she told him that if he rapes the nurse with whom she has an issue, the debt would be written off.
According to the statement, the accused detailed climbing through a hole in the fence of the Linden Hospital before gaining access to the ward, where he forcefully had sexual intercourse with the nurse.
The detective noted that before the taking of the statement, the accused was cautioned in accordance with the judge’s rules.
He noted, too, that the man was topless and there blackish marks which appeared to be sore marks on his chest.
The detective also told the court that the information supplied by the accused led to the recovery of the stolen items.

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