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Life sentence for rape of a three year old justified

Oct 26, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
I wish to comment briefly on an article that I read recently headlined, ‘Corentyne labourer gets life sentence for raping three-year-old’. Justice Jo Ann Barlow, in her brilliance, has pleased my heart for a number of reasons. The judge was bold, fair and just by giving the accused, Yoganand Ramnarine, a life imprisonment sentence for the crime of statutory rape! There is a common view that perpetrators of such a heinous sexual crime should be given harsher penalties by the Court not only to punish the offenders, but to also serve as a deterrent as reports on statutory rape have increased. Justice Barlow has successfully managed to reflect societal views, punish the offender accordingly within the ambits of the law, and, as I am confident that time will reveal if precedence is followed, deter others from attempting like crimes.
The honourable judge is quoted in the aforementioned news article as stating that part of the offender’s sentencing is to receive counselling and that he be exposed to learning facilities in an effort to reintegrate him into society, should be he eligible for parole after serving 25 years of his total life imprisonment sentence. This, I strongly believe, should be the thinking of all judges and magistrates when sentencing offenders. The goal must not be to only punish the offenders and ensure that justice is served, but to ensure through the power of the Court, that the offenders are in positions to be reintegrated into society after serving their sentences by instructing mandatory counselling for offenders and exposing them to skills training and/or distant educational programmes.
This refreshing style of sentencing comes at a time when Guyanese are outraged by several reports in the media of our nation’s children being raped and sodomised, and in young Leonard Archibald’s case even murdered, by persons in positions of trust. Thus, I am hopeful that pattern is taken, and precedent followed when sentencing of other offenders of statutory rape is considered. Justice Barlow, you have brilliantly set a new standard for sentencing, one that goes beyond the traditions of mere crime and punishment. I commend you!
Cynthia Rutherford
President
Youths for Change, AFC

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