Serial rapist arrested!

Mar 02, 2021 News

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– in 2017 suspect was charged with rape, in 2018 he was also charged for tying up and raping two sex workers;
also allegedly preyed on schoolgirls

– had allegedly molested relative 

– residents give details of Wednesday nigth’s assault; some say police yet to take they statements

By Renay Sambach

Kaieteur News – The taxi-driver who is accused of raping, sodomising and battering a Venezuelan woman was previously charged for raping three sex workers.
The man, 36-year-old Thurston Semple of Tucville Terrace, Georgetown, was yesterday morning arrested and is presently in police custody in relation to allegations levelled by the Venezuelan woman.
Kaieteur News had reported that the 30-year-old woman managed to escape the hands of the suspect after she jumped through a front window of his home.
However, Semple reportedly came after her and repeatedly battered her in his yard. According to neighbours, both Semple and the woman were naked and even though they shouted at him, they were scared to approach him since he was armed with a knife.
The woman had told Kaieteur News reporters that she was brutally raped and assaulted at the hands of Semple. When Kaieteur News visited the area yesterday, neighbours shared graphic details about countless times, which they saw Semple allegedly carrying women to his home late at nights. Loud screams, they said, would usually follow.
According to the residents, they are afraid of Semple since he always manages to get bail. They also observed that none of the previous incidents was as horrific as the case involving the Venezuelan woman.
There were also media reports of Semple’s past indiscretions.
According to reports, on January 12, 2018, Semple appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan for allegedly tying up two sex workers on separate occasions and having sex with them.
The first charge alleged that between November 30, 2017, and on December 1, 2017, at Georgetown, he engaged in sexual penetration of a woman without her consent.
It was also reported that between January 3, 2018, and January 4, 2018, at Georgetown, he sexually assaulted another woman.
The charge was laid indictably and Semple was not required to plead to the charge.
According to reports, Semple picked up the sex workers on separate occasions and took them to his home, where he agreed to pay them $10,000 each for performing sex acts on him.
However, after the sex acts with the sex workers, Semple tied their hands and feet, placed them in his car and took them back at the location where he met them without paying for their service.
The Chief Magistrate McLennan had granted Semple bail in the sum of $400,000.
Kaieteur News had also reported that a few months before that incident, Semple was charged for escaping from lawful custody, but that charge was dismissed by Magistrate Dylon Bess in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
That charge had alleged that on August 31, 2017, while being in lawful custody at the Agricola Police Outpost, pending investigation of an alleged rape and robbery, he escaped lawful custody.
The Magistrate had told the court that the prosecution was unable to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt citing that insufficient evidence was led by the prosecution team. He added that the accused was also charged under the wrong section of the law.
Semple was committed to stand trial in the High Court during May 2018, for the rape of the two sex workers. However, while he was still out on bail, weeks after he was committed, he was slapped with another rape charge.
According to reports, on August 31, 2017, at Quamina Street, Georgetown, he engaged in sexual penetration with a woman without her consent.
Semple was not required to plead to the indictable offence. According to the facts of that charge, on the day in question, Semple met the woman who is said to be a sex worker at Palm Court and carried her to a hotel where he had sex with her against her will.
The woman then went and reported the matter to the police and the defendant was arrested for the offence. However, even though the police prosecutor objected to bail being granted to the defendant citing that he was recently committed to stand trial in the High Court, the Magistrate granted Semple bail in the sum of $100,000, with the condition that he lodge his passport at the court and stay away from the virtual complainant until the completion of the Preliminary Inquiry (PI).
Additionally, according to a source, Semple is in the habit of picking up schoolgirls and sexually assaulting them. This publication was also told that he sexually assaulted his relative who died shortly after.

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