Essequibo man jailed 18 years for raping woman

Oct 14, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – An Essequibo man, who was found guilty of rape by a 12-member jury at the Suddie High Court on Tuesday, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for the crime. The sentence was handed down yesterday by Justice Priya Sewnarine- Beharry.
Francis Gonsalves was found guilty of raping a 35-year-old woman in 2018.
The jury delivered a 10-2 majority verdict at the Suddie High Court finding Gonsalves guilty of the crime of engaging in sexual penetration with the victim without her consent on March 27, 2018.
According to the particulars of the case, Gonsalves of the Charity Housing Scheme, Essequibo Coast, had attacked and raped his victim after she left a birthday party at 03:00hrs on the night of March 27, 2018. Gonsalves refused to accept the verdict and told the court that he was innocent and had an unfair trial.
His attorney, Ravindra Mohabir, in a plea of mitigation, told the court that there is hope for his client to be rehabilitated. But State Prosecutor, Tiffani Lyken, pointed out that Gonsalves showed no remorse for his actions, although he was found guilty by a jury.
Lyken revealed that Gonsalves had previous brushes with the law and is currently serving a sentence. She noted that in addition to the rape conviction, the man was charged previously for burglary, assault causing actual bodily harm, damage to property, and breach of a protection order.

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