10 yrs jail for child rapist

AZARD ALI

A HIGH Court judge in San Fernando yesterday sentenced a father to ten years and 12 days in jail with hard labour for raping a 12-year-old girl in 2007.

Kelvin Duncan, 54, of south Trinidad, was on trial before Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds in the San Fernando High Court, where he was found guilty by a jury of nine. The girl, now 23, testified about the ordeal and identified Duncan as the man who took her to a bedroom and had sex with her.

The incident happened between January 1, 2007, and April 30, 2007, at about 7 pm. Duncan was charged with haping sex with a minor.

He has 24 previous criminal convictions and he gave evidence in his trial that when police questioned him about the allegations, he had replied, "I would not do something like that."

After addresses by state attorney Stacy Lalloo-Chong, who prosecuted the case, and attorney Subhas Panday, who defended Duncan, the jury found Duncan guilty.

In passing sentence, Ramsumair-Hinds said the sentences in matters of such a nature ranged between ten and 12 years, but in those cases the accused pleaded guilty and the victims were older than 12. Guilty pleas in criminal offences attract a one-third discount for the accused, the judge added, which is subtracted from the sentence the court wishes to impose.

Duncan, Ramsumair-Hinds said, was found guilty and there were no mitigating factors, not even his headaches and his being epileptic. He is a father of three and faced life as a family man like any other normal husband and father. "Not sure the migraine is something mitigating, compared to what the child endured," Ramsumair-Hinds added.

Additionally, Duncan has had convictions for possession of firearms, robbery and larceny.

Ramsumair-Hinds took into consideration that Duncan spent 718 days in jail awaiting trial. She deducted the days from the sentence, which amounted to about two years. She ordered him to serve ten years and 12 days in jail begining from yesterday.