San Juan man sentenced for raping step-daughter

A SAN JUAN man has been sentenced to 23 years’ hard labour for raping his then 13-year-old step-daughter in 2003.

The man, who was found guilty by a Port of Spain jury late last year, was today sentenced by Justice Hayden St Clair-Douglas in the Port of Spain High Court.

The man had attempted to get his victim to drop the court case.

Senior State counsel Joy Balkaran, who prosecuted the man, led DNA evidence which led to his conviction as his DNA was found on vaginal swabs taken from the victim which were tested at the Forensics Science Centre.

He was before the court on a three-count indictment, but was only found guilty on one count that between February 2003 and November 2004, he raped the girl.

According to the prosecution’s case, the girl was sleeping on a mattress in the living room of the family’s home, when she felt herself being lifted from it and taken to another area where he raped her.

In her testimony, she said felt pain while being raped and she had to fight him off. She said in her testimony that her step-father, who she knew from the age of six, begged her to forget what had happened.

It was the girl’s aunt who threatened her mother to go to the police to report the incident.

The man was 49-years-old when he raped the girl.