Mason Hall 'PH' taxi driver sentenced for rape

A Mason Hall "PH" taxi driver has been sentenced to 11 and a half years for raping a 17-year-old passenger in 2012.

Justice Kathy Ann Waterman-Latchoo sentenced Ricardo Reynolds on July 24. She also ordered him to report to the Scarborough Police Station seven days after his release to register every three months as a sex offender for eight years.

The judge also ordered the registrar of the Supreme Court to send Reynolds’s name and information to the Police Commissioner for publication, in 14 days, on the Public Sex Offender website.

A Tobago jury convicted Reynolds on July 12.

The incident happened on November 19, 2012, after the girl got into his car in Scarborough to get to her home in Carnbee. She had left a function at her aunt’s home and was with her boyfriend awaiting transport when Reynolds pulled up in his car. The girl’s boyfriend paid him $40 to take her home.

The girl got into the back seat of the car and while on the way to Carnbee, Reynolds, who was 36 at the time, asked for her name, but she refused to tell him. Then he asked her to have sex with him and she also refused.

He turned off the highway and went to a beach in Lambeau, where he parked his car, dragged the girl out, and pushed her onto the bonnet, where he raped her.

He also threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the incident, then got back into the car and drove off, leaving her stranded.

The girl was able to contact her family, her boyfriend and his parents, who went with her to the Scarborough Police Station, where they made a report. She was medically examined at the Scarborough Hospital.

Reynolds was eventually arrested and charged for the offence. At the trial, he testified in his defence.

While Reynolds admitted to having intercourse with the girl, he denied he had raped her. He claimed the girl consented and although they did not know each other, it was her idea to go to the beach.

The jury deliberated for just over two hours before returning a guilty verdict.

Dylan Martin and Niara Boodan represented the State.