43 years’ jail for rapist cop

A POLICE officer who had been having sex with a girl since she was 14, was jailed yesterday for 43 years.

The girl became pregnant at 17, but PC Visham Ragoo, 40, did not want the baby. One night in February 2008, at about 10 pm, he dragged her naked into an apartment and put a gun into her mouth. He held a knife against her and threatened to cut her open.

The girl begged and pleaded with Ragoo to stop.

A nine-member jury in the San Fernando High Court heard a 19-minute audio of her ordeal recorded on a cellphone.

Ragoo had been on trial before Justice Carla Brown-Antoine. On July 15, the jury found him guilty of grievous sexual assault, rape, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assault and false imprisonment.

He is from Freeport and was attached to the Chaguanas CID.

Brown-Antoine sentenced Ragoo to 18 years on the first count, 15 years on the second, two four-year term for assault and false imprisonment, and two years for assault occasioning bodily harm.

She ordered the sentences run concurrently, so Ragoo will serve only 18 years in jail with hard labour.

Let it not be said, Brown-Antoine commented, that Ragoo and the young girl were having a relationship. She was a minor at the time, the judge said, and therefore he committed acts of abuse. At 17, she added, the victim was a minor.

Ragoo had dragged the girl into an apartment by her hair. She was pregnant and he did not want her to give birth. As she lay naked on a mattress, he put a gun into her mouth and a knife to her genitals.

Brown-Antoine said that in the audio,”She’s heard begging and pleading. He’s asking, ‘Do you want this child?’”

In sentencing Ragoo, Brown-Antoine commented that sexual offences against minors are too prevalent.

“Our vulnerable citizens are our girls and the court has a duty to protect them. Today, we are celebrating International Day of the Girl.”

State prosecutor Veonna Neale-Monroe, instructed by Collin Elbourne, prosecuted. Attorney Selwyn Ramlal defended Ragoo.