Security guard in court for raping schoolgirl

A magistrate on Wednesday ordered police to keep tabs on a ten-year-old schoolgirl while she is under the protection of the Children's Authority, after she was allegedly sexually assaulted.

Rakesh Ramnath, 37, a security guard of Priam Street, Diamond Village appeared before senior magistrate Jo-Anne Connor in the San Fernando court charged with sexually assaulting the child with his finger on August 31 and October 1, 2019. Connor also read another charge to Ramnath that on February 6, he had sex with the child.

Ramnath was arrested on Monday. Attorney Shaun Teekasingh pleaded for bail on the two charges to which Ramnath was not called upon to plead.

Connor granted him $250,000 bail and ordered that he do not make any contact with the victim, including via social media. Police prosecutor Cleyon Seedan said that the child is under the protection of the Children's Authority.

The magistrate then directed that the court be informed of the status of the child with respect to her stay under such care, on each occasion the matter comes up for hearing. "I want to know where the child is located, why the child is there; a status of the child on each occasion the matter comes up for hearing," Connor said. The case was adjourned to April 1.