Georgetown: A life sentence was handed down to a 25 year old who was jailed for the rape of a child under 16 years old.
Roland Sam Jr. was sentenced to serve life imprisonment by a High Court Judge, Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on Thursday.
The Judge related that the convict will have to serve 20 years before he is eligible for parole.
Sam, 25, was sentenced following the presentation of a probation report which painted a clear picture of his childhood.
During the trial, Sam was represented by Attorney-at-Law Clyde Forde. The case against him was presented by State Prosecutors Lisa Cave and Orinthia Schmidt.
The report outlined that Sam’s upbringing was characterized by a tumultuous relationships which were marred by different types of abuse—including sexual abuse.
Before the sentence was handed down, Sam pleaded with the court for mercy and said that he was sorry for his actions. He however did not accept all the graphic details presented by the prosecution facts. “I only fingered the girl. I did not do all those other things.”
However, the Court detailed that Sam had in fact, ‘fingered’, sodomised and performed oral sex on his seven year- old victim.”
The incident occurred while the child’s guardians were away at a wake. Sam who resided in the top flat of the house where child lived had been left home alone with the complainant and her siblings.
In dispensing her judgment, Justice Sewnarine-Beharry took into consideration a number of mitigating and aggravating factors.
She noted that the accused had abused his position of trust by carrying out the heinous crimes on the seven year old. The judge said that a strong message must be sent to society that such acts will not be tolerated.
On the other hand the judge considered that convict showed some level of remorse by saying he is sorry for what happened to the victim.
The judge also took into consideration, among other factors, the probation report which outlined that the accused was also a victim of physical, mental and sexual abuse, the time Sam spent in prison prior to his trial in the High Court.
Sam of Eccles, East Bank Demerara was convicted for raping a seven year- old female between January 1 and 31, 2015. He was convicted of the crime by a 12-member mixed jury at the Sexual Offences Courts of the High Court in Georgetown.
Based on the evidence presented in the trial, the jurors were convinced that Sam sexually penetrated a seven-year-old girl between January 1 and 31, 2015, in the county of Demerara.
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