Two minibus conductors who were implicated in separate incidents of rape and carnal knowledge appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan yesterday and were remanded to prison.
Randy Farley, 20, of South Sophia was charged with rape and carnal knowledge, which he allegedly committed on International Women’s Day, March 8, at a home in Kitty.
Hemchand Ramkaran, 26, of 224 Gordon Street, Kitty was charged with aiding and abetting Farley.
Though they were not charged jointly, the prosecution indicated to the court that the two men would be tried together given that the facts of the cases against them are similar. In the case of Farley, it is alleged that on the day in question he raped a woman at Ramkaran’s home and on the same day he allegedly had carnal knowledge of a girl under 16 years at the same home.
His attorney, Adrian Thompson told the court Farley is a mechanic in training who conducts minibuses on occasion. He asked that bail that be granted since Farley has no previous police trouble and is not a flight risk. But Prosecutor Sherwin Matthews objected to bail on the grounds that the offences are serious and prevalent.
Meanwhile the court heard that Ramkaran allowed Farley to use his home to commit the rape and carnal knowledge. The prosecutor in objecting to bail said Ramkaran was previously accused of a similar offence.
Ramkaran’s attorney, Ronald Burch-Smith in a bail application said his client was never convicted of any offence of a sexual nature and repeatedly stated his client was not present at the time the offences allegedly committed by Farley took place. He said Ramkaran merely owns the home and it is on this basis the police charged him.
Burch-Smith argued that the police never took a statement from his client to verify his exact whereabouts at the time the offences were allegedly committed. He said the police case against Ramkaran is weak and insisted that his client’s only crime was that he owned the home in question.
Further, he said, his client knows neither of the virtual complainants and that there is no chance of him coming into contact with them.
Both men will return to court on March 23.
