(Trinidad Express) A Moruga man was yesterday sentenced to 26 years in prison with hard labour for the rape of an epileptic woman.
Patrick Silverton, 39, was found guilty, on July 9, by a nine-member jury that had deliberated for less than an hour.
In passing sentence yesterday, High Court Judge Andre Mon Desir, presiding in the Fourth Criminal Assize of the San Fernando Supreme Court, said there were too many incidents of rape against women and children.
He said rape was a senseless and brutal act, and Silverton abused the trust the “mentally subnormal” victim had placed in him.
Mon Desir said the court had a duty to record its disapproval of the attack.
The victim, who suffers with seizures, was one of the witnesses who testified against Silverton.
The court heard that on the evening of Christmas Day in 2000, Silverton and the woman were walking along Fort George Road, Moruga. The woman, then 18, was carrying a three-month-old baby in her arms.
Silverton denied the allegations that he placed the child in the middle of the roadway and dragged the woman into the bushes, where she was raped.
State prosecutor Sabrina Dougdeen called three witnesses, including ASP Gregory Renrick.
The sentence will begin on the day Silverton was found guilty.
