Magistrate Fabayo Azore yesterday issued an arrest for Police Corporal Huford David after he failed to appear at court to answer a charge of sexual assault of a minor.
David had been charged on April 25 with taking a 14-year-old girl into Region Seven to be a sex worker.
The new charge, which was read yesterday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court in David’s absence, alleges that in January, at Kurupung, Region Seven, David, 36, of Sisters Village, East Bank Berbice, engaged in sexual activity with the 14-year-old girl.
Since he was not present to answer to the charge, the Magistrate issued the warrant and fixed the next hearing for September 16 at Court One. At his arraignment in April, David was remanded after pleading not guilty to human trafficking.
It was alleged that between January 1 and January 31, 2013, at Kumakuma Creek, Mazaruni River, he kept the girl for the purpose of exploitation.
However, David was subsequently granted bail after making an application to the High Court, while the case remains pending at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court.
David was alleged to have contacted the girl and her sister, telling them he needed two girls to work with him. While her sister refused, the 14-year-old girl agreed to go with David, who transported her to Kumakuma Creek, Mazaruni River.
Police allege that as a result of nine sexual encounters, the girl accumulated 12 pennyweights of gold and $160,000 cash, which she later gave to a shopkeeper allegedly designated by David to receive it.
The girl subsequently insisted on having her gold and money but was denied it by both the shopkeeper and David. As a result, police say she escaped and later made a report to the Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO), following which investigations were launched into the matter and David was located, arrested and charged.
