Sean Trotman will be spending the next 45 years in jail after a jury found him guilty of the rape of a child.
Trotman, a father of five, was found guilty yesterday on two counts of rape of a child under the age of 16 at the High Court in Georgetown.
The crimes were committed in January, 2013 and March, 2014, according to the indictments against the man.
After learning that he had been found guilty of the charges, a visibly-distressed Trotman stressed that he was innocent. “Meh worship, I don’t know nothing ’bout this allegation that was made,” the unrepresented Trotman told Justice Roxane George, who conducted the trial. “She and she mother mek this allegation against me,” he continued.
Justice George told him that it was his right to have his views but cautioned that the jury had spoken and that it had found him guilty as charged.
In imposing the sentence, Justice George underscored the seriousness and prevalence of the offence and stressed that a strong message of condemnation needed to be sent, particularly to potential offenders.
“You have breached a position of trust,” she told Trotman.
She further explained that when children are interfered with in such a manner, it causes diverse problems for them both as children and even when they become adults.
The judge said such experiences may in some instances cause children to “act-out,” can affect and cause problems in their lives at school, affect them developing healthy relationships and lead to social issues, such as trafficking in persons, among others.
Noting that there were two charges against Trotman, Justice George said the “victim was continuously under threat.”
“I will have to sentence you to long years in jail,” the judge told the very worried man, who bowed his head and sighed after being told that he was being sentenced to the next 45 years in prison.
He was sentenced to 20 years in prison on the first count of rape and 25 years on the second, with the sentenced to run consecutively.
Before being escorted from the courtroom, the judge informed Trotman that it was his right to appeal, if he so wished.
He was then handcuffed and taken away.
After about three hours of deliberation, the jury returned a proportionate guilty verdict of 10 to 2 on the first count of rape but was unanimous on the second count. The trial was held in-camera. The case was prosecuted by state counsel Shawnette Austin.
