A Guyanese man who had fled to his homeland to avoid prosecution was recently sentenced to 21 years in prison by a US Court after he was found guilty of raping a child, according to the Mount Vernon New York Patch.
According to the report, 39-year-old Abdool Azeez, who was 35 at the time of the incident, seduced the then 14-year-old girl he had met while doing construction on her grandmother’s home in Mount Vernon, New York.
A jury found Azeez guilty in November of three separate counts of Rape in the Second Degree, a class “D” felony. He was sentenced earlier this month.
According to the report, Azeez met the victim in 2013 while doing construction work on her grandmother’s Mount Vernon-based business and home. Despite knowing the victim was a minor the Guyanese coaxed her into a sexual relationship that would continue to January of 2014 when the victim’s mother discovered the relationship through social media, Westchester County District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr. said when he announced the case.
The report said that an arrest warrant was issued for Azeez, who fled to Guyana where he remained for two years in an effort to avoid apprehension. However, he returned to the United States when the victim turned 17 and was subsequently arrested on the warrant.
Upon his release from prison, Azeez must register as a Sex Offender and will also be on post-release supervision for 10 years.
He was sentenced by Judge Susan Cacace.
