Two Corentyne men who were found guilty at the High Court in Berbice of raping a now 26-year-old man in 2015 at Williamsburg Village, Corentyne were yesterday sentenced to 21 years and 16 years respectively.
The two accused, Parshram Guman, 30, and Mahesh Lackhan, 30, both from Williamsburg Squatting Area, Corentyne, who were both represented by attorney at law, Jagmohan stood emotionless in the court while the sentences were read to them. Their relatives, however, began to cry.
Justice Brassington Reynolds yesterday sentenced Guman to 20 years and 9 months imprisonment, while he sentenced Lackhan to 15 years and 9 months imprisonment.
He told Guman, a father of one, that he took into consideration his age and that he had no brushes with the law in the past, as well as the fact that he came from a humble background but did not complete his education and had “inadequate nurture”.
The judge said that he believes that the crime was not committed based on sexual preference but rather a case of very poor judgement fuelled by alcohol.
Meanwhile, the judge told Lackhan, a father of four that he should have never taken orders from Guman, who was his boss at the time, to hold down the victim.
The judge said he should have known what is wrong from right, and that while he himself did not penetrate the victim, he is very much guilty of rape.
During the probation report read for the two men, the court heard that the victim, 26, suffered a mental breakdown after the incident. Shortly, after the incident the victim separated from his common law wife since he was embarrassed and had lost his self- confidence.
The victim also told the probation officers that he screamed and begged for the men to stop, and that Lackhan after the incident verbally abused him and his relatives.
The report also noted that the victim is now married and has a one-year-old child.
Guman and Lackhan in late June were unanimously found guilty of raping the man on January 29, 2015.
Back in 2015, it was reported that the victim was drugged, after which he was raped by the men who he was working with at the time.
Jagmohan had told the court that his clients were under the influence of alcohol and committed a grave mistake.
The state was represented by prosecutrix, Towana Hardy and nine witnesses were called to the stand.
