Damon Assanah called “Devil” was yesterday afternoon unanimously convicted by a jury on one of three counts of raping a 13-year-old girl whom he was also said to have impregnated back in 2015.
He now awaits sentencing which was deferred by Justice Brassington Reynolds, to facilitate the presentation of a probation report and victim impact statement.
The convict who had been on pretrial liberty was forthwith remanded to prison to await sentencing which is now set for June 3rd.
Following hours of deliberations, the 12-member panel returned with its unanimous verdicts—acquitting Assanah on the first two counts, but convicting him on the third.
The jury said that he was not guilty of the first count for raping the child sometime between January 1st and 31st, 2015.
She was 12 years old at that time.
The jury found that he was also not guilty of raping the child later that year—between October 1st and 31st. By that time she had turned 13.
The panel, however, found Assanah guilty of raping the teen sometime between November 1st and 30th, 2015.
Regarding the allegation on the first count, Assanah was accused of calling the child, to whom he is known, via a cell phone.
The court had heard that after she went to him, he pulled her into a yard near a pen where he sexually penetrated her.
On the second allegation, the court had heard that as she made her way to run an errand, the child was on the road when she encountered Assanah who held her by the hand, placed her into his car, and drove to his house.
The child had related to the court that the accused took her by the hand into his house where he stripped her naked, removed his clothing and again raped her.
The court had then heard that on the third count on which Assanah was convicted, the child was walking along the road when the convict again held onto her hands and took her into his house, undressed her and himself and raped her.
The girl had testified that music was playing at that time and as she attempted to scream, the convict covered her mouth with a jersey.
She said that he then braced the door and placed his right foot between her legs, even as she tried to push him away, telling him that she would complain to her mother, but she related that he nonetheless raped her.
The prosecution’s case led by Prosecutor Nafeeza Baig, stated that on December 7th, 2015 the child was in school when she began vomiting, as a result of which she was taken to the hospital the following day by her mother.
After undergoing a blood and urine test, it was revealed the child was some seven weeks pregnant, and it was at that point that she related to her mother, what Assanah had done to her.
Assanah who is now 33, was 27 years old at the time of the alleged first assault.
Given a chance to speak, the convict related through his attorney Ravindra Mohabir that he had nothing to say.
The trial proceedings were held in-camera at the Sexual Offences Court of the Georgetown Supreme Court.
The state’s case was led by Baig, in association with Prosecutor Sarah Martin.
