Damon Assanah called “Devil” has been sentenced to 18 years behind bars for raping a 13-year-old girl whom he also impregnated back in 2015.
At his sentencing hearing yesterday afternoon, Justice Brassington Reynolds pointed out to an expressionless Assanah that though he sought to plead for the court’s mercy, it did not assist when considering that he refused to express any remorse for his actions.
Despite the jury’s verdict, Assanah continues to maintain his innocence, which his attorney Ravindra Mohabir said he should be entitled to do, considering that he has a right to an appeal.
Noting the position of trust he breached and what was described as his wanton disregard for the young girl’s bodily integrity, the judge told the convict that he had been enjoying his liberty for the past six years, all while the child had to endure the trauma of the assault.
“Real men bow their heads in shame to such conduct,” the judge told Assanah; while adding that children below the age of consent must be left alone by “big men.”
“We must cut our eyes on them,” the judge said.
“It is ironic that you would go on to father a little girl after committing these dastardly acts,” the judge said.
A victim impact statement read to the court by the child’s counsellor sought to enquire from Assanah the reason he had raped her, even as she revealed the impact depression has had and continues to have on her life.
She also spoke of the way the now-convict “dragged my name in the streets with his friends,” after the assault.
The virtual complainant (VC) spoke too of the taunts he directed to her and her now-dead mother whom she said sadly did not live long enough to celebrate her justice.
The young woman spoke of moving out of the community because it had become unbearable to live there anymore as she felt persons blamed her for what had happened.
From the statement the VC spoke of not only the trauma of being raped, but being impregnated by Assanah as well, and having to abort the baby as she was still in school.
According to a probation report, the court heard that while some persons in the community described Assanah as humble, the vast majority called his character into question and also recalled how he taunted the VC and her mother.
Justice Reynolds said he considered a sentence of 15 to 20 years as being appropriate, stating that since he could find little to steer him away from the upper end of that range, 18 years would be imposed.
The judge said he did, however, consider as advanced by Assanah’s attorney, the fact that his client had no antecedents and the possibility of him being amenable to rehabilitation.
On May 13th Assanah was unanimously convicted by a jury on one of three counts of raping the teen.
His sentence had been deferred for the probation report and victim impact statement.
The jury said that he was not guilty of the first count of 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 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.
The trial proceedings were held in-camera at the Sexual Offences Court of the Supreme Court in Georgetown.
