At a pre-sentencing hearing yesterday morning for former mason Adjuke Josiah, the court heard from the victim impact statement of the 15-year-old girl he raped back in 2018, of the pain and shame with which he has left her.
“I felt very painful and ashamed. I also felt very depressed. This incident left me feeling very shameful with all the people that found out my story,” Prosecutor Caressa Henry read on behalf of the victim from the statement.
According to the statement, the now 18-year-old spoke of the resentment she has for her mother whom she said disbelieved that she had been assaulted and thereby did nothing.
“It was very abusive as a mother to a daughter. I expected better. More love, comfort, care and protection; but instead it was verbally, physically and emotional abuse I faced,” the court heard from the statement.
The young woman said she only felt at peace after being able to tell her story to the court and having justice after Josiah was convicted.
“He took something from me that was not for him,” the young woman’s statement said, while noting that apart from her ongoing emotional, physical and mental trauma; she is also still plagued by flashbacks “over and over in my head that I will never forget.”
In his address to the court, the 36-year-old father of one maintained his innocence, but begged the Judge for leniency.
His attorney Clyde Forde advanced for the Court’s consideration, what he said is his client’s potential for being rehabilitated, while also citing his previous unblemished record.
Referencing a probation report, Forde noted that Josiah was described by his family and community as being industrious.
Describing the assault meted out to the teen as an ‘unfortunate incident,’ the lawyer echoed the offender’s pleas for clemency.
Prosecutor Henry in rebuttal was, however, swift in pointing out that though the offender begs for mercy, he has failed in the face of the jury’s verdict, to accept responsibility for his actions or to even express remorse.
Highlighting the gravity of the offence and the challenges from which the complainant still suffers, Henry asked the Judge to impose a sentence that would send a strong message of deterrence to potential offenders.
After hearing all the submissions, Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry announced that she will sentence the offender next Tuesday, after she would have considered all that had been laid before her.
Josiah had been unanimously convicted by a 12-member jury on April 14th.
The panel found him guilty as charged of sexually penetrating the 15-year-old on August 18th, 2018.
Josiah’s trial was conducted in in-camera at the Sexual Offences Court of the High Court at Demerara.
