Sixty-one-year-old Laldeo Jagdeo has been sentenced to 15 years in prison following his conviction by a jury last month for raping a teenaged boy on three separate occasions back in 2019.
At his sentencing hearing yesterday morning, Justice Jo-Ann Barlow lamented the revolting nature of what Jagdeo had done to the child, even as she underscored the spiralling incidence of sexual offences against children.
Noting Jagdeo’s lack of remorse, the Judge said that she particularly found to be aggravating among other things, the number of times he had assaulted the teen, which was compounded by threats.
She said that the assault showed a pattern that developed over time and by which Jagdeo had become emboldened to carry out by the time he had assaulted the young man on the third occasion.
In his brief address to the court, a seemingly distressed Jagdeo begged for leniency; citing his age, ill-health, and what he described to be his frustration “with everything.”
His position not accepting the verdicts of the jury has been that he suffers from erectile dysfunction.
The charges against Jagdeo were for rape of a child under 16 years.
The jury found him guilty of sexually penetrating the 15-year-old boy on two separate occasions between September 1st and 30th of 2019; and then again on October 13th, of the same year.
After referencing a number of legal precedents to guide her sentencing, Justice Barlow imposed 13 years each for the first two counts and then 15 on the third count, noting that Jagdeo had by then become emboldened.
The Judge ordered that the sentences run concurrently.
Additionally, she ordered that he be exposed to counselling tailored for sex offenders, to aid in his rehabilitation.
The trial proceedings had been heard in-camera at the Sexual Offences Court of the High Court at Suddie.
The State’s case had been presented by prosecutor Tiffini Lyken, while Jagdeo was represented by defence attorney Latchmie Dindyal.
