Twenty-three-year-old fisherman Roopnarine Mahadeo is now awaiting sentencing after being convicted by a jury of raping a 14-year-old girl back in 2021.
Following hours of deliberations yesterday afternoon, the 12-member panel returned a unanimous verdict, finding Mahadeo guilty as charged of the offence of rape of a child under 16 years of age.
Trial judge, Justice Navindra Singh has, however deferred sentencing to December 18th, to first hear from probation and other social impact reports.
The facts presented by the prosecution were that Mahadeo, who was 20 years old at the time, sexually assaulted the child at one residence, before taking her to another residence for a few days.
After the teen’s relatives reported her missing to the police, she was later taken to the police station.
In his defence, Mahadeo told the court that he did not rape the young girl, nor did he kidnap her.
The State’s case was led by prosecutor Marisa Edwards, together with Abiola Lowe and Mikel Puran.
Meanwhile, Mahadeo was represented by defence attorney Clyde Forde.
The trial proceedings were heard in-camera at the Sexual Offences Court of the High Court in Georgetown.
