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Outrage over 'light' sentence for rapist
Published: Sunday | November 6, 2011 6 Comments
Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
The mother of a 12-year-old girl who was brutally raped and buried in a hole last year wept bitterly last week Friday after she heard that the man who committed the dastardly act was going to prison for only 12 years.
"My head start hurting me right away and I began to cry when I heard the man was sentenced to only 12 years," the mother said.
"I am shocked and angry at the short sentence the man got after all that my daughter went through. When I tell her about the sentence, I don't know how she is going to take it," she said.
She said her daughter was still having nightmares and, up to last week, she was very angry that she was subjected to such an ordeal. The medical report states that there are going to be lasting implications for the girl.
But the mother of the victim is not the only person who is outraged by the verdict.
Some policemen remarked that the sentence was rather light for what the man had done.
ruling up to judge
Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn, QC, is also of the opinion that, for the heinous crime the man committed, he should have been given a longer stretch in prison, but acknowledged that the ruling was entirely up to the presiding judge.
"Sentencing is the sole prerogative for His Lordship, the judge," Llewellyn said last week Friday. She said when she got the report from the crown counsel in the case, she was somewhat surprised and saddened because "in this matter, the facts to which the accused man pleaded guilty are extremely grave". She was, however, quick to point out that the normal protocols that obtain between Bench and Bar would prevent her from making any further comment on "this unfortunate scenario".
Llewellyn said, unlike in some jurisdictions, in Jamaica, the Crown cannot appeal against sentences.She stressed that "we as prosecuting attorneys will continue to do our best to play our part in the due administration of justice".
Llewellyn disclosed that she had since spoken to the mother of the child in an effort to commiserate with her.
Garsha Wilson, 27, taxi driver of Sterling Castle, St Andrew, pleaded guilty to the crime in the Home Circuit Court and was sentenced last week Friday.
Attorney-at-law C.J. Mitchell, in his plea for leniency, asked the judge to bear rehabilitation in mind.
concurrent sentences
Supreme Court judge David Fraser sentenced Wilson to 12 years for attempted murder, 10 years for rape and eight years for abduction. The sentences are to run concurrently, so he will serve 12 years.
Crown Counsel Sharon Milwood Moore, in outlining the facts of the case, said the girl was on her way from school about 5:30 p.m. on March 22 last year, when Wilson, who was well known to her, lured her to go with him on the pretext that he had a surprise for one of her relatives. He took the girl to an abandoned area in Smokey Vale, St Andrew, where he raped her.
He began to strangle her and, when she became unconscious, he thought she was dead. He buried her in a hole and threw a pile of stones on it.
When the girl did not meet her mother at the usual spot for them to go home together, the mother raised an alarm. Wilson began to 'help' the girl's mother in the search for her and took the mother to several places. The girl regained consciousness and crawled out of the hole. She walked a long distance until she found a house and made a report to the occupants.
They contacted her mother by telephone and, when Wilson heard that the girl was talking to her mother on the telephone, he ran away. He was subsequently arrested and charged. The girl spent a week in hospital and is still undergoing counselling.
According to reports, Wilson has shown no remorse because he insisted in the social-enquiry report that it was the girl who wanted to be intimate with him.
barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com
Published: Sunday | November 6, 2011 6 Comments
Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
The mother of a 12-year-old girl who was brutally raped and buried in a hole last year wept bitterly last week Friday after she heard that the man who committed the dastardly act was going to prison for only 12 years.
"My head start hurting me right away and I began to cry when I heard the man was sentenced to only 12 years," the mother said.
"I am shocked and angry at the short sentence the man got after all that my daughter went through. When I tell her about the sentence, I don't know how she is going to take it," she said.
She said her daughter was still having nightmares and, up to last week, she was very angry that she was subjected to such an ordeal. The medical report states that there are going to be lasting implications for the girl.
But the mother of the victim is not the only person who is outraged by the verdict.
Some policemen remarked that the sentence was rather light for what the man had done.
ruling up to judge
Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn, QC, is also of the opinion that, for the heinous crime the man committed, he should have been given a longer stretch in prison, but acknowledged that the ruling was entirely up to the presiding judge.
"Sentencing is the sole prerogative for His Lordship, the judge," Llewellyn said last week Friday. She said when she got the report from the crown counsel in the case, she was somewhat surprised and saddened because "in this matter, the facts to which the accused man pleaded guilty are extremely grave". She was, however, quick to point out that the normal protocols that obtain between Bench and Bar would prevent her from making any further comment on "this unfortunate scenario".
Llewellyn said, unlike in some jurisdictions, in Jamaica, the Crown cannot appeal against sentences.She stressed that "we as prosecuting attorneys will continue to do our best to play our part in the due administration of justice".
Llewellyn disclosed that she had since spoken to the mother of the child in an effort to commiserate with her.
Garsha Wilson, 27, taxi driver of Sterling Castle, St Andrew, pleaded guilty to the crime in the Home Circuit Court and was sentenced last week Friday.
Attorney-at-law C.J. Mitchell, in his plea for leniency, asked the judge to bear rehabilitation in mind.
concurrent sentences
Supreme Court judge David Fraser sentenced Wilson to 12 years for attempted murder, 10 years for rape and eight years for abduction. The sentences are to run concurrently, so he will serve 12 years.
Crown Counsel Sharon Milwood Moore, in outlining the facts of the case, said the girl was on her way from school about 5:30 p.m. on March 22 last year, when Wilson, who was well known to her, lured her to go with him on the pretext that he had a surprise for one of her relatives. He took the girl to an abandoned area in Smokey Vale, St Andrew, where he raped her.
He began to strangle her and, when she became unconscious, he thought she was dead. He buried her in a hole and threw a pile of stones on it.
When the girl did not meet her mother at the usual spot for them to go home together, the mother raised an alarm. Wilson began to 'help' the girl's mother in the search for her and took the mother to several places. The girl regained consciousness and crawled out of the hole. She walked a long distance until she found a house and made a report to the occupants.
They contacted her mother by telephone and, when Wilson heard that the girl was talking to her mother on the telephone, he ran away. He was subsequently arrested and charged. The girl spent a week in hospital and is still undergoing counselling.
According to reports, Wilson has shown no remorse because he insisted in the social-enquiry report that it was the girl who wanted to be intimate with him.
barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com
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