25-year-old Rowland Sam was on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment by High Court judge Priya Sewnarine-Beharry after a 12-member jury last month found him guilty of raping a seven-year-old girl.
At the end of his trial, Sam, a block maker, admitted that he only fingered the child and was asking for mercy and forgiveness but Justice Beharry however informed him on Thursday that what he did is still considered sexual penetration, further upbraiding him for three other acts he was found guilty of performing on the primary school child, including sodomising her.
The girl’s impact statement read that she doesn’t trust boys or men and that her performance has slipped at school.
The incident was said to have occurred during January 2015 when the girl’s mother attended a funeral and left her and other children in Sam’s care.
Citing the prevalence of the heinous crime, Justice Beharry said the court cannot condone such actions and ordered that Sam serve 20 years before he is eligible for parole. He was represented by attorney Clyde Forde.
