A jury at the Demerara High Court took two hours on Monday to acquit a Police rank of raping a teenage girl more than two years ago. Waylon Johnson, 25, had denied the charge which alleged that he engaged in sexual penetration with a 17-year-old girl without her consent on April 29, 2019, in Demerara.
He was on trial for the offence before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow. State Counsel Sarah Martin and State Counsel Nafeeza Baig presented the case for the Prosecution, while Attorney-at-Law Teriq Mohamed appeared for Johnson.
The case for the prosecution was that between 19:30h and 19:45h on the day in question, the young girl was at the Diamond, East Bank Demerara car park waiting on a car. She later boarded a car driven by Johnson to go to her friend’s house in Diamond Housing Scheme.
The prosecutors said that there were other passengers in the vehicle and that the last person disembarked at 19th Avenue, leaving the teenager alone in the vehicle with Johnson.
Instead of taking the girl to her destination, the prosecution said that Johnson drove out of the housing scheme.
According to the State lawyers, the girl repeatedly asked Johnson where he was taking her and he replied asking her if she would have “two drinks” with him. The prosecution said that Johnson drove the girl to a Masjid where he tried to kiss her but she pushed him away with her elbow.
The prosecutor related that when Johnson took out his penis, the girl began to scream and fight with him to get out of the car. She managed to open one of the back passenger’s seats, but according to the prosecutors, Johnson pulled it closed with force.
Johnson, the prosecutors added, took the teenager to a dark, busy area at Fourth Bridge Diamond Housing Scheme where he had had sex with her without her consent. During the ordeal, the lawyers said that the girl was crying, screaming, and begging him to stop.
When he was satisfied, the prosecutor added that the Police rank stopped and thereafter drove the teenager to her destination. Sometime after, the court was told that the teenager confided in her mother and a report was later lodged with the Police. Johnson was arrested in November 2019.
Johnson, in his defence, denied raping the young girl and stated that she was infatuated with him.
