A father of three has been found guilty of repeatedly raping a 15-year-old girl in 2014.
Esan Germain, 45, had previously pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape of a child under 16 when he appeared before Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.
Following a trial at the Demerara Sexual Offences Court on Thursday, Germain, who is currently serving a 65-year prison sentence for child rape, was found guilty on all counts by a 12-member mixed jury.
Sentencing for the convict has been deferred to later this month. He was represented by Attorney-at-Law Clyde Forde while State Counsel Nafeeza Baig in association with State Counsel Muntaz Ali and State Counsel Latifa Elliott prosecuted the matter.
Germain raped the young girl on three occasions between January and July 2014. The first time, she was doing laundry in the bathroom of her home when he began questioning her about her school grades, relationship status, and sexual orientation.
He told the girl “I love you”, and she replied, “I know”. Germain went on to kiss the girl on her cheeks, neck, and breast before raping her. On the second occasion, he woke her up, placed her to lie on a bed next to a two-year-old boy, and raped her.
He raped her again during the wee hours of July 17, 2014. It was just after midnight when Germain awakened the girl. When she ignored him, he dealt her a lash on her hand, pulled her off the bed, placed her to lie on a cupboard, and raped her.
On July 23, 2014, the girl was going to the shop when she saw her mother whom she confided him. The mother reported the matter to the Police and Germain was arrested. In her Police statement, the woman said that she was shocked at the allegations against Germain as she didn’t expect him to do something like that.
Meanwhile, during his trial, Germain had always denied raping the child. He described the girl as an “unmannerly child” who misbehaved while she was in the United States and who was “sent back to Guyana”.
He told the jurors that the girl was “experimenting with her sexuality” and he tried to tell her it was just a phase. He also claimed he tried to “rehabilitate” her and put “strict” measures in place to guide her to be better. These measures, he said, included beating her, talking to her, and sending her to church for counselling.
In December 2017, Germain was convicted of three counts of child rape by a jury following a trial before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall at the Demerara High Court.
The indictments stated that sometime during 2010, 2012, and 2013, he performed oral sex on the child, and in turn caused her to do same to him. One of the indictments also stated that he rubbed his penis against the girl’s vagina.
Germain, who was regarded by his then-lawyer, Eusi Anderson, as a researcher on issues affecting the Lesbian, Gays, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI) community—raped the child when she aged, four, six, and 11.
