A mixed jury was on Tuesday empanelled at the Demerara Assizes to begin the trial of Paul Abrams, Claude Craig and Holston Melville who are accused of raping and sodomising a 17-year-old girl in the Barama Complex, Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara on December 5, 2007.
Three of the seven witnesses that the prosecution intends to call testified on Tuesday.
Attorney-at-Law Bernard De Santos is representing two of the accused – Craig and Abrams – while Attorneys-at-Law Nigel Hughes and Kezia Williams are representing Melville.
The matter is being presided over by Justice Jo-Ann Barlow while the prosecution is headed by State Counsel Siand Dhurjon.
According to reports, the teen was allegedly raped by Abrams, her supervisor, while she was working on the night shift with him. Reports are Abrams asked for help and then led her into a room and had sex with her without her consent.
After the accused was finished, he allegedly locked the teen in the room and returned with a friend who reportedly sodomised her after which the third accused allegedly went in and did the same.
The trial continues today.
