Man freed of rape charge after second trial

Stephen Mc Curdy was freed of a rape charged earlier this week after a jury found him not guilty at the Demerara High Court. It was alleged that on November 19, 2017, he engaged in sexual penetration with a woman without her consent. He had been on trial before Justice Jo Ann Barlow.

The Prosecution had contended that the woman said she had known Mc Curdy three weeks prior to the incident and that that they shared a “friendship type of relationship”.  The virtual complainant stated that she was living at Mc Curdy’s mother’s residence where he had also been residing.

The woman claimed that after being sexually molested on November 18, 2017, by Mc Curdy, she went in search of an apartment to rent. She eventually returned to Mc Curdy’s mother’s home. On November 19,  2017, at about 5 am, she said she was sleeping when she heard a knocking on the bedroom door.

She claimed that Mc Curdy came into the room and told her “is four nights now you did not give me sex and I have to have sex tonight.” She further claimed that the man chucked her down and raped her even as she pleaded with him to stop. A report was lodged with the Police.

Mc Curdy, in his defence, denied raping the woman. This was his second trial for the offence;  his first trial ended sometime back in a hung jury.