Herstelling taxi driver convicted of raping 12-year-old girl
A 32-year-old taxi driver was Friday found guilty of raping a 12-year-old schoolgirl. Sahadeo Pooran, called, ‘Omesh’, was on trial for the offence before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow and a 12-person jury at the High Court in Demerara.
According to the charge, on September 27, 2019, at an East Bank Demerara village, Pooran engaged in sexual penetration with the child. Following the guilty verdict, Pooran was remanded to prison until March 24, 2021, when he will be sentenced after a probation report and victim impact statement are presented.
According to the information, on the day in question, the child left home to go to school. She was standing on the road waiting for a taxi to get to the road head from where she would then board a minibus to get to school. Pooran drove up to the girl and offered to drop her at school for free.
Instead, Pooran took the child to his house where he held her down and raped her. In her testimony to the court, the young girl said that after she was raped she when went to school and told her teacher what transpired. As a result, her parents were called in and a report was made to the Police.
Pooran was subsequently arrested and charged with the crime. Following a Preliminary Inquiry (PI) in the Magistrate’s Court, he was committed to stand trial for the offence at the Demerara Criminal Assizes.
