Shopkeeper sentenced to life without parole for raping 15-Y-O girl

A High Court Judge on Thursday sentenced a shopkeeper to life behind bars with no possibility of parole for raping and engaging in sexual activity with an underage girl.

While describing Wesley Bazil, called “Tappy” as a calculated predator, Demerara Sexual Offences Court Judge, Navindra Singh alluded to the man’s previous conviction in the USA for a similar offence. 

For this, he was deported to Guyana in 2017.

Following a trial in June, a jury found Bazil unanimously guilty on the first count of engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl, and on the second count, of raping her.

When asked if he had anything to say before sentencing was passed, the offender said, “I want to apologise to the young lady’s family for putting them through this sorrow and pain. I also want to apologise to my family.”

The victim-survivor shared that the incident has left her in a state of depression and that she even considered taking her own life. “The situation got to a point where I thought that everyone was better off without me,” she wrote in her impact statement.

“It made me drop out of school and made me start practicing self-harm and running away from home. All I had planned for my future was ruined.”

In his sentencing remarks, Justice Singh told the convict that he dragged the young girl through a trial knowing fully well what he had done to her.

Considering this and his previous sex crime conviction, the Judge told Bazil that he is a calculated predator and a danger to society. 

Declaring that he will not release him to dwell among the populace, Justice Singh sentenced Bazil to life imprisonment without parole.

The convict was represented by Attorney-at-Law Euclin Gomes while Senior State Counsel Tiffini Lyken prosecuted the matter.

The prosecution’s case was that in December 2020, the teen girl went to Bazil’s shop to make a purchase when he fondled her.

The following month, upon her return to the shop, Bazil lured her to the back of his yard and raped her.

The girl’s parents only found out that she had been sexually molested after checking her phone and discovering that she had been talking to a friend about what Bazil had done to her.

In light of this, a report was filed with the Police.

When Bazil, who was armed with a razor blade heard the verdicts, he began inflicting injuries to his neck from which he passed out, prompting the need for emergency care.

As such, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) were summoned to the courthouse.

To speak with a professional counsellor, please contact the Suicide Prevention Hotline on 223-0001, 223-0009, 600-7896, or 623-4444.