“Big men must leave them alone” – Judge to child rapist

…receives 18-year jail sentence

“Removing you from society, at least for a while, is the least that a court can do in its attempt at joining forces with the rest of civil society to combat, if not overturn, the scourge of rape, incest, and other deplorable forms of sexual violence being meted out to women and children in our beloved country.”
Those were the words said to 32-year-old child rapist Damon Assanah by High Court Judge Brassington Reynolds.
On Thursday, the High Court Judge sentenced Assanah, called “Devil,” to 18 years’ imprisonment for what he described as a “heinous and barbaric crime” committed on a young girl.

Assanah, of Victoria, East Coast Demerara, who fathers a four-year-old daughter, has unanimously been found guilty by a jury last month of raping a 13-year-old girl between November 1 and 31, 2015. The crime took place in Demerara.
Following the jury’s verdict, sentencing for Assanah was deferred until Thursday to facilitate the presentation of a probation report and victim impact statement.
Assanah is known to the teenager, who is now 19. Between January 1 and 31, 2015, he called the girl’s mother’s phone and asked the girl to meet him downstairs. They met at the back of her yard next to a turtle pen.
While there, he instructed the girl to get undressed. He took off his pants, after which he told the child to bend over. When she complied, he raped her.
In October 2015, the teenager’s mother sent her to the shop to purchase an item.
On her way there, she met Assanah, who held on to her hand and placed her in his car. The man then drove off to his home, where he raped the girl again. He also raped the girl between November 1 and 31, 2015.
In early December 2015, the girl was attending school when she started to vomit. Her mother was called in. The girl was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where she was made to undergo a blood test. The test confirmed that she was seven weeks’ pregnant; the pregnancy was later aborted.
The girl later confided in her mother about what had transpired between her and Assanah. He was subsequently arrested and prosecuted.

“Big men must leave them alone”
“Real men bow their heads in shame at such conduct,” the judge said to the convict, who appeared in court via Zoom. “You have brought disgrace to the real men in your village,” the Judge said to Assanah, adding that only God knows why a man of his standard of living could succumb to carnal cravings.
He reminded the father of one that he chose to defile the young girl in the most despicable way, not once, not twice, but three times. From the findings of the probation report, the Judge noted that Assanah displayed no remorse for his actions. In this regard, the Judge informed Assanah that under the laws of Guyana, a girl under the age of 16 cannot consent to sexual intercourse.
“And so adult males, big men, must leave them alone. We must cut our eyes on them…. they were referred to as jail baits, as they are,” the Judge said as he reprimanded Assanah for his actions, which have left the teen traumatised.
Further, the Judge said to Assanah it is ironic that he would father a little girl soon after committing these bastardly offences.

“It left me feeling depressed”
In a victim impact statement that was read aloud in court by a counsellor, the teenager said, “What I went through after being raped has really impacted my life. After being raped by someone whom I have known all those years… Sometimes I felt as if I cannot trust anyone close to me anymore. This has had a negative impact on my life. It left me feeling really depressed.
“He [Assanah] returned to the streets and dragged my name through the mud with his friends and family, telling them what he did to me, and all the blame was cast on me, saying I wanted it. He then tried to torment me and my late mother. My mom and I were so ashamed to walk the road. We would always take another direction to get to or from home in order to avoid him. Every time he saw me and my mom, he would grab his crotch and sing songs.
“I dropped out of school because I was not only mocked by classmates, but also by teachers, because I became pregnant. I felt all alone and scared for my life because this man was still free after what he did to me,” the rape victim related.
She added, “My mother once fought for this matter for me, her only child… It so happened that during the process she passed away. But I want to thank God for answering my prayers…My mom can rest in peace knowing that justice has been served.
“I would like to see this man put away for a long time, so he can no longer torment me or (do) what he did to me to another girl.”

Combat scourge
In an effort to combat the scourge of sex crimes against women and children, Justice Reynolds told Assanah that removing him from society, at least for a while, is the least the court can do.
“Removing you from society, at least for a while, is the least that a court can do in its attempt at joining forces with the rest of civil society to combat, if not overturn, the scourge of rape, incest, and other deplorable forms of sexual violence being meted out to women and children in our beloved country.”
While Justice Reynolds credited Assanah for rising against his childhood struggles, he further told the convict, “You get absolutely no credit for the barbaric way in which you breached the trust of [the girl]. And the reckless disregard which you displayed for her bodily integrity.”
Throughout his trial, Assanah was represented by Attorney-at-law Ravindra Mohabir, while the case for the Prosecution was presented by State Counsels Sarah Martin and Nafeeza Baig. (G1)