Indicted on three counts of rape of a child under 16 years old, 33-year-old Damon Assanah was on Thursday convicted on one of those counts after the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict. The man was on trial for the offence before Justice Brassington Reynolds at the High Court in Demerara.
Convicted: Damon Assanah, aka “Devil”
While he was found not guilty on the first and second counts, which alleged that he engaged in sexual penetration of the 13-year-old girl between January 1 and 31, 2015, and between October 1 and 31, 2015, Assanah was found guilty on the third count, which detailed that the offence occurred between November 1 and 31, 2015.
The now-convicted rapist, who had been out on bail pending the hearing and determination of his case, has been remanded to prison following the guilty verdict. He will return to court on June 3 for a sentencing hearing.
He was represented by Attorney-at-law Ravindra Mohabir, while Attorneys-at-law Sarah Martin and Nafeeza Baig appeared for the State.
Facts presented by the prosecutor revealed that Assanah is known to the teenager. 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, where Assanah took off his pants and the young lady’s underwear.
He instructed her to bend over, she complied, and 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 it is alleged that he raped the girl again.
The jury found that he raped the girl between November 1 and 31, 2015. In early December 2015, the girl attended school, where 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 girl later confided in her mother about what had transpired between her and Assanah. A report was made to the Police, and the man was arrested and charged. (G1)
