GDF launches probe after rank arrested for raping 14-year-old

The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) has launched an internal investigation into the allegations of rape levelled against one of its ranks after the Police Force arrested a Lance Corporal for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl.
Based on information received, the incident occurred in Region One (Barima-Waini) at sometime between September 2020 and September 14, 2021. The Police, in a statement, said a preliminary investigation into the matter revealed that the soldier had shared a relationship with the victim for about one year. However, on September 14, the matter was reported and the soldier was arrested.
Following his arrest, the GDF said it is aware that one of its ranks is currently the subject of a Police investigation into allegations of sexual activity with an underage female. It further stated that the rank was stationed at one of the Force’s outlying areas, and that an internal investigation has since been launched.
“The Force wishes to reiterate and assure this nation that it does not condone these actions. Further, our ranks are bound by the Values and Standards and, as such, their conduct and professionalism are of paramount importance,” GDF said in its statement.
Police investigations are ongoing.
Over the years, the GDF has been plagued by reports of its ranks committing sexual crimes, particularly in outlying areas. Just in March of this year, a Board of Inquiry convened to investigate the circumstances which led to an allegation of rape being levelled against GDF ranks in Mabaruma, Region One, had led to disciplinary actions being taken against two officers and four ranks.
The six ranks were arrested for an allegation of rape. That incident allegedly occurred between February 6 and 7, 2021.
The subsequent BOI found that the ranks had seriously breached operational orders while deployed on border duty, and they were disciplined accordingly. Four of the ranks were dismissed and the disciplinary process is ongoing against the others. Three of the ranks were charged with rape.
In October 2018, two soldiers – Rawlston Reid, 22, of Dochfour Housing Scheme and Isaiah Rawlins, 21, of Wisroc, Linden – allegedly raped a 26-year-old female in Essequibo, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam).
It was reported that on October 13, 2018, the two soldiers, who were placed on $300,000 bail each, allegedly had forceful sex with the woman.
The woman was at the time with her boyfriend at a community centre ground eating chips when they were approached by the soldiers, who are known to them.
The couple was ordered to have sex for the soldiers to see, and when they refused, they were beaten and robbed. The woman’s boyfriend was forced to watch the entire ordeal before they stripped him of his gold chains worth $180,000. The men have since been dismissed from the military.
In 2017, three soldiers were dismissed after they took an 18-year-old girl into Base Camp Stephenson, Timehri, East Bank Demerara (EBD), where they sexually assaulted her. Subsequently, soldier Winston ‘Carlos’ Haynes was charged for the rape and was placed on $600,000 bail. (G2)