Man found not guilty of raping 10-year-old

…daughter “not telling the truth”, mother says in statement

The Essequibo Sexual Offences Court has found a 31-year-old man of Imbaimadai, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), not guilty of raping a 10-year-old girl.
Karl Robinson, a miner, was accused of engaging in sexual penetration of the minor on March 25, 2017 in Essequibo. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The prosecution, led by State Counsel Tiffini Lyken, contended that at around 10:00h on the day in question, the girl was at home when Robinson, who was 27, held her hand and walked her to a bushy area that was close to her home. While there, the man took off the girl’s tights and underwear, pulled down his pants, placed the girl to lie in some bushes, and then raped her.
After committing the act, he told her not to tell anyone.
But, according to the prosecutor, six days later, the girl confided in one of her classmates, who in turn reported the matter to the school’s headteacher. The school teacher took the girl to the Health Post before filing a complaint with the Police.
In his defence, Robinson denied raping the child. He told the court that he was in the interior at the time the rape had allegedly occurred.
The girl’s mother, friend, and headteacher were among the witnesses who testified for the prosecution. In her Police statement, the mother said her daughter had never informed her that she was raped.
The mother said the man whom her daughter alleged had raped her could not have committed the act, as he was not in the jurisdiction. As such, the mother wrote in her statement that her daughter was “not telling the truth”.
Robinson was on trial before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow. (G1)