Sentencing looms for man found guilty of raping 7-year-old

Twenty-five-year-old Rowland Sam was on Monday afternoon found guilty of raping a girl who was just seven years old at the time he committed the act. He was charged with rape of a child under sixteen, and he pleaded not-guilty when the State presented the indictment at the Sexual Offences Court last week. The prosecution’s case detailed that Sam sexually penetrated the young child sometime in the month of January 2015, when he was 22 years old. The jury returned its 10-2 majority verdict after some deliberation, but Sam had little reaction after the jury foreperson announced the decision. Presiding judge Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry delayed sentencing to September 5, 2018 after Sam’s attorney Clyde Forde requested a probation report be prepared for his client. State Counsels Lisa Cave and Orinthia Schmidt prosecuted the case.