Two youths guilty of sexual offences

A Port-of-Spain jury yesterday found two young men guilty of committing sexual offences with a 12-year-old girl in 1996. Ryan Strong, 25, and Shaka Thomas, 25, of Arima, were found guilty of serious indecency with a minor by a nine-member jury comprised of seven women and two men in the Port-of-Spain Fifth Criminal Court. Strong was also found guilty of having sex with the girl. The incident occurred at Thomas’ house on March 23, 1996. Both men were 18 years old at the time. After hearing the verdict, presiding judge Justice Pamela Elder, questioned the role of sex education for school children. She asked whether or not sex education that advocates in favour of the distribution of condoms to school children would also be educating the children about sexual offences.

Elder stated that having sex with a person under the age of 14 years is a criminal offence and the same applied to children under the age of 16 even if they gave their consent. State prosecutor Kathy-Ann Waterman presented evidence indicating that the victim and a friend met the men who were maxi-taxi conductors at the time, at an ice-cream parlour. They  left the parlour and went to Thomas’ home. It was there that Strong inserted his finger inside the victim’s vagina and had sex with her. Thomas also took the girl’s hand, placed it on his penis and moved it up and down. On April 3, 1996, the girl accompanied by her mother made a report to the police. The defence claimed that the incident never happened and the men did not know the girl. They said an argument with the girl had occurred at the maxi-taxi stand and she took revenge by fabricating the charges.Attorney for Strong, Mario Merritt, said his client was a father of two, had no previous convictions and was the sole breadwinner of his family. He added that at the time of the incident Strong was a young man and was now beginning life as a man. He said Strong was still a young man and could be of some benefit to society.

Defence counsel for Thomas, Lemuel Murphy, stated that Thomas had already spent two years in prison for the offence. He said Thomas attends a church and has “tried to change his lifestyle away from the maxi-taxi culture.” Murphy asked that Thomas be allowed another opportunity to serve society. However, Elder said the court was troubled by the evidence in the case because at the time of the incident the prisoners themselves were teenagers. She said she needed time to consider an appropriate sentence. She reserved sentencing to Thursday.