Rapist, 62, loses in Privy Council

A 62-year-old man convicted in 2002 of raping a five-month pregnant woman lost his petition before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council yesterday. Fitzroy Lessey, a retired Ministry of Works employee, was sentenced to 18 years in jail by Justice Melville Baird in the Port-of-Spain First Criminal Court on March 14, 2002. He was accused of raping a 20-year-old woman on August 2 1997 at his home at Mount D’Or Road, Champs Fleurs. He lost his appeal before the Court of Appeal. He then petitioned the Privy Council. The hearing was heard yesterday before Lords Hope and Rodger and Lady Hale. His sentence will begin today. Rupert Butler represented Lessey, while Peter Knox, instructed by solicitor John Almeida, appeared for the State.

Lessey raised five issues on his petition — the trial judge failed to direct the jury with respect to his good character; the trial judge failed to give a “lies direction;” the trial judge failed to give a direction as to the difference between hearsay and direct evidence; the unfair and unbalanced summing-up; and the trial judge failed to give a proper “mental state” direction. Knox accepted that there had been failures in respect to three of the grounds, while Lessey abandoned the “hearsay” ground. Knox contended, however, that the irregularities in the summing-up did not affect the fairness of the trial. Knox argued that if the proper directions had been given in each of the complaints made, the jury would still have convicted him. After a short deliberation, the Board dismissed the petition. The jury heard that around 10 pm on August 2 1997, the victim was walking near to Lessey’s house when he pulled her off the street. He told her she had to make love to him to which she responded, “if you think that I making love to you, you have to be crazy.”

Lessey pushed the woman on a couch and then dragged her to his bedroom where he took off her denim pants and raped her. The accused knew that the woman was pregnant. According to the victim, Lessey was under the impression that she wanted to have sex with him, but he told her that if she screamed, he would throw her out of the window. After the incident, the woman went to the St Joseph Police Station and made a report. Lessey was arrested the following day. The investigators found sperm on the victim’s pants, on Lessey’s underwear and on the bed sheets at his home. Lessey’s face and shoulder also bore scratches. In his defence, Lessey said the woman was at his home, but he denied raping her. He said the sperm found was from the night before with another woman. The court heard that the woman described Lessey as a father figure having known him in the neighbourhood since she was 11 years old.