Gasparillo man jailed for sex with minor

FOR A sexual offence that occur-red some 12 years ago, a Gasparillo man was jailed for three years in the San Fernando High Court. Kelvin Malayana, 39, was found guilty by a jury on Wednesday after they heard evidence that he had sex with a six-year-old relative in her grandmother’s bedroom. Although Malayana’s attorney Learie Alleyne Forte said his client had no previous convictions and was a father of two, Justice Malcolm Holdip sentenced him to jail with hard labour.

The offence was kept secret until nearly three years ago, when, during a family gathering, the victim blurted out what Malayana had done to her. State attorney Narissa Ramsun-dar led evidence that the offence occurred between July 31 and August 31 in 1989, while the girl was spending her summer vacation at her grandmother’s house at Gasparillo. Malayana, a distant relative, was also staying at the house. The jury heard that one day while the grandmother was out, Malayana went into a bedroom where the girl was and forced her to have sex with him.

When her grandmother returned nearly two hours later, the victim reported what Malayana had done, but the elderly woman told no one. Some nine years after the incident, the jury heard, during a family gathering Malayana was boasting how much he had done for the victim’s family and that they should be grateful. The girl, then 15 years old, fired back: “Grateful for what you did when I was six years-old?”  At that point the victim’s mother began to inquire about the incident and learned about the offence. The next day the victim and her mother went to the police station and made a report.