Man jailed 40 years for rape, robbery

A 28-YEAR-OLD man who unleashed a reign of terror when he savagely raped a 47-year-old maid, then robbed the household at which she was employed, was yesterday sentenced to almost 40 years in jail by a San Fernando High Court judge. Ricardo Bernard, also called Ricky White, held up a syringe containing a white liquid to the domestic worker and told her she would die if she did not have sex with him. Bernard did this after cutting off the woman’s underwear with a cutlass. Justice Mark Mohammed said given the heinous nature of Bernard’s criminal acts, it was the duty of the court to send a powerful message that women must be protected.

“The effects of your terror were palpable. At the very sight of you (when the victim attended court to give evidence) she seemed extremely nervous. You have scarred the victim for life. Women must feel confident to walk the streets without fear of attack,” a stern Justice Mohammed told Bernard. State prosecutor Alexander Prince said the victim was so psychologically traumatised by the incident that she had been advised by her doctor not to relive the incident by testifying in Court. The victim, who is now 51, is said to have almost nightly visions of the horror she was subjected to. The judge said the prosecution’s case, in which 11 witnesses testified, was very clear and strong. The sentences slapped on Bernard were 18 years jail for rape, 12 years for robbery with aggravation, 18 months for common assault and eight years for larceny of a dwelling house.  The sentences were ordered to run concurrently, meaning Bernard will serve 18 years in jail.

Bernard committed the crimes with another man, Benedict Lendore, who pleaded guilty at the start of the trial three weeks ago in the San Fernando Third Criminal Assizes. Lendore admitted to the court to committing all of the charges except rape and will be brought in for sentencing tomorrow. The incident occurred around 7.30 pm on November 6, 1997, shortly after the victim was walking towards a back door, which was left open by her employer’s children. Bernard, then 21, and Lendore, struck the employee on her head and pushed her into a bedroom in the house. While binding her hands with a piece of string, the men removed her engagement ring. The accused men forced her into a bathroom where they gagged her mouth and tied her feet. While Lendore rummaged through the drawers and cupboards in the bedrooms, Bernard took a syringe and held it to the 47-year-old maid, threatening to kill her if she did not have sexual intercourse with him.

With a cutlass, he then cut off the woman’s underwear, untied her feet, then undressed himself and raped her. While witnessing the act from a bedroom down a corridor, Lendore grabbed six rings and a watch valued $2,800. The maid was later rescued by two men who came calling at the house for the maid’s employer. As the two accused began to run out of the house, the maid managed to call out to the men who were standing in the yard. Eventually Bernard was held in the bushes at the back of the house and later that day Lendore was detained at Country Trace, Point Fortin. At the Point Fortin Police Station, both men gave police written confessions of the crimes.