By Latrishka Thomas
A Guyanese man has been sentenced to spend four and a half years in jail for having unlawful sexual intercourse with a child.
Ramlal Piroo met the 12-year old girl in September 2018 when she used to pass him on her way home from school. They began talking and the defendant told the girl he was 24 years old when he was actually 30 at the time.
In December 2018, the victim saw the defendant again at a construction site near her home. She began visiting him there after school and would stay until he finished working at 4pm, a court was told.
The man eventually asked her to be his girlfriend and she agreed. On December 15 2018, their conversations turned into intimate physical contact.
On January 14 2019, the complainant and her sister went to the construction site after school and the minor got into an excavator with the man who began fondling her privates.
The intimate acts ended briefly a month later when the girl gave Piroo a ‘break-up’ letter because she thought he had a son.
She then saw him again several days later when he gave her $50 and touched her once again.
The sexual acts intensified on February 22 when they had painful sexual intercourse at the construction site in Hatton.
On March 5, the girl visited the site again and, although she refused to have sexual intercourse again, her tearful sister told their stepfather of the victim’s whereabouts as she was taking a long time to return home from school.
The stepfather visited the site and asked Piroo if he knew how old the girl was. Piroo said he did.
The stepfather warned the man and later told his wife what was happening.
The next day, the girl’s mother took the child to the police station and, on the way there, the girl pointed out Piroo.
When the mother confronted him, he asked her not to go to the police because he did not want to be arrested.
On March 7,the young girl was examined and it was noted that her hymen was no longer intact.
Piroo, in his statement to the police, said he was working in the village when the young girl asked him to teach her how to use an excavator.
He said that while teaching her, she fell in love with him. He admitted that they hugged and kissed, but denied ever having sexual intercourse with her.
The man was however arrested and charged with the crime.
On January 27, he pleaded guilty and yesterday Justice Iain Morley sentenced him to prison.