By Latrishka Thomas
Almost three years after being raped by him, a 17-year-old victim has extended mercy to her god-brother by forgiving him.
Earlier this month, the young boy admitted to raping his god-sister when they were both 14 years of age.
And yesterday at his sentencing hearing, the defendant apologised to the victim saying, “I’m sorry for what had happened between the times of what had happened.
“I hope you’ll find it deep in your heart to accept my apology.”
In response, the victim said, “I do forgive him,” and her mother also accepted what appeared to be a sincere apology.
The teenager was then placed on one-year probation and was also ordered to participate in family counselling with his family and the victim’s family.
Should he violate the terms of the order, he will spend six months behind bars.
The offence occurred on the afternoon of May 20 2019. The defendant, now 17, visited the home of the victim who was at home with her 15-year-old sister.
She was in her mother’s room combing her hair when the accused entered the room and began removing her pants.
They began to wrestle but the accused subdued her by holding both of her hands with one hand, using the other to unbuckle and remove his trousers.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pushed the victim onto the bed and attempted to rape her while she continued to put up a fight.
When the complainant said to him that she would not stop tussling, he told her that she would not win.
By holding her down with all of his strength he was successful in having unprotected sexual intercourse with her for about two minutes.
After completing the act, the accused asked her to keep it a secret but as soon as he left, the young girl ran to a neighbour and asked to make a telephone call and told her mother about the ordeal.
The complainant’s sister is said to have observed the act through a peephole and to have recorded them on a phone as she was afraid and not sure of what to do.