Convicted man appeals sentence for sex attack

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Derek Achong

A 38-year-old man, who was sentenced to a little over 11 years in prison for raping a 14-year-old girl over a decade ago, has appealed his conviction.

Presenting submissions before Appellate Judges Alice Yorke-Soo Hon, Mark Mohammed, and Maria Wilson during a virtual hearing, yesterday, Peter Andrew Davis’ lawyer Derrick Redman claimed the judge who presided over his case several errors, which led to his conviction.

Redman claimed that the judge failed to consider that it would have been difficult to provide an alibi as prosecutors charged his client with committing the offence on an unknown date over almost three weeks in May 2006.

He also questioned the judge’s direction on the issue of consent as he noted that she gave varying accounts of what had transpired.

“She said stop because it was hurting not stop because she did not want to do it,” he said.

He also noted that the judge improperly placed emphasis on the victim’s age when at the time the age of the consent was 14 as opposed to 18 now.

In his submissions, special prosecutor Travers Sinanan said that there was issue with the judge’s handling of the case especially on the issue of consent.

“The key word is stop and stop means stop,” Sinanan said.

After hearing the submissions, the panel reserved judgment to a date to be set.

According to the evidence in the case, the incident took place in May 2006, as the victim was walking near her home to meet her cousin by an arcade.

Davis, who was 24-years-old at the time and knew the girl and her family for several years, stopped his vehicle and offer to take her for a drive.

When the victim refused, he offered to drop her to the arcade.

However, when she got in the car, he drove to a house in central Trinidad, where he raped her.

After the attack, Davis forced the teenager to have a shower and then dropped her home.

The victim eventually told her mother, who took her to the police to make a report.

In passing the sentence on Davis, former High Court Judge and current Appellate Judge Gillian Lucky read from the victim impact statement.

In the harrowing statement, the girl said she was still traumatised by the incident.

“Although I wear a smile on my face, it is fake. It has also affected my mother. She does not say anything but I know it does. It made me feel it was my fault,” she said, as she claimed that she attempted suicide twice.

She also pleaded with the court to pass a stiff sentence.

“I want the court to send a message to men who prey on young aspiring girls. I hope God has mercy on Peter but I believe he should suffer for the way he tricked and forced me,” she said.