At Berbice Assizes…
THE trial of a 65-year-old man, accused of carnally knowing a girl, 10, got underway Tuesday before Justice Winston Patterson and a mixed jury at the Berbice Assizes.

Harold Captain nicknamed ‘Boy Boy’, of Brighton, Corentyne, is indicted for having carnal knowledge of the under 12 years old on October 5, 2004.

The virtual complainant, now 15, recalled that on the instruction of her grandmother that day, she left her home in search of black sage (a shrub used for medicinal purposes) and, on her way, she was stopped by a woman she knows as ‘Aunty Herma’, who sent her to the home of the accused, which she had visited regularly to look at television programmes, particularly cartoons.

The witness said she was standing on his stairs when the sexagenarian pulled her right hand, forcing her into the house.

She remembered that he took her to his bedroom where he undressed himself, before raising her red dress and pulling off her underwear.

Shedding tears as she related the ordeal, the teenager, now attending school in Georgetown, recalled that, after he placed her on a bed, face down, the accused whom she called ‘Uncle Boy Boy’, spat on both his hands and put the saliva on her vagina, prior to inserting his penis there.

The girl said he withdrew his penis and inserted it again and she felt pain and “buckled up” while he had his hand over her mouth, preventing her from making noise.

The victim, who has a speech impediment, said, supporting herself on the rail of the bed, she turned over and faced the accused. Then she saw blood flowing from her vagina.

She said the accused took the jersey he was wearing and wiped off the blood, then left the bedroom and returned with coconut oil in a bottle.

The witness said the accused poured some of the oil in his hands and then on her vagina. After, he replaced her underwear and gave her $1,000, to be divided equally between herself and a cousin.

The teen said, as she was leaving the home of the accused, a girl named Rachel was passing through the yard and he put his fingers to his lips, telling the latter not to say anything.

However, he told the victim to tell Aunty Herma he would give her the chicken feed on his return from work that afternoon.

The girl said she went home and had a bath but did not reveal what happened earlier to her grandmother.

She explained: “I was afraid of Uncle Boy Boy, because he had threatened me. I put on my clothes and went to school. I showed the money to a classmate and she informed my class teacher.

“I, initially, told my teacher that I had found the money on the road but, later, I told her Uncle Boy Boy gave it to me and, thereafter, related the entire incident, in the presence of the Headteacher and, subsequently, to my father, who was summoned to the school.”

Still being led through evidence-in-chief by State Prosecutor Fabayo Azore, the witness said she was accompanied to Number 51 Police Station, where a complaint was made.

Subsequently, she was taken to Skeldon, Corentyne where she was examined by a female doctor who issued a certificate.

Defence Counsel Rodwell Jugmohan was expected to cross-examine the witness at the continuation yesterday.