A doctor who was deemed an expert in a carnal knowledge case in which accused Joel Jones, 16, is on trial for having carnal knowledge with a seven-year-old girl in 2005, testified yesterday before Justice Winston Patterson and a mixed jury. He noted certain injuries in the girl’s vagina area might lead one to believe that the vagina was penetrated. But the doctor made it clear that those injuries could have been self-inflicted or caused by a fall.
A police witness for the prosecution, who had testified at the preliminary inquiry, told the jury that the accused had given incriminating evidence about himself when he declared that he undressed and lay on the bed with the victim who had performed certain acts.
When Defence Counsel Peter Hugh reminded witness about his testimony at the P. I., when he had said the opposite to the magistrate, the witness at first explained that the account of what he told the magistrate was right but later he changed his story and declared that what he told the magistrate was wrong, since he was tired when he testified.
The witness told the judge and jury that it was because of his tiredness and his failure to refresh his memory from his statement before giving evidence that caused him to give the correct testimony before the jury and the wrong one before the magistrate.
The hearing continues today.  The prosecution is being conducted by Mrs. Judith Gildharie-Mursalin, in association with Miss Konyo Sandiford.