State Counsel Rhonnel Weaver, in her opening address to a 12-member jury  said the accused, Balram  Pitam, called Netash, allegedly had carnal knowledge with a 14-year-old, during the wee hours of Christmas Day, 2008. Relating an insight of the case, the prosecutor said, on the Christmas Eve having retired to bed at midnight , the teenager took her brother’s cellular phone and texted, ‘ Merry Christmas’. A subsequent telephone call was received and on answering it, she was told that it was the accused who requested to meet her outside her parents home.
On complying , the virtual complainant saw the accused seated on the driver’s seat of a minibus, and following a conversation , he exited the vehicle, took her into her parents yard, where he braced her next to an old car, and allegedly  had sex.
Weaver told the panel that the prosecution will relieve itself from its burden by proving that it was the accused who had carnal knowledge with the victim, and that the victim was under the age of fifteen years , and was incapable of giving consent.
She urged the jurors to note that the slightest penetration of the vagina , even without the emission of semen, is sufficient for the offence.
Earlier, Justice Roxanne George, after hearing preliminary submissions by Attorney at law Joel Edmond , ruled  that the charge was not bad in law .
She noted, however, that the preliminary point, which addressed the jurisdiction of the case, was very technical in nature.
The lawyer had cited, that the charge is bad in law, consequently the committal and the indictment, which in his opinion should be quashed.
The trial continues on Monday, as Senior Counsel Mursulene Bacchus, who joined the defence , sought an adjournment , having  received the deposition on Wednesday afternoon