JUSTICE Brassington Reynolds has commenced hearing details of a rape-and-robbery trial in which Beesham Gopaul, called Thakoor, has been indicted for allegedly committing the acts on a nineteen-year-old lactating mother.Gopaul has pleaded not guilty to the two indictments following his arraignment before the mixed jury at the Berbice Assizes. However, instead of having a twelve-member panel deliberate over the case, eleven persons currently comprise the jury panel, as the number five juror was reportedly robbed and was unable to attend hearings.

Consequently, Justice Reynolds and the counsels for the State and Defence agreed that there should be no delay in the trial, but that the trial should intensify according to provisions within the Criminal Law Procedure Act.

Meanwhile, being led by State Counsel Renita Singh, the married teenager and mother of two recalled being seated in a hammock at Number 73 Village, Corentyne, Berbice viewing a television broadcast whilst breast feeding her three-month-old baby, at about 13:30hrs on June 24, 2008, when she was attacked.

She tearfully recounted how she felt something like a metal being pressed to the front of her neck prior to hearing someone say, “Don’t move, or else I will kill you and the baby!”, all the while using expletives.

The person then instructed her to place the baby in the hammock before getting up. After she had complied, she was taken to her kitchen, where a knife was placed to her neck; and it was then she realised that the previous object which was placed on her neck was a metal file.

She was then asked to surrender all the gold and money in her possession; and whilst she was under duress, her attacker took her to the bedroom, where, from a wardrobe, she handed over to him two gold chains, four gold bands, a pair of gold bangles, ten gold rings, three pairs gold earrings, and $10,000 cash, all totalling $265,000.

The victim alleged that during the ordeal her hands were tied behind her back with her baby’s napkin, and when she was told to lie on the bed, she complied.

She also said that after her underwear had been removed, she saw her attacker, the accused, whom she knew as Tackoor. She had known him for ten years prior to the incident.

According to the witness, the accused man remained armed with a knife, and stood at the side of her matrimonial bed prior to inserting his penis into her vagina in a sexual encounter that lasted for about 10 minutes.

After he had replaced his clothes which he had taken off, he told her to remain in the room, and had threatened to kill the baby if she hollered.

As the accused exited her bedroom, he picked up her cellular phone, valued $30,000, and took it away with him.

The mother of two told the court that she remained motionless for about ten minutes before picking up her baby and hurrying off to her mother’s home a few doors away, where she related a story.

Accompanied by her mother and husband, she went to Springlands Police Station to report the incident, and a subsequent medical examination was conducted by a doctor at the Skeldon Public Hospital.

In response to Defence Counsel Carolyn Artiga, the witness said she opted to tell her mother and not her neighbour, although the neighbour lived closer. According to her, the neighbour lived at the front lot of her three-bedroomed, one-flat home, which was at the time surrounded by bushes.

After the report had been made at the station, she said, police ranks arrested the accused just over an hour later. He remained dressed in a blue-and-green striped shirt, a green hat, a pair of black pants and similarly coloured boots.
This trial continues on April 29.