Forty-nine-year-old Hamant Sewkarran on Thursday appeared at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court charged with raping an eight-year-old Berbice girl.The defendant was allowed bail by Magistrate, Alex Moore in the sum of $200,000. However, he was remanded to prison after he failed to post the monetary bond at the closure of the court yesterday afternoon.

The charge stemmed from a report of sexual violation of the girl.

According to reports the primary school pupil lives with her mother and two younger siblings within the East Bank Berbice community. The mother, a single parent, is employed as a maid and would sometimes venture out to work, leaving her children at home. And it is not uncommon for the minor to visit the suspect’s house in attempt to solicit food or financial assistance in her mother’s absence.

Guyana Chronicle was told that last Friday as the child and her brother were walking home from school the alleged rapist requested that she ran an errand for him at a nearby shop. But, before doing so, she was required to go to his home to collect the requisite money, even as her brother waited outside. However, the wait for his sister extended longer than anticipated and as a result the younger sibling ventured into the suspect’s house, where he saw the suspect lying on top of his sister, whose underwear was off. The boy raised an alarm after which the suspect hid under his bed. The children ran and reported the matter to their mother, who subsequently reported the incident to the police. The girl was taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital where doctors confirmed that she had been sexually violated.