MADAM Justice Jo-Ann Barlow on Thursday, March 07, 2019, sentenced a father of 12 to 44 years in jail.

The ruling was handed down on Errol DeSouza, when he appeared in the Sexual Offences Court of the Demerara High Court.

Two weeks ago, DeSouza was found guilty of the charges by a 12-member jury and was remanded to prison, pending a probation report.

According to the indictment, DeSouza sexually penetrated the girl child between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2013, in the county of Essequibo; the child was then only 10 years old.

The accused repeated the act on May 3, 2014, when the victim was 11 years old.
DeSouza was represented by Attorney Ravindra Mohabir, while the state’s case was presented by Prosecutors Lisa Cave, Sarah Martin, and Seeta Bishundial.

Yesterday, (Thursday, March 7, 2019), the probation report was read in court by the probation officer, Anand Sharma who told the court that De Souza was the father of 12 and was engaged in farming and logging in Moruca, Region One.

Additionally, DeSouza denied having sexual encounters with the victim, who, at the time of the incident, was in primary school.

Sharma, in his report, told the court that, when he contacted the victim via telephone, she claimed to have forgiven DeSouza and wished for him to return home to care for his children.

The victim’s impact statement was read in court by Counsellor and Court Support Officer, Celeste Mullin. The victim, in her statement, said that she was saddened by what DeSouza had done to her since it caused her to stop trusting persons around her.

Attorney Mohabir, during his plea of mitigation, explained that his client did not commit a violent act since he was of good character.

The attorney also begged the judge to consider that his client was the sole breadwinner for his 12 children.

Madam Justice Barlow, before passing sentence onto DeSouza noted that he betrayed the victim’s trust and broke the bond that they shared.

Barlow further stressed that based upon the victim’s impact statement, she (the victim) was unhappy and withdrawn.

The judge noted that what DeSouza had done was more than violence, having raped the victim on two occasions.

“Enough is enough,” Justice Barlow said as she explained that there were many similar cases and children needed to be protected.

DeSouza was sentenced to serve 20 years’ imprisonment for the first charge and 24 years for the second since the rape went unreported and he committed the crime again. Barlow ordered that the sentence run consecutively since DeSouza committed the crime at different periods.

The defendant was ordered to undergo counselling and also be exposed to rehabilitative programmes of sexual offenders while serving his sentence.