A TWELVE-member mixed jury, on Friday, found 32-year-old taxi driver Sahadeo Pooran called “Omesh”, guilty of raping a 12-year-old schoolgirl in 2019.
Pooran was on trial before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow in the Sexual Offences Court of the Demerara High Court.
The jury, after deliberating for two hours, returned the guilty verdict.
He was found guilty of the indictment which read that on September 27, 2019, he engaged in sexual penetration with a child who was under the age of 16.
Pooran’s sentencing was deferred until March 24, pending the presentation of a probation report.

The State was represented by prosecutors Sarah Martin and Nafeeza Baig Poorna, while Pooran was represented by Attorney-at-law Euclin Gomes.
According to reports, on the day in question, the victim left her home for school around 8:00 hours. She was standing on the roadway waiting on a taxi to take her to the road head, where she would board a minibus. Pooran stopped his motor car and offered the girl a drop.
She got into the front passenger seat of the vehicle and Pooran drove off. During the journey he picked up two other passengers and dropped them off.
Pooran later took the child to his home. He dragged her into the home, locked her inside and left. The child tried to escape but the windows were barred with pieces of wood.

It was while going through a tablet that she learnt that the name of her attacker was Sahadeo Pooran.
An hour later, Pooran returned. He placed a mattress on the ground, threw the victim onto it and raped her after taking off her uniform and underwear.
When he was finished, he told the child to tell the teacher that she was involved in an accident.
The child was able to escape. She made her way to her school where she told the lie to the teacher. However, the teacher contacted her mother. The child subsequently recounted the ordeal.
The matter was reported to the police and Pooran was arrested.