TWENTY-seven-year-old rape and robbery accused Akeem Alexander, alias ‘Mad Man’, yesterday began his defence with a sworn statement from the witness box in which he led an alibi in defence, pointing out that he was somewhere else at the alleged time of the crime. He denied the prosecution’s report that he was on the Grove public road on the night of November 15, 2009, when the 46-year-old security guard was raped and robbed of $1,100.
He told the judge and jury that it was a case of mistaken identity, claiming that the men who picked him up on the road on the basis of the victim’s description had made a mistake, and that the victim must have made a mistake by mixing him up with someone who had a striking  resemblance to him.
He claimed that he was not the one who had penetrated the victim’s vagina, as alleged by her when she said that he had  attacked her on the lonely road at knifepoint, and had dragged  her into the bushes on the  parapet, where she was allegedly raped.
He drew laughter from  persons in the courtroom when he said that were he the person who had committed the act, she would have had another experience to tell, since he had a distinctive penis which would have caused her  much discomfort, that would have made her talk about it.
Under cross-examination by Misses Dianne Kaulesar and Zamilla Ally, prosecuting, the accused contended that he was not the person who had committed the crime, despite evidence that he had allegedly been chased and caught by persons who had their eyes on him from the time he ran away from the scene until he had been caught.
In answer to questions, the accused said that on that night he had just dropped off his nephew, and was standing speaking to a girl when the men held and began beating him. He said that he got a lash on his head and fell unconscious.
According to him when he regained consciousness, he was in a car trunk at the Diamond Police Station.
A witness had stated that after the accused was held, he had started to fight up, despite the presence of a policeman on the scene, when the victim disclosed that he was the man who had just raped her.
The witness said that because of his behaviour, a policeman had to place the accused in a car trunk, and sit on the trunk while the vehicle was transporting the accused to the police station, because the cover of the trunk was not locking properly.
In his address to the jury, the accused said he was innocent, and asked the jury to find that he was a victim of mistaken identity.