Police confident of strong case against accused in rape of 7-y-o girl

 

The Catherine North Police believe the man charged with last week's rape of a seven-year-old girl in Linstead will feel the brunt of the law. 

 

The suspect, who was held shortly after the incident on Thursday, has also been charged with forcible abduction and sexual touching. 

 

The child was attacked while returning home from school. 

 

Senior Superintendent Hopton Nicholson, Commanding Officer for the St. Catherine North Police, condemned the incident and commended the responsible actions of residents who apprehended the suspect.

 

"Not just to apprehend him, but to hand him over to the police safely, I am really happy for that. Now, he's charged. He has been charged with forcible abduction, rape and a number of offences, and I believe that he's out of the society, where he belongs, where he cannot harm another child. And I want to commend the community members working together with the police. And I'm telling you, the investigation was swift. They were thorough and within 24 hours after he was caught, the police were able to proffer charges against him. So...I think, we have a good case before the court and we are hoping that the court will never release this man back into the community," said the senior cop. 

 

SSP Nicholson urged residents not to be afraid to ask questions of strangers in their communities and report to the police when the responses raise suspicions. 

 

"We will question them. If they do not want to answer you, they'll have to answer us. Because we realise that people who are suspects or people who are known with a certain habit or certain lifestyle in some community, when they go to another community and people do not know about them, they try to find new targets. So whether it may be a sexual offender, whether it may be a thief, that's what they do. So if you see strange people coming in your community, tell the police," he appealed. 

 

The commanding officer, who was addressing members of the community on Monday morning, also lauded the multi-agency effort which he promised will continue.