BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE third and final rape case for the January Criminal Assizes ended today (Feb. 2) when a 12-member jury unanimous returned a guilty verdict against David Morton, a resident of lower Cayon.
The trial began on Monday (Feb. 28) in which Morton was accused of raping a 15-year-old girl in the vicinity of Cayon Primary School at about 5:00 a.m. on June 27, 2009 while she was on her way home.
The case was first tried in the May 2010 Assizes and ended in a hung jury.
Yesterday (Mar. 1), the prosecution rested its case after calling on several witnesses including the victim.
This morning, however, Morton, who was on bail since the first hearing, was found guilty and was told by His Lordship Justice Errol Thomas that he would be detained in custody at Her Majesty’s Prison until his sentencing hearing on Thursday, March 24, 2011.
This is the third rape case to be tried at the Basseterre High Court during the January Criminal Assizes, and all of the accused were found guilty.
The first case was that of Troy Hendrickson, who was charged with rape and unlawful carnal knowledge of a 12-year-old in Bourryeau Village on February 12, 2009. He was found guilty on January 31 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Emmanuel Mills was the accused in the second case. He was accused of breaking into the home of a Saddlers Village woman on August 29, 2010, whom he assaulted and raped during the process.
On February 8, a 12-member jury had found him guilty as charged and Justice Thomas deemed him a “danger to society” before sentencing him to serve 21 years at Her Majesty’s Prison.
He was also sentenced to five years for burglary and five years each for two counts of assault with intent to rob, which will run concurrently.
