The Court of Appeal has ordered a retrial for a 48-year-old man from Tobago accused of raping a 12-year-old schoolgirl in 2008.
Appeal Court judges — Paula Mae Weekes, Alice Yorke-Soo Hon and Mark Mohammed — ordered the retrial after upholding an appeal brought by Clint Melville.
In their judgment, the judges ruled that Melville’s trial judge failed to direct the jury properly on how it should analyse a statement he had given to police in which he had denied the attack on the minor.
The judges noted that the statement was crucial to his case as it was consistent with his defence presented in his trial.
They also held that the judge was wrong to tell the jury the medical report on the minor certified she was attacked hours before she was examined as the official report did not give a suggested time at which the attack may have taken place.
While they ruled that the misdirection on the report would not have led to his conviction by itself, they said that it and other shortcomings by the judge would have prejudiced his trial which ended in him being sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The attack reportedly occurred on February 23, 2008. The victim testified that Melville invited her to his home, pulled down his pants and underwear and did the same to her and had sex with her against her will.
She said she told him to stop but he did not and again attempted to have sex with her a second time and only stopped when she told him she was in pain.
She claimed Melville offered her $20 to “build back her energy” and told her to go home. The girl reported the attack to her mother and then to police.