Morris Johnson was this afternoon remanded to prison where he now awaits sentencing after a jury found him unanimously guilty of raping a 12-year-old girl in 2017 after she boarded his ‘short drop taxi’ to head home.
Johnson, 41, was on trial before Justice Brassington Reynolds at the Sexual Offences Court in Demerara. According to the indictment against him, he engaged in sexual penetration with the young girl between August 12 and 13, 2017.
After his lawyer Ronald Burch-Smith asked for a probation report to be compiled on his client, Johnson was remanded to prison until Monday, August 26, 2019 when a victim impact statement will also be presented in court. Prosecutors Abigail Gibbs and Seeta Bishundial appeared for the State.
The Guyana Standard understands that on the evening of August 12, 2017, the young girl and some friends boarded a ‘short drop taxi’ driven by Johnson to head home. However, the car drove past where the child and her friends were expected to get out. Her friends managed to force their way out of the vehicle.
It was reported that Johnson took the underage girl to a location where he had sex with her and then left her by a bridge. The young girl had to walk home. Her family was later told of the incident by her friends. She was taken to a hospital where a medical examination confirmed that she had been raped.
The matter was later reported to the police and Johnson was arrested and charged.
