Nick Skeete called ‘Jason Blair’ and ‘Shatta’ was this morning sentenced to 26 years behind bars for raping a 20-year-old woman between July 8 and 9, 2016 in Essequibo. The sentence was handed down by Justice Jo-Ann Barlow following a virtual court hearing via Zoom.
Guyana Standard understands that at the time of the incident, the woman had just left a disco in the county and was waiting on a taxi to get home. When the taxi pulled up, Skeete, who was 27 at the time, lashed the driver in the head and dragged the woman to a swampy area where he had sex with her against her will.
Court records revealed that it was Skeete, along with some other men, who violated the woman. Justice Barlow, in arriving at an appropriate sentence for Skeete, started at a base of 27 years, to which she added on three years for aggravating factors.
This took Skeete’s sentence to 30 years from which the Judge deducted three years, 10 months and four days which reflects the time Skeete, who was found guilty of the offence by a jury back in March, spent in pre-trial custody.
The case for the prosecution was presented by State Counsel Teriq Mohamed, while Skeete was represented by lawyer Ravindra Mohabir.
