A police constable on trial for the rape of a 16-year-old admitted, in oral statements, to having sex with the young girl.
As the trial of Jason Andre Callender continued today, Inspector Peter Dawson told the court of statements made by the constable during an interview.
Thirty-seven-year-old Callender of 6th Avenue, Durant’s Village, St James denies that he had sexual intercourse with the girl without her consent between June 1 and October 7, 2010 and also denies committing an act of serious indecency against her between October 6 and 7, 2010. Lawyer Samuel Legay represents Callender and Senior Crown Counsel Oliver Thomas is appearing for the Crown.
Dawson recalled going to Callender’s residence on October 15, 2010. The inspector said he was accompanied by other police officers and Callender himself. On their arrival, Callender said “It is here I live” and pointed to a room saying “It is that bedroom we had sex in”.
Callender did not deny making the statements.
Yesterday when the complainant took the stand, Legay suggested to her that she “set out to have sex with the accused”. She replied in disagreement: “Are you crazy?”
The complainant, in detailing her account of what happened, said she was kicked out of her mother’s house at Goodland, St Michael after a failed relationship between the two. She turned to her sister who was living at Callender’s residence. The policeman agreed and the teenager moved in and spent her nights sleeping on a fold-out sofa.
Sometime later, the complainant’s sister and Callender had a disagreement over allegations of unfaithfulness and the sister moved out.
The first rape incident, according to the complainant, occurred on the day she had her Spanish CXC examination. However, before the sister moved out, the girl recalled some instances of indecent behavior by the accused in terms of massaging and fondling. She said she tried to scream at times to draw attention to the incidents but the accused would seek to conceal his actions.
The rapes increased after the sister moved out and she recalled one instance of being dragged into the bedroom and raped.
The girl told her best friend, who grew up with her and attended the same primary school with her, about the incidents.
After confiding in her best friend and being dissuaded from reporting the matter, the complainant finally reported it to police in October 2010.
When questioned about why she remained in the house, the complainant said she felt she had nowhere to go. She also recalled her sister advising her to stay at Callender’s residence until she [the sister] could find a place.
A forensic scientist also gave evidence today in the matter and a dress was admitted into evidence.
The matter continues tomorrow before Justice Christopher Birch in the No. 5A Supreme Court.
