Mother raped while pregnant

A woman said the man who raped her 13 years ago didn’t “last long”. In fact, according to the statement of the 23-year-old mother, the incident lasted one minute.

This was revealed today during the trial of Sylvan Sylvester Thorne, 61 ,of Riverland, St Philip. He is accused of having sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent, knowing that she did not consent or was reckless as to whether she so consented on January 14, 2007.

Under questioning by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale, the complainant said she knew Thorne from seeing him selling fruits and saw him every morning when she took her children to school.

It was after going to Thorne’s house for a job that the woman said the incident took place.

“How long did the incident last?” Seale asked.

“He ain’t last long,” the woman replied.

The woman revealed that in 2007 she had four children, attended four schools including a prevocational school. She had no CXC’s and could not read. The complainant said she was two months pregnant at the time of the alleged offence and she now mother to nine children.

In her evidence, she explained how she was at the bus stop with her mother when Thorne came and offered her mother a job. When her mother didn’t accept she took the opportunity.

On the first day to the job, Thorne picked her up from the bus stop. They dropped off her child and then travelled to his house. She said it was her first time in the accused’s van.

She said the ride was approximately half hour to an hour and she didn’t feel comfortable.

“Did it dawn on you to get out?” defense attorney Dr Lenda Blackman asked.

“No,” the complainant said.

When the complainant got to the house, she said she started on washing wares and while she did this, Thorne started to touch her buttocks. She pushed away his hand, hollered ‘rape’ and said “behave, behave, behave”.

The woman said another man was present at the house but she didn’t ask him for help.

The attorney asked the woman: “Did you tell Thorne you were leaving because of what he was doing?” She responded “No.”

She said after washing the wares, she went to use the bathroom and as she exited Thorne grabbed her hand.

“Did you slap, kick, spit, curse” Blackman asked.

“No,” the woman replied.

She, however, told Blackman that she said ‘I want to get out of here now’ and told Thorne she was going to the police. Blackman pointed out that she failed to tell this to the court prior to cross-examination.

The complainant recalled being two months pregnant when the incident happened.

As she recalled the incident, she said Thorne struggling with her to take off her pants before going to the drawer to get a condom.

Blackman asked what happened when Thorne went for the condom and she said she tried to get up but he pushed her back down and she “hollered out”.

Though the woman told police, in a statement, that the incident lasted one minute, she told Blackman today that it lasted an hour.

“Which is it – a minute or an hour?” the lawyer asked.

In the complaint’s statement, she also said the accused’s penis was “erect” but today she said it was not.

After the incident, the complainant said she got back into Thorne’s van trembling and crying.

The case continues tomorrow in the No. 2 Supreme Court where Justice Randall Worrell presides.