Judge chastises man who rapped 14-year-old girl then blamed her

“It cannot be that big, hardback men are allowed to prey on young girls and pay their way out of jail.”

Madam Justice Wanda Blair made this clear as she informed Sergeo Olivia Payne that he will spend five more years behind bars at Dodds Prison for having sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl in 2018. He was 40 years old at the time.

Payne had initially denied that between October 17, 2018, and December 31, 2018, he had sexual intercourse with the girl.

However, the Tamarind Road, Wavell Avenue, Black Rock, St Michael resident threw in the towel four days into his trial in the No. 4A Supreme Court in May last year.

Pointing to the facts of the case – including that Payne knew the teenager prior to committing the crime, had offered her a ride to a bus stop but instead took her to his friend’s house and had unlawful intercourse with her there and, on another occasion, inside her home – Justice Blair heavily chastised the offender for his actions and his claim that “it was not my fault; she is who force this on me”.

“Even if she had tried to entice you, you knew she was underage and instead of yielding to the temptation, you should have reported her to her parent. That is what responsible and respectable men do. It is an insult to the complainant for you to abuse her and then turn around and blame her for your sick actions,” the judge contended.

Calling the offences “a horrible betrayal”, Justice Blair added: “You took advantage of the complainant, and you continued to abuse her until the matter was reported to the police.

This was not a mistake. The fact that you tried to apportion some of the blame on the complainant does not help your cause since at her age, she could not legally consent to having sexual intercourse with you . . . . You have no excuse for your actions.”

The judge said while she had considered the complainant’s request that Payne not serve a custodial sentence but instead pay compensation, “the court must be careful about the message it sends to the public”.

“Our role is to protect children, even when they feel they are able to take care of themselves. Our responsibility is to carefully guard their rights and make sure that others [don’t think] they can easily escape their punishment for these types of offences by paying complainants to keep quiet,” she said.

Justice Blair gave the convicted man a starting sentence of seven years, and deducted one-fifth for his guilty plea and six months for the delay, leaving him to serve five years and one month.

He was also ordered to undergo counselling for anger management, while the State is to provide counselling for the complainant.

The complainant had told the court that Payne was a family friend and one morning as she was making her way to school, he offered to give her a ride to the bus stop. She accepted, but instead of taking her to catch the bus, Payne drove to a house and forced himself on her. Afterwards, he dropped her off at a bus stop and she went to school.

She also spoke of another instance when Payne raped her in her home and made her take a pregnancy test afterwards.

The complainant later wrote an essay about what occurred and gave it to a teacher at her school, who reported it to the guidance counsellor.

The case was prosecuted by Principal State Counsel Joyann Catwell.