Accused pleads guilty to statutory rape before trial

A Christ Church man admitted to statutory rape moments before his trial was due to begin, sparing the complainant from giving evidence in a case dating back nearly a decade.

Moments before a jury was to be empanelled in the No. 5 Supreme Court, Matthew Orlando King, of Green Hill Drive, Silver Hill, pleaded guilty to having sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 14 on September 16, 2016. The complainant was 12 years old at the time. King was 22.

Accepting the plea on the State’s behalf, Principal State Counsel Romario Straker read the facts into evidence.

The complainant told police that she knew King from seeing him selling plantains and, on one occasion, he told her that he wanted her number and “a piece of her”, the court heard.

On the date, she had stayed home due to feeling unwell and encountered King later while walking. She said that he grabbed her from behind, covered her mouth before she began screaming, pulled her behind a structure, and forced himself on her as she struggled. The complainant said she heard a vehicle pull into the driveway during the act, and he stopped and walked away.

“She felt dirty and angry and was thinking that she should have found something to hit him with. Whilst walking, she saw her mother coming up the road, her mother asked her where she was coming from. She did not answer,” Straker said, adding that the complainant later told her mother what had happened.

The mother confronted King, who denied it, and then reported the incident to police. The girl was taken to hospital and was admitted to a ward after being examined by a doctor.

A statement from a police inspector outlined that, upon arriving in a neighbourhood, officers found King being held by the girl’s father, who informed them: “He raped my daughter”, before handing King over to the police.

During his interview, King told police: “I had sex with her but not in the way she say I did.”

In his account, King said that he was outside when he heard someone ‘psst’ at him and saw the girl.

“She tell me that I real sweet and that she admired me and was watching me for a long time. The girl then walked into my yard…. She came right up to me and began touching up my hair and saying that I real sweet,” he said. King stated that she began rubbing his chest and privates, which aroused him.

“She then pulled out my *****, pulled up her shirt and sat on top of me and began moving up and down and side to side for about three minutes. After that she left and I went inside and took a bath and went to sleep, woke up about 12:30, took a shower and after that I went outside on the block,” his statement read.

Standing in the dock, King, who represented himself, told the court: “At that point in time, I did not ask her her age.”

Justice Pamela Beckles said: “This is 2026. Sorry to say, young men, but that is probably one of the questions that you have to ask the ladies you are going out with. And don’t take their word for it either. Ask to see some identification.”

“I keep telling y’all young fellas I don’t care if they look as good as Rihanna and Beyonce. Tell them, get thee behind me Satan because that is jail time. I say it all the time.”

King will return to court on May 28 for a sentencing hearing.

(JB)