David Herel was recently found guilty of raping a 15 year olf female victim. It is alleged that he threw the teenager face-down on the trunk of his car and used a cutlass to cut open her vagina when he was having difficulty during penetration.

In my opinion it was a Shakespearian performance at
sentencing that turned sour, as Justice lalla echoed sentiments of indignation, pretending that rape of the victim was indeed heinous, perhaps it was the most heinous crime perpetrated against a female in the entire life of our Nation. And yet, the punishment left no doubt that females continue to be the dustbins of our society.

Where were the churches, advocates for women's rights, activists against crime, and plain every-day citizens; women in particular? Why were they not agitating for the maximum sentence? It is justices like Lalla and others in our society who contribute to the spiralling escalation of crime in our Nation. They are often clueless about the societal repercussions of their actions and devoid of vision in so much so, that poor victims continue to be marginalised.

The victims Father told representatives of a prominent publication that he wanted the assailant , David Herel to be flogged to send a message to other offenders. The justice thought otherwise. He sentenced Herel to 20 years for rape, 10 years on the charge of wounding and 5 years each on the charge of false imprisonment. In my view, flogging should have been part of the sentence because all the sentences were ordered to run together.

If the 15 year old victim was the daughter of a prominent family in our society, or if the Justice knew her family; would he have been as lenient? I don't think so. In my view the sentence was tantamount to a Roman holiday, and hypocracy in the Judiciary. To be female and poor in T&T is hell. David Herel is fortunate that the victim is not remotely related to me. Somewhere in our National Anthem it is suggested that we would each find an equal place. Does this include women? If so, when.