Seven years after he first
appeared in court charged with
sexually assaulting a young boy
while serving as a member of the
Guyana Police Force, Vaughn
Thomas has lost an appeal that
challenged his conviction and
ten-year prison sentence.
Thomas
sodomising
a 15-year-old boy
But an application by his
attorney, Nigel Hughes has
cleared the way for Thomas' case
to go to the Caribbean Court of
Justice (CCJ). After the Appeal
Court panel - Justices Claudette
Singh, Ian Chang and Nandram
Kissoon - handed down the
decision, Hughes applied for
leave to approach the recently
inaugurated CCJ and it was
granted.
Attorney-at-law, Roger
Yearwood, who appeared in
association with Hughes, had
argued Thomas's case at the
Appeal Court hearing.
Thomas, an ex-policeman who
was attached to the Grove Police
Station, approa-ched the Guyana
Court of Appeal through his
lawyers last December, more than
a year after he was found guilty
by a jury and later slapped with
a ten-year sentence by Justice
Winston Moore.
He appealed on the grounds
that there were mis-directions
by the judge on the issue of
identification. He also argued
that the judge improperly
admitted into evidence the
deposition of a deceased witness
and that his confession was
improperly admitted.
Yesterday, the Appeal Court
panel affirmed the conviction
and the sentence and ruled that
though there were some mis-directions
in the High Court case, they
were in Thomas' favour and did
not prevent him from receiving a
fair trial.
Thomas was dismissed from the
force after charges were
instituted against him and in
November 2004, his jury trial
commenced before Justice Winston
Moore.
He was accused of sodomising
a 15-year-old boy on March 27,
1999 in an alleyway at Land of
Canaan on the East Bank Demerara,
about 12 feet off the public
road. During the trial, the
victim took the stand and
testified that he was jogging
along the East Bank public road
on the night in question when
Thomas drove up alongside him in
police vehicle. He was topless
at the time and recalled that
Thomas made an issue of this
before ordering him into the
car.
The boy told the jury he
begged to go home and Thomas
dealt him a slap. He said the
policeman then drove to a remote
alley and committed the act. The
jury had a detailed account of
the assault the boy suffered.
According to the victim, Thomas
told him that what happened that
night was just between the two
of them but he told his parents
the minute he got home.
Hughes, who also appeared for
Thomas during the High Court
trial, had argued then that the
victim was told on the day of
the identification parade that
the suspect was going to be on
the parade and the victim
admitted this.
However, in evidence that was
read in court, Thomas had
confessed to Assistant
Superintendent of Police
Lawrence, that he had picked up
the boy the night and later had
sex with him.
On November 9, 2004, the jury
unanimously found Thomas guilty
of buggery and common assault
after deliberating for less than
two hours. On November 22,
Justice Moore sentenced him to
ten years imprisonment.
In passing judgement, Justice
Moore said the element of
aggravation was that Thomas used
his uniform, which constituted a
pledge to serve and protect, for
a reprehensible purpose. Justice
Moore said the accused even
admitted committing the act with
the expectation that the force
would have covered it up.
