A 39-year-old man, who was sentenced to a little over 11 years in prison for raping a 14-year-old girl over a decade ago, has lost his appeal against his conviction.
Delivering an oral judgement during a virtual hearing yesterday, Appellate Judges Alice Yorke-Soo Hon, Mark Mohammed, and Maria Wilson rejected all six grounds raised by Peter Andrew Davis in his appeal.
In the appeal, Davis’ lawyer Derrick Redman had claimed that the judge, who presided over his client’s case, failed to consider that it would have been difficult to provide an alibi as he was charged with committing the offence on an unknown date over almost three weeks in May 2006.
Justice Wilson, who delivered the judgement, said that Davis had ample opportunity to provide details of his alibi to be verified by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Redman also questioned the judge’s direction on the issue of consent as he noted that she gave varying accounts of what had transpired.
“She said stop because it was hurting not stop because she did not want to do it,” he said.
Wilson noted that the sexual assault began well before the victim made the statement.
Redman also complained that the judge improperly placed emphasis on the victim’s age when at the time the age of the consent was 14 as opposed to 18 now.
Wilson said based on the evidence, it was Davis who had repeatedly raised the issue of the victim’s age.
She pointed out that he asked the victim her age and told her that she “looked big for her age”.
When he was arrested, he told police: “Officer she like me but I not sexing no little girl.”
According to the evidence in the case, the incident took place in May 2006, as the victim was walking near her home to meet her cousin by an arcade.
Davis, who was 24-years-old at the time and knew the girl and her family for several years, stopped his vehicle and offer to take her for a drive.
When the victim refused, he offered to drop her at the arcade.
However, when she got in the car, he drove to a friend’s house where he raped her.
After the attack, Davis forced the teenager to have a shower and then allowed her to walk home.
The victim eventually told her mother, who took her to the polic.
In passing the sentence on Davis, former High Court Judge and current Appellate Judge Gillian Lucky read from the victim impact statement.
In the harrowing statement, the girl said that she was still traumatised by the incident.
“Although I wear a smile on my face, it is fake. It has also affected my mother. She does not say anything but I know it does. It made me feel it was my fault,” she said, as she claimed that she attempted suicide twice.
She also pleaded with the court to pass a stiff sentence.
“I want the court to send a message to men who prey on young aspiring girls. I hope God has mercy on Peter but I believe he should suffer for the way he tricked and forced me,” she said.
The DPP’s Office was represented by Travers Sinanan.