The National Transformation Alliance (NTA) has joined the chorus of discontent over a convicted rapist being given a two-year reduction in his sentence, after making a $15,000 donation to the Rape Crisis Society of T&T based on a directive from his victim.
NTA deputy chairman Christine Newallo-Hosein expressed her discontent over the outcome of the case in a media release yesterday.
“While I am not questioning the Judiciary or the specific details of this case, I believe that this decision sends a message to the wider community that justice has a price tag,” Newallo-Hosein said.
Although she accepted the importance of restitution in a just society, she said, “As a society, do we want to put a price on rape, where a perpetrator might believe they can purchase restitution without remorse?”
“Is this the message we want to send to women in a modern society?” she added.
However, she said the case also highlighted the lack of funding for vital organisations such as the society.
She noted that during NTA leader Gary Griffith’s tenure as national security minister and police commissioner, the Child Protection Unit and Gender-based Violence Unit of the T&T Police Service (TTPS) were established.
“This clearly demonstrates strong and morally upright core values. Values that will ensure not only that justice is served but also that we send a clear message that criminals will no longer have the upper hand,” she said.
Mark Calvahal was convicted at the end of his judge-alone trial earlier this month and was on Thursday sentenced by High Court Kathy-Ann Waterman-Latchoo to a little under seven years in prison.
Justice Waterman-Latchoo began with a starting point of 12 years before reducing it by two years because of Calvahal’s donation.
Calvahal had initially offered to pay compensation to the victim but she refused to accept it and asked that it be donated to the NGO, which provides professional counselling to victims of sexual and gender-based violence.
Justice Waterman-Latchoo gave a further two-year discount as Calvahal had a clean criminal record before being charged in 2012. He was also given a one-year discount as his son, who he is the guardian of, has a serious medical condition.
After deducting the two weeks he spent in prison after being convicted, Calvahal was left with a sentence of six years, 11 months, and two weeks.
Calvahal, 44, was accused of attacking the woman, who was a fellow tenant at the apartment building he lived at, on October 5, 2012.
According to the evidence, presented by State prosecutor Dylan Martin, after the woman returned home from work, Calvahal reportedly went to her apartment to discuss items she had purchased from one of his friends.
The woman told him his friend had delivered items she did not order, and he insisted they go to the friend’s home to have the items exchanged. After completing the transaction, Calvahal told the woman he wanted to show her a spring in Maraval. He drove to a dark and desolate area where he claimed the spring was located and raped her in the car.
Calvahal was charged after blood from a cut the victim sustained in the attack was found on his car seat and was tested by a forensic analyst.
After Martin finished presenting the State’s case, Calvahal testified in his defence and denied any wrongdoing, as he claimed the woman consented.
