Two brothers accused of raping 11-year-old

A 13-year-old girl on Wednesday, January 25, testified in court that two brothers held her down on a bed and took turns raping her.{{more}}

Jeffrey ‘D-Rick’ Stapleton, 17, and Stephen ‘Shinez’ Stapleton stand accused of having unlawful sexual intercourse with the girl on September 30, 2010.

When the girl took the witness stand at the High Court’s Criminal Assizes, she said she was at her grandmother’s home when she decided to go to the beach with her two brothers.

While at the beach, the girl said Shinez came and sat on the beach. The girl, who had to be told several times to hold up her head while speaking, told the court that rain fell and she and her brothers decided to leave.

“When we been going up, Shinez went up in front of we…,” she said. The girl noted that because it was raining heavily, her brothers went to Shinez’ house nearby for shelter. “Shinez call me, but I didn’t go at first, but I changed my mind after…,” she recounted.

While at his house, the girl said she went into the bathroom, took off her wet clothes and changed into a pair of white shorts and a black top. Shortly after that, she said she went and sat in a chair in the living room.

“Shinez ask me if we war anything to eat, and he give me brothers bread and juice and D-Rick come after and carry my brothers to the shop…,” she added.

The girl, now in secondary school, told the court she asked if she could go with them, but D-Rick told her to stay at the house.

She said Shinez lifted her up, took her to the bedroom and placed her on a bed.

“I got up and he push me down back pon de bed…,” she testified. The young teen said Shinez attempted to unbutton her shorts, but she kept pulling them back up.

She said he managed to pull off her pants and underwear and then he raped her.

The girl told the court that after Shinez was finished, D-Rick came and said: “I want and if me ain’t get ah going talk,” the girl recalled.

She said Shinez held down her hands and D-Rrick held her feet and then proceeded to rape her. The girl said she was crying and threatened to tell her mother.

After the ordeal, the girl said she went back into the living room and saw another girl with Shinez. The girl said that she was going to tell the other girl what had taken place, but was too afraid to do so.

When the rain ceased, she returned to her grandmother’shome and met her mother there.

When quizzed as to why she did not tell them what had happened, she said: “I was afraid that my mother would have beat me.”

With no legal representation, both accused led their own defense. Shinez told the court that the girl and her brothers stopped by the house to watch a Nigerian movie.

He denied having sex with the girl.

Opting to take the witness stand to give his side of the story, D-Rick said when he came home that afternoon his brother opened the front door for him. He told the court he went inside, but did not see anyone else.

“I saw two slippers by the steps and I start to search and I see six foot under the bed and I hold one and start pulling, but nobody ain’t come out…,” he said.

D-Rick added that he went outside and went back to the bedroom and pulled again and discovered it was the girl and her two brothers under the bed.

“Me and she brothers go out in the living and watch television and then I remember I had $2 in my pocket and I tell them let’s go to the shop. Upon their return, D-Rick said he stood on a chair and looked over a partition and saw Shinez and the girl sitting and talking on the bed.

He, too, denied having sex with the girl.

Under cross-examination by crown counsel Colin John, D-Rick said the other girl who came to the house after told Shinez that he was wicked. When asked what he thought she meant by that, D-Rick said maybe it was because she thought that he (Shinez) had sex with the younger girl.

He also said the other girl began to argue when she saw the slippers at the doorway because she thought they belonged to another girl, with whom she wanted to fight.

D-Rick explained that the reason he climbed on the chair to see what was going on is because he did not want them to see him.

Three other persons were called to testify in the matter.

Shinez should have taken the witness stand yesterday to tell his story.

The matter is presided over by Justice Frederick Bruce-Lyle.(KW)