20 years for raping a friend
by Fulton WilsonTHE RAPE of a woman by a friend can be even more traumatic and outrageous than rape by a stranger, Justice Melville Baird said on Tuesday as he jailed rapist Dion Julien for 20 years.
Julien 30, and a father of two of Constabulary Street, Carenage, was found guilty on Monday of raping a Woman on June 5, 1988. He was charged by Sgt Franklyn Edwards.
Before passing the sentence, Justice Baird, presiding in the Port of Spain First Criminal Court, said he agreed with the jury’s verdict. He had postponed sentencing to yesterday.
He said the case was not one of a woman being raped by a complete stranger. “She knew him for six years before the incident and they both lived in the same neighbourhood” he said.
The judge added that they had been good friends and on previous occasions Julien had taken the victim to parties. The victim was raped after attending a party.
“Her home was two minutes away. She asked him to drop her home. She trusted him and was confident he would have protected her on her way home. But rather than protect her from danger, he was the source of danger. She needed protection from him. This `friend’ attacked her,” he said.
Julien, he said abused the trust the victim had in him. “In the context of rape, a woman’s lot is indeed not a happy one when she can’t even trust a friend”
The judge said he took into consideration the fact that Julien was 22 at the time of the incident and had no previous convictions.
The court heard that while walking the victim to her home, Julien followed her into a toilet which she had gone to use and raped her. During the struggle, she hit her head and became unconscious. When she regained consciousness, she realised she had been raped.
In his defence, Julien admitted having sexual intercourse with the victim but said she consented to it.
Geoffrey Henderson prosecuted, while Mervyn Mitchell held for Julien’s attorney Martin George who was absent yesterday.
Taken from: Trinidad Express Newspaper