Justice Emmanuel Nkea of the Special Criminal Court, Friday, November 30th, 2012, convicted and sentenced one Modou Lamin Yeranjang, a 41-year-old man, resident of Sanyang Village in Kombo South, West Coast Region, to serve 25 years imprisonment for raping a 4-year-old girl without her consent, contrary to the Laws of The Gambia.

The convict was charged with a single count of rape. It was alleged that he raped the said 4-year-old little girl believed to be a family friend and totally ravished her private part, which the court described as beastly display of his manhood and a very selfish way of satisfying his greed for sex.

Justice Nkea highlighted among other things from the evidence of the case presented before him and said, the victim has suffered a lot of indignity at a very tender age and more so from a person that ought to show her love, care and protection. He said that people like the convict should be kept away from the public for some time.

The judge made an extensive review of the evidence adduced by both the prosecution and the defence and later convicted and sentenced the convict to serve 25 years in jail.

Sentence

The judge said he took note of the convict being a first-time offender and 41 years old. He said the convict himself told court that he has family responsibilities and has relatives to look after and asked for a shorter sentence.

"The circumstances in which he committed the offence are so grave because he is a brother to the victim's father. He ravished a very small child fit to be his old child and who looked up to him as a dad. The age difference is very big. The victim could not even understand the impact. Some day in future she will know. There was no respect for such a small child to introduce her to such stigma.This kind of offence is abhorrent. I consider the convict's conduct a beastly display of his manhood. It was a very selfish way of satisfying his greed for sex. The convict was real danger to the women and girls in that neighborhood," he remarked.

The judge therefore sentenced the convict accordingly.