Young man sentenced for attempted rape

PHILIPSBURG – The Court in First Instance sentenced Kareem Munaf Prince on Wednesday for an attempt to rape his former girlfriend on August 21 of last year, stealing a Wifibox from her home and threatening her with death.

The 21-year old defendant has mental health issues and he was not in court; he is currently in his native Guyana and his attorney Safira Ibrahim could not say when he would come back to the island.

The court sentenced Prince to 365 days of imprisonment, with 259 days suspended and 3 years of probation. Prince spent the unconditional part of the sentence already in pretrial custody. The court also banned the defendant from contacting his victim and ordered him to subject himself to treatment at the Mental Health Foundation. The sentence follows most of the demands by the public prosecutor, though the court dropped the demand for 240 hours of community service.

According to the prosecutor, Prince was jealous because he considered the woman to be his girlfriend and because she had started seeing a man with whom she has a child.

“He sneaked into her house in the middle of the night and threatened her with death,” the prosecutor said.

On December 6 the defendant was released after 106 days behind bars from pretrial custody while his attorney had not even asked for it.

Attorney Safira Ibrahim said that her client denied the rape-attempt. “Touching is not enough to prove attempted rape,” she said. The attorney noted that her client had stepped naked into the woman’s bed, that he had attempted to kiss her and that he had caressed her body. “That is possibly sexual assault, but my client has not been charged with that offense. I asks the court for an acquittal.”

Ibrahim also contested that Prince had committed intrusion, because the victim had not asked him to leave and because he had left the house voluntarily. The defendant confessed to stealing the Wifibox.

“My client has lost his job. He has been punished enough,” Ibrahim said.

The court acquitted Prince of intrusion, but sentenced him for attempted rape, theft and for threatening the woman.