Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

A 25-year-old man who was accused of abducting a teenager and raping her at gunpoint has been freed.

Justice Bryan Sykes, after hearing a no-case submission from defence lawyer Peter Champagnie, set free Jerome Williams, a steelworker of Old Harbour, St Catherine.

At the end of the Crown's case, Champagnie submitted that the identification evidence was weak and the girl's testimony inconsistent and, thus, not credible.

When cross-examined, the 15-year-old girl said Williams had a handkerchief tied around his head. She said she saw his face for a short period of time.

Champagnie also cross-examined the complainant on several discre-pancies in her statement to the police.

One of the inconsistencies was the girl's claim in a police statement that another man was involved, but testimony gleaned through cross-examination revealed there was no accomplice during the initial rape.

The Crown led evidence in the Gun Court that on July 9, last year, the girl was sitting on the roadway in front of her house when the accused, who was armed with a high-powered weapon, called her.

Williams ordered her to follow him to a house at Homestead, St Catherine. When she went to Homestead, the accused raped her at gun-point.

The complainant said the accused telephoned eight other men and invited them to have sex with her. She said the men had sexual intercourse with her from 8 p.m. to daybreak.

After they released her, she said she went to the Old Harbour Police Station in St Catherine and made a report.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com

Champagnie submitted that the identification evidence was weak, the girl's testimony inconsistent and, thus, not credible.