GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — A High Court judge Monday sentenced a 48-year-old man to more than 38 years in jail after he was found guilty of raping the wife of a close friend in 2018.

Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, sitting at the Suddie High Court, sentenced Odingo Emmanuel alias “Dingo” to 38 years and five months in jail for the offence committed on August 11, 2018. He will become eligible for parole after serving a minimum of 30 years.

In December 2021, a 12-member jury found Emmanuel guilty of raping the 36-year-old woman and during the sentencing hearing on Monday, Emmanuel did not express remorse for his actions and maintained that he is innocent.

But in her impact statement, which was also read in court, the woman said she had become traumatised and the incident has left a “stigma” on her.

Emmanuel’s s attorney Lachmi Dindayal, in a plea of mitigation, said that his client is a first-time offender and can be rehabilitated.

But the judge, before imposing the sentence, considered the rape was premeditated by Emmanuel, who had unprotected sex with the victim and could have exposed her to sexually transmitted diseases.

She also considered the psychological trauma Emmanuel put the victim through, for which he showed no remorse.

The court heard that on the day in question, the victim was out with her friends at a club when she returned home, she saw the door was broken and upon checking, she found Emmanuel in her bedroom.

He is alleged to have thrown the woman on the floor and raped her and while in the act, the woman’s husband came home and grabbed Emmanuel but he managed to escape from the house.