WESTMORELAND, Jamaica — The teenage boy accused of raping, buggering, and strangling to death a nine-year-old girl in 2018 has been found guilty on all three counts of rape, buggery and murder.

The judgement was handed down a short while ago in the Westmoreland Circuit Court by a six-member jury.

The jury retired for deliberations at 1:25 pm and returned with their verdict at 2:53 pm.

According to Justice Courtney Daye, research will have to be done to determine the approach to take in sentencing the accused.

“For sure the law says you can’t give a child a death sentence,” he said.

Sentencing has been postponed until July 28 to facilitate all the reports expected from experts who will provide guidance.

Allegations are that the boy sexually assaulted and killed the young girl, whom he knew, after she accepted his invitation to pick apples as they walked home from school on June 5, 2018. Her body was found near a guava tree, which is about 15-20 feet from the apple tree. A post-mortem report presented in court last week showed that the child died of asphyxia caused by manual strangulation. She also had lacerations of the vagina and anus.

The boy, now 17, was 13 at the time the incident allegedly occurred.

– Anthony Lewis

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