24-year-old Vishnu Singh was slapped with rape charges on Wednesday morning when he appeared at the Sparendaam Magistrates Court. He was granted bail in the sum of $400,000. The charges stem from his alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl.

The Better Hope, East Coast Demerara man, who is the son of the head of the Guyana Rice Development Board, appeared in court just moments after the Guyana Police Force announced that the Director of Public Prosecutions had instructed that the rape charge be instituted against him.

The 14-year-old girl in the company of her mother had filed the complaint against the man after the teen reported that she was brutally raped by the man after he offered her a ride home in his car. The incident allegedly took place on January 27, 2015.

There are reports that an attempt was made by the man’s family to settle the case financially but that move was rejected by the victim’s family.

The young man reportedly told police officers during an initial interview that he did have sex with the teenage girl but that it was consensual. The teen rejected that claim. The age of consent in Guyana is 16-years-old, so legal minds point out that there could not have been any consensual sex with a 14-year-old child.

Meanwhile, a policewoman is under investigation and will face possible charges after she was caught on tape trying to broker a settlement on behalf of the man’s family with a relative of the 14-year-old girl.

The Guyana Police Force’s Office of Professional Responsibility is handling that investigation.

Filed: 4th February, 2015

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