By Linda Straker
Primary school teacher Denroy Charles will appear at the Grenville Magistrate Court on 17 August 2015, to answer to two sexual offences.
Charles, a 31-year-old Tivoli resident and National Twenty20 cricketer, who is also known as Cocoa Fly, has been remanded to custody after law enforcement charged him with the rape and sexual assault of a young woman.
Reports are that he forced himself onto and into the young lady in his vehicle on Thursday night in a lonely area in Conference, St Andrew. He was formally detained for questioning on Friday and was officially charged on Saturday. Bail was denied by the Magistrate after she reviewed the case on Saturday, and as a result he was sent to the remand section of Richmond Hill prison on the two charges.
Despite the rape and sexual assault charges, it is the opinion of persons close to the case, that the severity of the incident may result in other charges on Charles because of other factors which occurred before and after the rape incident.
A recent amendment to the criminal code provides for any person who is convicted of rape to be sentenced to prison for a maximum of 35 years. Grenada’s assizes list continues to be dominated by sexual related offences, accounting for more than one-third of all the cases before the High Court for trial.
However, social workers who work with victims have explained that despite the high number of incidents reported to the Police, a higher number go unreported because the victims are made to feel that they are responsible for the action of the accused persons. One social worker has also confirmed that some victims are also encouraged to drop cases against accused and settle for financial compensation outside of the court.
