Accused rapist freed despite eyewitness and victim’s testimonies

They say justice is blind, but in the opinion of a San Pedro family, justice was nowhere near the courthouse this evening. Two years ago, a mother claimed that she saw an intruder in her home rape her eleven year old child. Both the minor and her mother testified against the accused during the trial. So how many years did the twenty-eight year old man receive for the crime? The answer is shockingly… none. After deliberating for a little over two hours, a jury of nine found Winston Sharshente not guilty of Carnal Knowledge this afternoon. The alleged victim, now thirteen, said she was at home alone sleeping while her mother went out socializing with Sharshente, a Santa Elena Resident. In a very emotional and tearful testimony, the girl told the court on December eighth, that her mother left the house to go out with the accused and at four in the morning, she heard someone call out her name three times. She said Sharshente dragged her into her mother’s bedroom where he forced himself upon her. The minor testified that he threatened to stab her with a knife if she resisted. According to the child, her mother then walked in to the room and saw what was happening, but she ran out of the house. In the mother’s version, she admitted she went to the park on the night in question with Sharshente. She claimed that he left her for about twenty minutes and when she went home, she found him on top of her daughter. She said she ran out of the room because she was in shock. In his own defense, Sharshente gave an unsworn statement from the dock and placed himself at the scene of the incident. He said that while socializing with the woman, he left to buy some more drinks, and when he returned, the woman had left. He went to her home where they got in an argument. A defense witness said he heard Sharshente and the woman arguing and eventually she accused him of having sex with her daughter. Despite the acquittal, Sharshente was taken back to prison two other incidents. On November tenth, Sharshente was convicted of grievous harm, where he was sentenced to seven months. The court sentenced him to an additional three months for child maintenance in the amount of seven hundred and fifty-five dollars. He is scheduled to be released in September of 2010.