Student sentenced to 11 years for rape

A 26-year-old university student who raped and impregnated a 13-year old girl in August 2012 has been sentenced to 11 years imprisonment by High Court Judge, Justice Prabha-haran Kumararatnam.

The court heard that Dennis Mark Hazelman raped the 13-year-old girl while another girl blocked the entrance of a partly built house which stopped the victim from leaving the place.

As a result of the rape, the victim got pregnant and delivered a baby boy while she was studying in class 8.

The judge said the aggravating factors in the case are that the victim was 13-years-old at the time of the offence, the act done to the girl took away the victim’s dignity, the man had led the victim to fall pregnant with his child, the man had caused psychological trauma which is difficult to assess even by a psychologist or sociologist, the man has instilled a sense of fear into the victim which may affect her whole life and no remorse was expressed by the man.

In mitigation, Hazelman said that he is a first offender, he is still in university, he is single, has been in remand for about 1 month and he has his mother and step father to support.

Justice Kumararatnam said Hazelman has to serve nine years before he is eligible for parole.