News

Rapist gets five years

RICHARD SHORTER, A member of a criminal duo that abducted and raped women in the downtown, Kingston area will have the next five years in prison to change his ways.

Shorter, otherwise called Richard Palmer of no fixed address received the sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of rape. Shorter appeared in the Home Circuit Court on Monday to answer to the charges. He was sentenced to five years on one count and two years on another count. However, both sentences will run concurrently.

The other man who was accused of working along with Shorter, Hector 'Nigel' Colley , a 30-year-old labourer of Fifth Street in Trench Town, Kingston, pleaded not guilty to nine counts of rape.

The men were charged after they were picked up by the Kingston Central police in August 2003 during an operation in Downtown, Kingston.

Targetted young women

The men were held following investigations into reports that two rapists were operating in the Waterfront area on Pechon Street, Marcus Garvey Drive and to a lesser extent in the Municipal Bus Park on Beckford Street, all in Kingston. The rapists allegedly targeted women between 17 and 23.

For the last six months in that year, more than seven cases were reported to the Denham Town Police in west Kingston. Several others were reported to the Kingston Central police.

The police said the men operated by approaching an intended victim and striking up a conversation. After gaining her trust, he would invite her to a destination. If the woman agreed, he would charter a cab and when they arrived at the destination he would be joined by his accomplice and the person would be robbed and raped. After the ordeal, the woman was released.

In some cases the women did not respond favourably when they were approached, so the rapist would make a scene to intimidate her

The most recent reported case occurred downtown in July, 2003 when a woman on Ocean Boulevard agreed to go with a man in a taxi but was held at knifepoint and taken to a secluded area and raped.