Rapist gets 40 years

Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

Thirty-seven-year-old gardener Neville Barnes has been sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment for stemming from a rape.

It was alleged that he broke into a house in Cherry Gardens, St Andrew in 2005 and raped a female occupant.

Supreme Court Judge Marjorie Cole Smith sentenced Barnes today following his conviction last week by a jury in the Home Circuit Court.

The judge told Barnes that what he did was awful.

DNA test results linked Barnes to the crime.

Barnes denied giving samples for DNA tests, but the investigating officer in the case told the court he willingly gave permission for the samples to be taken.

In an unsworn statement from the dock, Barnes denied committing the offence.
The jury found him guilty of rape, burglary and larceny and indecent assault.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com