SUPREME COURT Three Soldiers Gaoled On Rape Charges

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32298, 16 May 1970, Page 8

SUPREME COURT Three Soldiers Gaoled On Rape Charges

Prison sentences of five years, four years, and two years were imposed on three soldiers when they appeared in the Supreme Court yesterday for sentence on charges of rape, attempted rape, or being a party to these offences. Mr Justice Wilson told the three men that their actions were “a deplorable effort however one looks at it.”

Royal Charles Harema, aged 21 (Mr L. G. Holder), ' who last week was convicted 1 on two charges of attempted 1 rape and one of being a party i to rape, was sentenced to five 1 years imprisonment.

Raymond Douglas MacDonald, aged 19 (Mr R. F. B. Perry), who was convicted on

one charge of rape and one of attempted rape, was sentenced to four years imprisonment, and Lloyd Blake West, aged 21 (Mr J. R. Milligan), who was convicted of two charges of attempted rape, was sentenced to two years imprisonment.

: All defendants pleaded not i guilty to the charges which i involved a 20-year-old girl on ! January 25. The trial was held ■ before a jury last week. Mr ; A. D. Holland appeared for ■ the Crown. ! “The rape of a girl by a single person has always been ■ regarded as a matter of great i concern by the Court, but : when it is done by more than one the Courts have shown

in no uncertain fashion that they will not tolerate it and that anyone who takes part can look forward to a substantial term of imprisonment.” His Honour said he did not

i- differentiate between rape I. and attempted rape, but he a took into account the fact

that there was no great degree of brutality used. All were young men with reasonably good reports. “It may be that you misjudged the girl’s character. That is a mistake that not infrequently happens, but if you did her real character must

: have emerged pretty clearly before you got very far,” said i his Honour. “Your initial mistake does not excuse your subsequent behaviour,” said his Honour. He said the lack of violent ; struggling by the girl was not complacency but an inability to resist because of liquor and food poisoning, and at times during “ ‘that horrible night’ she was un-

t conscious either because she j fainted or was exhausted.” t His Honour said Harema - played a leading part in the i- offence. He drove the car and made the first attempt to rape t the girl. He held her

. prisoner till the early hours . of the morning and he then raped her.

MacDonald was younger but it was clear that he was at least as forthcoming as Harema, said his Honour. MacDonald behaved with a greater degree of brutality and callousness than Harema and but for his age would have met with a longer term of imprisonment. “West is in a somewhat different category,” said his Honour. He said he took no leading part and was more of a consenting party to the offences and his actions were quite out of character. Mr Holder said it was clear that Harema was affected by drink and that the offence was as much a case of very bad judgment of the girl’s character as anything else. A senior probation officer had given Harema a good report, and his Army report said he worked well and was a good soldier. His career with the Army had finished as a result of his conviction. “Drink and recklessness completed the story,” Mr Perry said when making submissions on behalf of MacDonald. He had misjudged the girl and was affected by liquor. He had had an uncertain work record until joining the Army, and it was tragic that the conviction meant the end of his career in the Army. West had not been a principal actor in the offences, said Mr Milligan. Hitherto he had been a person of considerable responsibility and maturity and there had been nothing in his conduct to indicate that he would appear in Court on such a charge. He still had the ability to make good in life.