Pandit to face High Court trial for rape

Accused rapist, Pandit Rajindra Maraj is expected to stand trial at the next sitting of the Demerara Criminal Assizes at the Georgetown Supreme Court.

Maraj was committed to stand a High Court trial yesterday, after Providence Magistrate Leron Daly ruled that the Prosecution which was represented by Police Sergeant Shellon Daniels, provided the court with sufficient evidence for him to face a trial for rape.

The charge states that on December 8 and December 29, 2009 Maraj raped a sixteen year old girl at an Eccles, East Bank Demerara Mandir.

According to details of the case, on the first occasion, the teenager had accompanied her grandparents to the Mandir in Eccles to make arrangements for a religious ceremony, when Maraj instructed the elders to leave his office, since he needed to perform a special spiritual ritual on the girl.

The Pandit then told the girl that she had been possessed with an ‘African spirit,’ and he needed to perform a ritual to cure her.

Maraj then instructed the teenager to remove her clothing. He placed special ointments on several parts of the victim’s body before raping her. After the incident, the Pandit warned the teenager not to tell anyone about her experience.

However on December 29, after Maraj allegedly raped the teenager a second time, she confided in another Pandit. The Pandit in turn, told the teenager’s grandparents, who reported the matter to the police.