by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Veron Richardson, 38, has been sentenced to serve 22 years and six months for the offence of Rape and ten years for Burglary, which he pleaded guilty to on February 6. Both crimes were committed on December 7, 2019.
According to court documents, Richardson, also known as ‘Tommy”, ‘ had a rape conviction in 2013.
His Lordship Justice Ian Morley handed down the sentences to run concurrently on May 2nd, 2023.
The High Court documents also detailed the incident where the victim recalled the event of December 07, 2019.
The victim, 21, at the time, was at home, and at 02.30, after speaking with her fiancé, had checked her home and went to bed. She was then awakened by the sound of a person seeming to jump down, “perhaps from a window” inside her home, the judgement said.
She found a man, later identified as Richardson, wearing a mask over his nose and lower face, his eyes exposed.
She screamed for help from neighbours before being told to shut up with a gun placed to her head, choking her with his free hand. She recognised the voice as ‘Tommy’.
After hitting the young woman in the head with the gun butt, she was thrown to the ground and raped.
Richardson then stole a US$500 iPhone and EC$350 from the victim’s purse.
Richardson was subsequently arrested at his home, and police recovered the cash and the iPhone showing the victim’s picture. Also recovered was “a realistic imitation firearm”.
The High Court Judgement shared that Richardson had 17 previous convictions, beginning in 2004 when he was 19, which included wounding with intent in 2008 for which he received five years imprisonment; in 2013, five years and four months for rape; and in 2019, nine months for larceny.
