Local News

Man owns up to sex with girl, 14

25 March 2025
This content originally appeared on Barbados Nation News.

Rawlston Carrington pleaded guilty yesterday to having sexual intercourse with an under-age girl between January 5 and August 31, 2009, when he was 28 years old.

The matter involving the girl, who was 14 at the time, came up before Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell in the No. 4 Supreme Court and was adjourned until May 27 when the court will hear a presentencing report.

Carrington, now 44, of Montrose, Christ Church, is being represented by attorney Shadia Simpson while the prosecution’s case is being led by State Counsel Paul Prescod.

Yesterday the court heard from the girl’s statement that she and Carrington, a painter, struck up a friendship after meeting at her friend where he put his number in her cell phone and attempted to hug her, but she refused and instead took a handshake.

She texted him the next day and he texted calling her beautiful and telling her he loved her.

She did not respond but when he asked to see her, she told him her mother was at home. Carrington asked her to text him when her mother left and when she did so, he came to the house and she allowed him in. He kissed her before she pushed him away, the statement continued.

Prescod told the court the two continued texting each other but her sister saw the texts and informed their mother, who was angry and told her daughter to have nothing to do with Carrington. Then during the first week of 2009, she saw him at Sheraton and he started texting her, saying he loved her and she “trusted” his words. One day while her mother was out and Carrington told her he wanted to see her, he visited the house and initiated sex.

The girl said they had sex a number of times and Carrington invited her to his house and she ended up having sex before heading to school. Around August, Carrington told her, the statement read, that he wanted to break up because he was going overseas but she did not believe him. She recalled finding her mother reading her diary and eventually admitted its contents related to the “boy” her mother had warned her about.

Her mother took her to the police station where she gave the statement, the court heard.

In his statement to police, Carrington said he met the girl at a friend, she was smiling with him and she gave him her number. They then began texting each other. He added the girl said she was 16 or 17 years and he fell for her because she was nice and different.

Then one day her sister called his cell phone wanting to know who it was and her mother also called and was vexed at first, but after they spoke he told her he would stop talking to the girl.

When the girl saw him some time later, she started back texting him about being together but he did not want that, but only to make her stop he said he did, he told police. He added the girl threatened to “**** up” him if she could not get him.

He said he told her about finishing school first and doing well there, but that was when everything started to come out of her mouth and he could not believe this was the same person.

Defence counsel Simpson agreed to the facts, except to point out to the court that the relationship ended once the mother spoke with Carrington.