The three judges found the statements of the victim (the great niece) of the well known businessman to be credible since she sent a message by phone asking for help. The court also ruled that the victim repeated her story to her father and a cousin while Velasquez could not clearly indicate to the court exactly where he applied suntan lotion on the victim. In his first statement to the police, Velasquez said that he applied lotion while the two of them were on his boat and in his second statement he said he applied the lotion on the victim at his home. During the court hearing, the judges asked the defendant exactly where he applied the lotion on the victim and he told the court that the incident occurred a year and half ago and he could not remember exactly where it happened.
Bobby Velasquez was detained on May 20, 2010 after weeks of rumors which stated that he had molested his great niece during the 2010 Heineken Regatta. The businessman spent 10 days in pretrial detention after which he was released by the judge of instruction.
The prosecutor was not pleased with the fact that Bobby Velasquez was declared not guilty of first degree rape and decided to appeal the sentence of June 15th 2011.
The case was heard on September 29th 2011.The prosecutor demanded 18 months jail term withdrawing six months in the event he committed another act within a two year period, the suspect would then have to serve these six months also.
The Appeals Court quashed the sentence of the Court of First Instance on Thursday when they rendered their verdict.
They gave 12 points on which they considered the suspect guilty of first degree rape.
The court considers it proven that on March 7th 2010, the accused forced his great niece to commit sexual acts to the point where entered her body.
In the summary, they said the suspect locked the bedroom door where committed the sexual act, he undressed the victim by first taking off her blouse and pulled her pants down, turned her over on the bed so that her back faced him. He refused to stop when the victim asked him to stop and told her to keep quiet. The suspect is also accused of standing in such a way that the victim could not have escaped from the attack, he pushed his entire body weight on the victim so she could not escape from him.
Those acts and the sexual intercourse consisted of grabbing the victim from behind, caressing her inner thighs and forcing his hands between her legs. The victim also claimed that the suspect kissed her on her belly area and her vagina with his tongue. He penetrated the victim's vagina with his fingers. The suspect is also accused of removing his penis from his trousers and asking the victim to allow him to do it quickly. There are other facts the defendant was accused of but it was not admitted.
The prosecution submitted declarations of the victim's parents and friends to the appeals court.
The defense tried to have the case thrown out of court, not on the grounds that their client did not rape the girl or sexually abuse her, but on the grounds that the investigating officers did not follow procedures. The court decided there was sexual abuse and it is punishable by law and therefore, sentenced the defendant to 15 months imprisonment. Deducting 12 months and giving him a period of 3 years in which he can not commit a punishable act, or he would eventually have to serve the 12 months deducted.
Of the remaining three months, the time already spent in jail or detention will be deducted.
The verdict handed down on Wednesday has left several persons in shock since the court had no physical evidence other than the statements of both parties.
Click here to view the decision of the Appeals Court rendered on Thursday.
