A 46-year-old ice-cream salesman, who raped a 13-year-old girl ten years ago and threatened to kill her if she told anyone, was yesterday sent to jail for 15 years.

Justice Devan Rampersad described Vernon Mahadeo's actions as heinous, cunning and callous.

A nine-member jury in the San Fernando Third Assize Court deliberated for about 90 minutes before returning the verdict. It was the second time Mahadeo was found guilty of the offence involving the girl who was well-known to him.

In 2003, Justice Herbert Volney sentenced Mahadeo to serve 15 years in prison and 15 strokes with the birch. He appealed the conviction and sentence on the ground that his attorney at the time was incompetent. The judges at the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial.

Evidence as led by State attorney Taramatie Ramdass is that Mahadeo, on March 20, 1998, offered the girl a lift to a nearby grocery. In the car was his mother-in-law, whom he dropped off at a dentist.

The court heard that Mahadeo, a father of one from Charlieville, told the girl that he was first going to a mechanic before dropping her off. He instead drove to a hotel along Southern Main Road, Couva, where he threatened to beat the girl if she made any noise.

Mahadeo took her into a room where he raped her and threatened her with death if she spoke about the incident.

The girl eventually told her mother on March 26, 1998, and she was examined by a doctor the following day.

Mahadeo was arrested by PC Anthony Sampson of the Chaguanas Police Station. Upon hearing that he was to spend the next 15 years in jail, Mahadeo broke down in tears yesterday.

His attorney, Chateram Sinanan, told Justice Rampersad that Mahadeo maintained his innocence.

Justice Rampersad said Mahadeo breached his position of trust during what should have been a simple shopping expedition.

He said the only mitigating factor which saved Mahadeo from a life sentence is the fact that he had no previous convictions.