A 43-YEAR-OLD taxi-driver was yesterday freed on a charge of rape after a nine-member jury deliberated for just 45 minutes.

Carlyle De Govia wasted no time in leaving the Fourth Assize Court in San Fernando, after Justice Malcolm Holdip told him he was free to go.

De Govia, of Siparia, told the court that the intercourse he had with the woman, who was then a 17-year-old secondary school pupil, on November 27, 2002, was consensual.

He said the woman started travelling with him for about three months before the incident and a close friendship developed.

De Govia, represented by attorney Kevin Ratiram, told the court that the woman would invite him out from time to time and did so on the day of the incident.

He said the woman told him she wanted them to go to a place where they could speak privately and he drove to a lonely road in Fyzabad, where they had sex in his car with her consent.

A witness called on behalf of the defence testified that he met the woman sometime after the incident and was told by her that she willingly had sexual intercourse with De Govia, but decided to cry rape after being pressured by relatives.

Evidence as led by State attorney Narissa Ramsundar, was that the woman, who lived at Fyzabad, had gone to Siparia for mathematics lessons and later left in De Govia's taxi at around 6.05 p.m.

She testified that she became concerned when De Govia turned off the route and asked him where he was going. The woman said he started touching her on her leg and she told him not to do that.

De Govia, the court was told, continued driving until he reached a lonely bush area where, it was alleged, he committed the act.

A report was made the following day to PC Dyanand Sidhoo of the Fyzabad Police Station, and De Govia was arrested at a bar in Oropouche on November 28, 2002.