Portland labourer accused of rape freed

A Portland labourer who was accused of raping an 11-year-old girl two years ago was freed on Monday.

Twenty-nine-year-old Kenrick Rodgers was found not guilty by a seven-member jury at the end of his trial in the Portland Circuit Court.

Rodgers was arrested and charged with the sex offence in October 2020.

During the trial, Rodgers gave an unsworn statement from the prisoner's dock denying raping the young girl and presented an alibi.

He insisted that he did not visit the girl's home on the day of the incident.

Rodgers further told the court that someone saw another man, who he identified as Coby, going to the girl's yard around the same time that she alleged that he raped her.

The Portland resident was accused of raping the student at her home on October 1, 2020.

The complainant reported that Rodgers held her down and sexually assaulted her after she let him inside her home to use the bathroom.

A day after the alleged incident, Rodgers went to the Buff Bay Police Station to ask if he was wanted and left his contact number.

The police later contacted him and told him to visit the station.

He complied.

He was later arrested and charged.

According to Rodgers, the accusation was maliciously concocted.

He said that a day before the alleged incident he and the girl's mother had a big quarrel over partner money owed to him.

Attorneys-at-law John Jacobs and Courtney Rowe represented Rodgers.

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