Police have formally charged two teenage brothers in connection with the rape of two young girls in Rodney Bay, Gros-Islet.
The brothers, aged 16 and 18, appeared in court Thursday morning, Nov. 19 charged with two counts of rape and burglary.
The men were arraigned during an in-camera session which was closed to the public and the media.
The release of the names and images of the two young men are prohibited under local laws, mainly to protect the identity and privacy of the victim/s, local law enforcement sources have told St. Lucia News Online.
This law applies to rape cases and some domestic violence matters, the sources added.
Initially, three males – ages 16, 18 and 23 – from a Castries inner-city were arrested for the incident, however only the teenagers were charged. It is unclear what happened to the third suspect.
The suspects were remanded at Custody Suites pending testing of DNA samples which were reportedly to be done overseas.
According to preliminary police reports, two females, both 16 years old, were raped by three unknown males after 10 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 2 in an apartment in Reduit Orchard, Rodney Bay.
The perpetrators, who concealed their faces with T-shirts, stormed the apartment through the apartment through a closed but unlocked door, police said.
One male was armed with a gun and the females were also robbed of certain items, police said.
“The victims suffered severe lacerations of their vaginas with one being admitted to Victoria Hospital for surgical repair,” one source alleged.
In the Third Quarter Crime Statistics Report 2015 it was revealed that sexual offences and crimes against persons were the only major crime categories which recorded an increased number of accepted cases.
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