Haiti – Jamaica : 16 years in jail for abuse of a Haitian restavek

Haiti Libre:

Haiti - Jamaica : 16 years in jail for abuse of a Haitian restavek

Rohan Ebanks (55), a fisherman of St. Elizabeth (Jamaica), was sentenced by Judge Courtney Daye of the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston, to a sentence of 16 years in jail for human trafficking on a young Haitian girl (smuggled in 2010) minor, he enslaved and raped.

He was also ordered to pay the girl $1 million Jamaican (± US $ 7.900) for past and future medical bills, including the treatment of depression and other psychological problems and another million for moral damages.

Venoshia Reeves, (28) the wife of Ebanks, escaped imprisonment after being fined 50,000 dollars Jamaican (± US $ 400) and a suspended sentence of three years for facilitating trafficking of that person. If the fine is not paid, the mother of 6 children, will spend 12 months in prison. Note that the average monthly wage in Jamaica is 5,100 dollars (± 428 US dollars).

In this case, the prosecution has proved that the accused had used the girl over a period of 3 years as domestic and that he physically assaulted and raped her. It was also revealed during the trial, that the girl was pregnant, but the pregnancy was terminated. Ebanks had met the girl and her mother in 2010 after traveling to Haiti and supported the teenager girl after promising her mother that she would be sent to school, a promise never kept…

An example of severity, which should inspire our Haitian justice, to discourage and stop the situation of various abuses, of over 200,000 restaveks in Haiti.

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