Judge tells ‘Tuff Head’ – ‘you are a sick individual’

October 19, 2006, will for one woman be remembered as the longest night of her life. She was raped!

On Wednesday at the sitting of the Criminal Assizes at the High Court, the man who had raped her was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.{{more}}

Presiding Judge Frederick Bruce-Lyle sentenced Kenville “Tuff Head” Morris, 36, of Byera, to 20 years for rape, and an additional 20 years for robbery, after he was found guilty on both charges. Both sentences would run concurrently.

When the case commenced on Tuesday, the woman said she was at home around 7:30 p.m. in the downstairs of her two-story house in Bequia. She said she went upstairs to the bathroom and was preparing herself for bed when she heard a noise coming from outside. “After a minute I came out the bathroom to see what it was, and I saw him coming through the window,” recalled the woman.

The woman told the Court she started screaming, and ran for her safety while Morris was running behind her. “I fell down, and he grabbed the back of my neck and picked me off the floor,” she said. The woman added that Morris pulled her into one of the bedrooms and grabbed her by the throat and told her to shut up because he had a knife and that he would kill her.

While gasping for air as she was being choked by Morris, the woman said Morris told her, “I am here because (a man he identified) did not pay me this morning and I want my money.” She then told Morris that she had money downstairs in the kitchen and if it wasn’t enough she would give him more the next day.

“He said no, no, not yet. I want to do this. Then he pulled my nighty up and raped me. It was the longest night of my life,” she said, pounding her hand on a board as she recalled the horrific night.

After the frightening ordeal, she said they went downstairs and she gave him the $150 and asked if he wanted a beer because she did not know what he was going to do. The woman said Morris wanted them to go back upstairs but she said no, she wanted some fresh air so they went outside.

While there, she said Morris threatened her by saying, “If I go by the market tomorrow and police come ask me any question about tonight, you’re dead!” She said Morris further told her that if he went to prison that he has friends who would come and kill her. She told the Court that she agreed with Morris because she was fearful for her life. The matter was reported two days later.

With no legal representation, Morris told the Court that a man had offered him a gardening job at the woman’s residence earlier that day. Morris said that about midday he saw the man collect a cheque from the woman and go away. He said at about 4 p.m., he met the man and asked him for the $150 that he said he was to be paid. Morris said that the man denied any knowledge of money being given to him by the woman for him (Morris).

In a recorded police statement, Morris said after confronting the man about his money, he arrived at the woman’s home about 7 p.m. and told her what occurred between him and the man. Morris said the woman was by a window while they were speaking. He said she asked how much he was to be paid and she gave him the money and offered him a beer, then he left.

Morris contradicted himself when he told the Court he went to the woman’s home after 6 p.m. and not 7 p.m. as was written in the statement. He was adamant that he did not commit the crime and that the woman was crazy. “These are innocent charges against me; is she boyfriend who mus be rape she,” Morris said.

The Medical evidence given by Dr Dwight Robinson stated that the woman suffered multiple injuries to her neck and that her vagina was bruised.

Morris was found guilty in a unanimous decision by a jury of six women and three men. The prosecution was led by Duane Daniel, who was assisted by Carl Williams. In handing down his sentence, Justice Bruce-Lyle referred to Morris as a an “Extremely vicious criminal who needed to be put away from society.”

Morris, who had been convicted of indecent assault in 2004, was sentenced to three months in prison then.

“This just tells me you’re a sick individual. Society is fed up with people like you, and my job is to protect society from vicious animals like you,” said the judge.