Justice Bryan Sykes has sentenced a 44-year-old man to 10 years' imprisonment at hard labour for raping a 13-year-old girl.

He is Courtney Samuels, plumber, of a Kingston address.

The Crown, represented by Vaughn Smith, Crown Counsel, led evidence in the Home Circuit Court that Samuels and the girl lived on the same premises. On the night of June 19, 2005, Samuels went into the girl's house and attempted to rape her, but the girl managed to fight him off and he went away.

Later that same night, the girl was outside when Samuels dragged her into his house and sexually assaulted her.

Samuels gave an unsworn statement from the dock, denying committing the offence. He called three witnesses to support his alibi that he was not at home at the time of the incident.

The jury retired and found Samuels guilty of the charge.