For the next twelve years, Levi Jackson will spend his life behind the bars of prison as punishment for rape. This morning, Supreme Court Justice Oswell Legall sentenced Jackson to twelve years imprisonment after a jury of nine found him guilty of raping a woman on Tuesday, May 5. The incident occurred in August 2007.
Jackson, a taxi driver, was unrepresented at his trial. This morning he was supposed to have brought character witnesses to court to make mitigation pleas on his behalf. However, when the court convened around 9:00 a.m. Jackson told Justice Legall that he was unable to locate his witnesses.
Therefore, in about one minute the sentencing was over, as the judge sentenced him to twelve years imprisonment, effective from today’s date.
On the night of August 27, 2007, Jackson offered a young woman a ride home in his taxi. The young woman, after recognizing Jackson as a former co-worker, who once worked at Old Belize with her, decided to accept his offer of a ride to take her to her Mile 8 home from Old Belize, where she had just gotten off work around 9:00 p.m. that night.
Jackson, however, drove past her requested stop and took her to Hattieville.
And in a feeder road somewhere in Hattieville, he punched her in her mouth and threatened to “chop her up” if she did not have sex with him. Fearing for her life, she gave into his demand and he raped her.
The young woman, who was twenty-eight years old at the time of the incident, reported to Hattieville police that Jackson had beaten her.
Eventually, she gathered enough courage and further reported that Jackson had not only beaten her, but that he had also raped her.
During his trial, Jackson maintained his innocence, and only admitted to performing oral sex on his victim.
His story, however, was a hard sell for the jury, whom he told: “all of you are ignorant and you cannot convict me of this crime, because I am innocent.”
After the main witness, his victim, had testified, Justice Legall asked Jackson if he had any witnesses to call. Jackson told the judge that God was his witness.
Senior Crown Counsel, Cecil Ramirez, presented the Crown’s case.