St Catherine taxi driver charged with rape, assault & child pornography

Kingston, Jamaica: The police arrested a taxi driver of St Catherine with multiple sexual offences which were committed by him between the period of January 22 to December 2023. He was charged with rape, sexual touching and possession of child pornography on Tuesday.

According to the reports, the accused was identified as Kirkland Young, also known as ‘Karl’ 44 years old. He is a resident of Linstead at St Catherine and worked as a taxi operator.

The Linstead Criminal Investigation Branch alleges that the victim had filed a case against Karl alleging that he had forced her to have physical relations with him and other men. Seeing this, when the complainant refused to do so, he along with other men raped her several times.

Additionally, the victim also said that Young had recorded a video of her while he was raping her and had also taken photographs, which he threatened to expose publicly.

She reported the incident to the police and officials responded to the matter and launched an investigation. During their investigation, they arrested Young and he was charged with several offenses such as,

• Three counts, each of rape
• Conspiracy to rape
• Aiding and abetting rape
• Sexual touching
• Conspiracy to grievous sexual assault
• Possession of child pornography
• Knowingly causing or inciting involvement of child pornography
• Trafficking
• Misprision of a felony
• Failure to report to the Office of the Children’s Registry

The police also believed that Karl was a repeat offender who committed such offenses before. Therefore, the investigations of the matter are ongoing and the officers are committed to searching for additional information of the accused.

Meanwhile, the police department urged the public with any information to come forward and assist them in their investigation. The officials expressed their dedication and ensured justice for the victims who had suffered from these horrifying situations.

Additionally, the news has spread to social media and many people took to their Facebook handles to share their opinions regarding the case. While reacting to the news, a person named Bruce Sweeney commented, “Taxi drivers should be vetted plus finger printed.”

Another FB user, by the name of Maxine Adderley, commented, “Castration should be his punishment since the death penalty is not available.”