A man from East Trinidad has been sentenced to 12 months with hard labour after a jury convicted him of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in connection with a 2024 attack on a woman inside his home.

Justice Nalini Singh sentenced David Pharai after finding that he assaulted the nude and vulnerable woman after she exited a shower at his residence, delivering several blows to her face and body.

According to the evidence, Pharai and the woman were socialising and drinking before they returned to his home in the pre-dawn hours of May 12, 2024. After taking a shower, Pharai removed her towel, pushed her onto his bed and struck her repeatedly about the face while shouting obscenities. The woman eventually fled the house and got assistance from a neighbour and the police.