gross dereliction of parental duty''.

"This is a frightful case that stems from the irresponsibility of a parent who allows a 14-year-old girl to get drunk among adults,'' said Appeals Court Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice DaCosta. "The parents should be in the dock as well as the Prison Officers Club.'' His remarks came at the opening of an appeal launched by the Crown yesterday to overturn the sentence of a 17-year-old man who punched a 14-year-old girl unconscious before raping her.

Jermaine Simmons of Sandys, was sentenced to five years in prison after he admitted raping the girl and doing her grevious bodily harm in May 1993.

In October Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Meerabux heard how the girl was on her way home from a reggae concert at the Prison Officers Club with her sister on the night of the attack.

Simmons approached the girl outside Arnold's Supermarket where she was arguing with her sister and offered her a ride.

But instead of taking her home, Simmons turned off the main road onto the railway tracks. He then asked her for sex in exchange for a ride home.

When the girl refused, he stopped the cycle and pushed her onto a bench pinning her down.

The girl broke away and after unsuccessfully pleading for help from two men, ran off in the direction of Lantana Colony Club.

Simmons caught up with her, punched her in the face and pushed her over a railing onto an embankment where he tore off her clothes and punched her several times in the head and face.

He then had intercourse with her while she was unconscious.

Yesterday Crown Council Mr. Khamisi Tokumbo called the concurrent sentence of five years for rape and two years for grevious bodily harm "manifestly inadequate'' in light of the seriousness of the crime.

Mr. Tokumbo said the judge ought to have considered the age of the victim, the amount of violence used, the element of premeditation and the prolonged length of time over which the attack took place.

He added that the victim was "hopelessly defenceless'' and the fact Simmons had sex with her when she was unconscious added to the insult of the attack.

And although Simmons pleaded guilty, saving the victim from testifying at a trial, a last minute plea in the face of overwhelming evidence carried little weight, he said.

Mr. Tokumbo recommended a sentence in the upper range of seven to ten years.

But Mr. Archibald Warner said there was no evidence to show the attack was planned. He added Simmons had had a clean record up until the attack and was drunk at the time.

But Mr. Justice DaCosta said drunkenness was not a mitigating factor.

"Do you want to encourage people to drink so they can come here and say my drunkenness is a mitigating factor,'' he asked Mr. Warner.

A decision on the appeal was reserved.