Appeal against 40-year sentence for rape to continue in May

Arguments in an appeal filed by Julius Branker against his 40-year jail sentence for rape will continue on May 3 at the Guyana Court of Appeal.
Back in February 2018, a jury had found the 44-year-old man guilty of raping a woman at knifepoint, and the sentence was handed down by Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall.

After a trial that had spanned several days at the Demerara High Court, Branker, who resided at Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) prior to his incarceration, had unanimously been found guilty of raping the woman on February 15, 2014.
The evidence had detailed that Branker, armed with a knife, had broken into the victim’s home while she was lying in bed with her toddler son, and had sexually abused her.
But, despite the jury’s verdict, Branker has maintained his innocence. “I am not guilty of this case,” he had said following the announcement of the verdict.
During a sentencing hearing, the court had heard that the victim was struggling to deal with the trauma which flowed from the horrific ordeal.
“Honestly, I forgive him, but you can’t be hurting women so. I get nightmares, I am always shaking. I remember what happened to me, and it is a shame. I don’t know how to have relationships. I feel nasty, and I cannot get over it. He needs help, and he should turn his life over to Christ,” the rape survivor had said.
In handing down the sentence, Justice Morris-Ramlall had considered the serious nature of the offence, the fact that Branker had broken into the woman’s home in the wee hours of that day, and the fact that he had committed the act in full view of her young son, while threatening to kill her with a knife. In the end, the Judge had admonished Branker to change his life.
In the circumstances of his conviction, the convicted rapist becomes eligible for parole only after serving 35 years of his sentence. (G1)