The Court of Appeal of Guyana has set June 14 for the hearing of the appeal filed by Collin Cummings against his conviction for rape and the 30-year prison term that was imposed on him.
The Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) man, a gold miner, had been convicted of raping an eight-year-old girl in 2018 after a trial before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall.
Convicted child rapist: Collin Cummings
The crime was committed on August 20, 2016, in the county of Demerara. The trial Judge ordered that the offender, who is in his 60s, must serve 25 years before being eligible for parole.
His appeal will be heard by Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud and High Court Judge Jo Ann Barlow. Tiffany Durant is Cummings’s lawyer while the State will be represented by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Dionne McCammon.
When the jurors returned with their unanimous guilty verdict, Cummings had maintained his innocence, stating, “I am innocent of this charge brought against me.”
He had also begged the Judge to give him the minimum penalty.
“I was afraid and uncomfortable with what [he] did to me. I was scared of him and my life has not been the same,” the victim had related in her impact statement.
Her mother claimed that after the incident her daughter would often draw sketches with teardrops with terms such as “ugly” and “stupid” which the parent said she would throw away.
A medical examination found that the girl’s hymen was not intact.
In sentencing the convict, Justice Morris-Ramall had noted that he took away the girl’s innocence, adding that children are Guyana’s most valuable resource.
She had also noted that children who are victims of sexual abuse are scarred for life and that this prevents them from maximising their potential which in turn hinders the country’s development. “They should be respected and given toys and not be used as sex toys for the fulfilment of depraved adults,” the Judge had stressed, while declaring that the court would play its part in sending a strong message to potential sex offenders. (G1)
