Judges to rule on rape convict’s appeal against 40-year sentence on Tuesday

Judges of the Court of Appeal (CoA) will on Tuesday deliver their decision in an appeal lodged by a convicted rapist, Julius Branker, against his 40-year jail sentence. Branker was jailed in 2018 after he was found guilty of breaking into a woman’s house and raping her at knifepoint.

In a bid for freedom, he had moved to the CoA to have the conviction and sentence quashed, arguing, among other things, that his conviction is unsafe and that the sentence is excessive.
After a trial that spanned several days at the Demerara High Court, Branker, who resided at Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), prior to his incarceration, was found unanimously guilty of raping the woman on February 15, 2014.
The prison sentence was handed down by Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall. The evidence detailed that armed with a knife, Branker broke into the victim’s house while she was lying in bed with her 18-month-old toddler and committed the act in the child’s presence.
But despite the jury’s verdict, Branker maintained his innocence, stating, “I am not guilty of this case.”
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,” she expressed.
In handing down the sentence, Justice Morris-Ramlall considered the serious nature of the offence. She pointed to the fact that Branker broke into the woman’s house in the wee hours and committed the act in full view of her young son while threatening to kill her with a knife.
In the end, she encouraged him to change his life.
The convicted rapist only becomes eligible for parole after serving 35 years of his sentence.