Rape convict files appeal at CCJ

…claims 23 years jailtime too severe

The Guyana Court of Appeal having in January affirmed his conviction and sentence for rape, 29-year-old Calvin Ramcharran is now seeking to have both conviction and sentence quashed at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). The regional court – Guyana’s final court of appeal – will hear arguments in the matter on October 12.
In 2015, Ramcharran was tried by a jury for rape and assault causing actual bodily harm committed on a 20-year-old woman on July 23, 2012. He was sentenced to 23 years’ imprisonment on the rape charge, and five years’ imprisonment on the assault charge. The sentences were to be served concurrently.
The convict subsequently moved to the Court of Appeal, contending that his conviction cannot stand, and, as such, asking that same, along with the prison sentences, be set aside. That court, however, dismissed his appeal after finding that the directions given to the jury by trial judge Jo-Ann Barlow were adequate.
The convict also complained that the sentence imposed on him was too severe. This ground of appeal also failed. The Court of Appeal held that the 23-year prison term was not severe, especially when the statute stipulates that the maximum penalty for rape is life imprisonment.
Taking into consideration the aggravating factors, particularly the fact that the woman was beaten during the commission of the offence of rape, the Appellate Court ruled that the sentence was duly served.
The convict has now appealed to the CCJ. According to the evidence in the case, on the night in question – July 23, 2012 – the woman had gone to a party at Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara with some friends, and was making her way to the washroom when Ramcharran followed her and asked her if she was “doing business.”
When she replied, “No”, he grabbed her hands. A fight ensued between them, during which Ramcharran hit her several times with a bottle to her head, and then dragged her to the back of the building. Whilst there, he choked and punched the victim, after which he had sex with her against her will.
After committing the heinous act, he offered the woman $65,000 and instructed her to meet him at a car on the road. However, the victim, who was stripped of her clothes by the convict, alerted her friends, who immediately carried her to the hospital.
The matter was reported, and Ramcharran, who was also 20 at the time, was arrested. (G1)