Calvin Ramcharran will be spending the next 23 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of raping a 20-year-old girl, whom he also viciously beat during the act.
The charges against Ramcharran, 23, stated that on July 22, 2012, at Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara, he engaged in sexual penetration of the young girl without her consent. Additionally, he was convicted of a charge that on the same day, during the rape, he assaulted the girl, so as to cause her actual bodily harm.
At the conclusion of Ramcharran’s trial at the High Court in Georgetown, the jury found him guilty of the charges by a majority of 11 to 1 in both instances. In a plea of mitigation, defence attorney Sonia Parag begged the court to be lenient with Ramcharran in imposing sentence. She advanced that he is young and can still contribute to society. Parag noted too that her client had no prior matters in court.
Meanwhile, when given a chance to speak, the convict said, “I just wanna say I’m innocent of this matter, and forgive those what they don’t know.”
Before passing sentence, Justice Jo-Ann Barlow, who presided over the trial, told Ramcharran that the evidence led against him showed that he not only raped and violated the young woman, but beat her terribly as well when she resisted him.
The judge added further that while society will view him as still being young, the said society would also condemn his actions and would hope that its voice is heard through the courts, which have the authority to pass a sentence aimed at sending the strong message of deterrence.
“Sit and reflect on your life and change what has to be changed,” the judge said in her reprimand to Ramcharran. “This is a time for you to seek guidance from your God, whatever you perceive him to be,” Justice Barlow continued.
The judge started sentence at a base of 25 years for the rape, but deducted two years since the convict was age 20 when the offences were committed, and would have been considered a youth. He was further sentenced to four years in jail on the assault charge.
Justice Barlow, however, ordered that the sentences run concurrently.
Ramcharran’s relatives were overcome with grief and wept loudly after hearing the sentence.
The state’s case was that the victim had gone to a dance with friends and was making her way to use the washroom when she was confronted by Ramchar-ran, who enquired from her whether she was “doing business.” Prosecutor Diana Kaulesar, who led the state’s case, said that the young woman responded in the negative, at which point the convict grabbed her by the hand, after which a fight ensued between them. The court had been told during the trial that Ramcharran then began hitting the victim repeatedly to the head with a bottle before pulling her to the back of an unfinished structure even as she continued to resist him.
The court had heard that it was at this point that the convict choked and punched the victim to her face as he raped her. The state’s case also advanced that after the assault, Ramcharran offered the woman $65,000 and directed her to meet him at a car on the road. However, the young woman, who was stripped of her blouse by the convict, later sought assistance from other persons to leave the scene to seek medical attention as she was in and out of consciousness.
The state’s case was led by prosecutor Kaulesar, in association with attorney Tuanna Hardy.
