Later this month, the Guyana Court of Appeal will commence hearing the appeal filed by former Barama Company Limited supervisor Paul Abrams, who is currently serving a 25-year sentence for sodomizing a 17-year-old girl.
Back in 2016, a jury had convicted Abrams on charges of buggery which he committed on the teen in 2007.
Through his attorney Nigel Hughes, Abrams (the appellant) who calls the verdict “perverse” is arguing among other things that the trial judge misdirected the jury on the law of buggery and indecent assault and on the evidence of the latter.
According to him, the judge failed to direct the jury on the “issue of consent in the case of indecent assault.”
In his notice of appeal, Abrams also advances that the trial judge misdirected the jury on the weight to be attached to what he describes as the contradictory testimony from the virtual complainant (VC) and the weight to be attached to what he said was the VC’s failure to explain the contradiction contained in her earlier testimony during the preliminary inquiry.
Abrams has also taken issue with, and calls into question the quality of “identification evidence” on which he said the trial judge also misdirected the jury.
Finally, he appeals on the ground that the judge failed to put his defence to the jury.
When the matter was called yesterday morning the appellate court ordered both the state and defence to have submissions and responses filed and served no later than this coming Monday.
Chancellor Yonette Cummings-Edwards then set the hearing of the appeal for February 19th.
Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud will be presiding over the matter along with the Chancellor.
Representing the state in the appeal is Prosecutor Dionne McCammon
Abrams and two other employees— Claude Craig and Holston Melville called ‘Pumpkin,’ had been charged with raping and sodomizing the young girl at Barama’s Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara plywood plant.
They were accused of taking turns raping and sodomizing the teen on December 5th, 2007.
Abrams, was found not guilty of rape but guilty of buggery and indecent assault and was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment on the buggery charge and four years for the indecent assault; with the order that the sentences run concurrently.
It was the prosecution’s case that Abrams had lured the girl to a room where he proceeded to rape and sodomize her. He reportedly then locked the girl in the room and later returned in the company of the other two employees who also proceeded to rape and sodomize her.
After some time elapsed, Abrams and Melville left the room, locking the girl in, once more. It was then Craig reportedly entered and sodomized the girl.
The charge of rape against Craig was withdrawn, but he was convicted and sentenced to four years for indecent assault.
Melville, however, had been found not guilty of the charges.
The High Court trial was conducted by Justice Jo-Ann Barlow.
