Dissatisfied that the Guyana Court of Appeal affirmed a 23-year sentence imposed upon him by a High Court judge for the rape and vicious beating of a woman, Calvin Ramcharran has appealed all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
His challenge is set to come up for hearing before the Trinidad-based court of last resort on October 12th.
By a majority of 11 to 1, a jury back in 2015 found Ramcharran guilty as charged of the 2012 rape of the woman whom he also beat during the act.
Trial Judge Jo-Ann Barlow had sentenced Ramcharran to 23 years for the rape and three years for the physical assault. She ordered that the sentences be served concurrently.
The convict had raised in his appeal among other things, that the trial judge did not give sufficient directions to the jury; and that she also erred in not withdrawing the case from the jury on grounds of “poor identification.”
The local appellate court, however, had ruled that the judge did gave the jury sufficient directions, and further found that the case called for recognition as opposed to identification, as the virtual complainant (VC) had testified to previously knowing Ramcharran.
The Court of Appeal would go on to declare that the Appellant’s appeal lacked merit.
Acting Chancellor Yonette Cummings-Edwards had said that given requirements of modern sentencing guidelines, the only shortcoming found on the part of the trial judge was that there was nothing indicating how she had arrived at the sentences.
Given the aggravating factors, however, especially the beating the VC suffered during the sexual assault, the appellate court said that the sentences imposed were just.
The charges against Ramcharran, stated that on July 22, 2012, at Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara, he sexually penetrated the young woman without her consent. Additionally, he was convicted of a charge that on the same day, during the rape, he assaulted her so as to cause actual bodily harm.
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 Ramcharran, who enquired from her whether she was “doing business.”
Trial prosecutor Diana Kaulesar, who led the state’s case, had 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 dragging her aback 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 in 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.
Both Ramcharran and the virtual complainant were 20 years old at the time.
