Following a retrial, Julius Brunker, has once again been found guilty of rape and has been remanded to prison to await sentence.
At the conclusion of his second trial yesterday afternoon, a jury unanimously convicted Branker of raping a woman at knife-point, after breaking into her home in the wee hours of February 15th, 2014.
Justice Navindra Singh who presided over the trial has deferred sentencing to December 18th, to first hear from probation and other social impact reports.
The trial proceedings were heard in-camera at the Sexual Offences Court of the High Court in Demerara.
The convict was represented by defence attorney Adrian Thompson, while the State’s case was led by prosecutor Marisa Edwards.
Background
Back in 2018, Brunker, now 46, had been unanimously convicted by a jury for committing the offence.
He had been sentenced to 40 years in prison, with the order that he was not to be considered eligible for parole before serving a minimum of 35 years.
He had, however, moved to the Guyana Court of Appeal where he challenged both his conviction and sentence, arguing that the judge who conducted that first trial, did not do so fairly.
Among other things, he complained that Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall erred in law by admitting evidence which was prejudicial to him, and also by not adequately, or at all putting his defence of alibi to the jury.
He had also contended that his sentence was excessive.
Finding that he did not have a fair trial, but in the same vein that the prosecution’s case against him appeared to be strong, the appellate court ordered that Brunker face a fresh trial.
Allowing Brunker’s appeal, the Court of Appeal found that indeed he had not been given a fair trial—as prejudicial evidence was led against him—and his defence of alibi had not been adequately put to the jury.
Acting Chancellor Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud agreed that those deficiencies resulted in Brunker’s conviction being unsafe.
