Man sentenced for sexual activity with 4-year-old girl appeals “severe” sentence

Aug 02, 2019 News

A 63-year-old man who was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for engaging in sexual activity with a four-year-old girl has filed an appeal against the sentence at the Court of Appeal where he is arguing that it is severe, considering all the circumstances.

Gregory Ramkissoon

The man, George Ramkissoon, called “Skeage”, was handed the custodial sentence by Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall whom he appeared before on July 15, last, and pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual activity with the child on January 4, 2016, in Demerara.
In calculating an appropriate sentence for Ramkissoon, the judge considered his early guilty plea, as well as his age. He only becomes eligible for parole after serving 15 years.
Ramkissoon is presently serving a jail sentence for indecently and sexually assaulting the same girl.
Ramkissoon has now gone to the Court of Appeal where he is arguing that Justice Morris-Ramlall erred in law when she failed to consider that the offence against him included lesser encompassing offences for which he had already been previously convicted in the Magistrate’s Court, and completed a sentence of imprisonment.
Ramkissoon is arguing that the trial judge erred in law by failing to consider whether he could benefit from an expanded version of the autrefois convict plea or whether the trial judge could exercise her discretion to stay proceedings or impose a lesser severe sentence.
Autrefois convict is a plea made by a defendant in a case when s/he is indicted for a crime or misdemeanour. By this plea, a defendant can claim that s/he was charged of the same crime under substantially the same facts. The defendant should also prove that s/he was convicted for the offence.
Furthermore, Ramkissoon is also arguing that the trial judge failed to explore the possibility of ordering a probation report to take other relevant factors into consideration when passing sentence. He contends that Rabindra Mohabir, the counsel who represented him, failed to adequately mitigate the sentence.
In the circumstances, Ramkissoon has submitted to the Court of Appeal that the sentence is severe in all the circumstances of the case. The Court is yet to set a date for hearing arguments in this matter.

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