Gregory Ramkissoon, the 63-year-old man who was jailed for 20 years about two weeks ago for engaging in sexual activity with a four year old girl, has filed an appeal against his sentence.
Arguing that the sentence imposed on him by Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall is severe having considered the circumstances of the case, Ramkissoon is now asking the Court of Appeal to intervene.
Ramkisson had pleading guilty to the indictment which stated that on January 4, 2016, in Demerara, he engaged in sexual activity with a four-year-old child.
In considering an appropriate sentence for Ramkissoon, the Judge was cognisant of the fact that he threw himself at the mercy of the Court by pleading guilty.
The Judge also considered his age, and ordered that he does not become eligible for parole until after serving 15 years of the sentence.
However, Ramkissoon through his lawyer Glen Hanoman, 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.
The Guyana Standard understands that Ramkissoon is currently serving a sentence for indecent and sexual assault he committed on the same victim.
Ramkissoon is also 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 misdemeanor. By this plea, a defendant can claim that s/he was charged of the same crime under substantially same facts. The defendant should also prove that s/he was convicted for the offense.
Moreover, Ramkissoon is 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 this regard, Ramkissoon has submitted to the Court of Appeal that the sentence is severe in all the circumstances of the case.
The Court of Appeal is yet to set a date to commence hearing arguments in this case.
