Pensioner serving 2 life sentences for raping girl files appeal

A man in his 70s, who is currently serving two life sentences for raping an underage girl, in his Notice of Appeal, is contending that the jury’s verdicts are unreasonable and that his sentences are manifestly excessive and not in keeping with established sentencing guidelines.

As such, convicted child rapist Michael Abrams has asked the Kingston, Georgetown Court of Appeal of Guyana to set aside the jurors’ verdicts and his prison terms. Abrams, who has repeatedly described himself as a “devoted Catholic”, was found unanimously guilty of the crimes in 2017 following a trial at the High Court in Demerara.

He was indicted on two counts of rape of a child under the age of 16. The jury found that he first raped the child sometime between January  1, 2013 and January 19, 2016. On the latter date, he was again found to have sexually molested the child whom he sodomized.

Trial Judge Simone Morris-Ramlall sentenced him to imprisonment for life on each of the two counts but ordered that the sentences run concurrently. The con becomes eligible for parole after 35 years.

During the trial proceedings which were held in-camera, the court had heard testimony of Abrams inserting his finger into the young girl’s vagina, and also sodomising her. 

The man, in his pleadings, contends, inter alia, that the trial Judge failed to put his defence to the jury “fairly and /or adequately or at all” which he says resulted in a miscarriage of justice.

In addition, he argues that the Judge’s summation of the case was also unfair and unbalanced, citing that there had been a recitation of the testimonies of witnesses without providing the comparable guidance in assessing those testimonies.

According to him, the Judge failed to adequately and fairly direct the jury on what he described as inconsistencies and conflicts in the evidence and on the credibility of the prosecution witnesses.

One of his grounds of appeal is that evidence highly prejudicial to him was admitted.

Abrams argues also that the trial Judge misdirected the jury on the medical evidence and withdrew from the jury panel the possibility that injuries sustained by the child “may equally have been unrelated to sexual activity.”

In relation to the life sentences imposed on him, he contends that they are severe and that the trial Judge failed to explore the possibility of ordering a probation report and to take other relevant factors into consideration when passing the sentences.

Ultimately, the felon wants the appellate court to set aside his convictions and sentences. His appeal will be presided over by acting Chancellor of the Judiciary Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory-Barnes and Rishi Persaud.