Pensioner’s child rape conviction overturned, retrial ordered 

A pensioner who was found guilty in 2018 of child rape has had his conviction overturned by the Court of Appeal.

Collin Cummings, now 60, was convicted of raping an eight- year- old girl, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The trial Judge had ordered that he must serve 25 years of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

He was tried for the sexual offence by a mixed 12-member jury before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall at the Sexual Offences Court in Georgetown.

However, the Court of Appeal on Thursday overturned Cummings’ conviction, on finding that it was unsafe due to several misdirection given to the jury by the trial Judge.

In light of the conviction being overturned, the prison time was quashed.  

The Court of Appeal, in the end, ordered that he be retried for the crime at the next session of the Demerara Criminal Assizes.

The presiding Judges in this case were Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, Justice of Appeal Dawn Gregory-Barnes and High Court Judge Jo Ann Barlow.

The evidence in Cummings’ case revealed that he allegedly engaged in sexual penetration with the girl on August 20, 2016, by inserting his fingers into her vagina.

Despite the guilty verdict by his peers, Cummings had maintained his innocence and as such, had moved to the appellate court to quash the trial court’s decision.