46-Y-O man sentenced to life imprisonment for rape of woman

After a jury unanimously found Julius Branker, 46, guilty last month of raping a 28-year-old woman at knifepoint, he was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of release on Monday.

The Demerara High Court’s Justice Navindra Singh imposed the sentence.

Branker was found guilty by a mixed 12-member jury on November 9, 2023.

At a site in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), on February 15, 2014, Branker, a father of three, sexually entered the woman against her will.

At the Demerara High Court, Branker faced his second trial before Judge Navindra Singh.

In 2018, a jury had unanimously determined that Branker had raped the same woman.

He was given a sentence of 40 years in jail with a 35-year parole eligibility period by Judge Simone Morris-Ramlall.

However, that conviction was reversed in December 2022 by the Court of Appeal of Guyana, which found, among other things, that Branker had received an unfair trial.

The appellate court ordered a fresh trial for him as a result.

In his retrial before Justice Singh, State Counsel Marisa Edwards led the prosecution’s case.

It was the prosecution’s case that the victim came home from work at around minutes to midnight on February 14, 2014, and thereafter went to bed.

At around 04:00h the following morning, she was awakened by noise coming from the television.

As such, she got up, turned off the television, and went back to sleep.

She was shortly after awakened by a man standing at her bedside and she began hollering. The man, whom she identified to be Branker, threatened to “bore her” if she did not shut up.

Branker then pushed his hands into the woman’s pajamas and proceeded to have sexual intercourse with her against her will.

After he committed the act, Branker made good his escape, and the woman sought help from neighbours.

The woman was taken to the Police Station and then to the hospital for doctors to examine her. Branker was subsequently apprehended and charged with the crime.

Branker, who was represented by Attorney-at-Law Adrian Thompson at his second trial, had contended that he did not commit the crime.