Court of Appeals slashes child rapist’s jail sentence from 45 to 25 years

On Thursday, the Court of Appeal dismissed Omadat Persaud’s argument that his conviction for engaging in sexual activity with a five-year-old girl in 2015 was unsafe.

Thus, his conviction was therefore affirmed.

Nevertheless, the trial court’s 45-year prison sentence was deemed excessive by the appellate court, which resentenced him to serve 25 years behind bars.

Persaud must spend 15 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. He also received full credit for the time he had already spent in pretrial custody.

Justices Dawn Gregory-Barnes and Rishi Persaud deliberated on Persaud’s appeal, and they were led by Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards.

Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes represented the sex offender, and Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Teshana Lake appeared for the State’s case.

Persaud called “Roshi” was found unanimously guilty by a jury in January 2018 of engaging in sexual activity with the child between August 1 and 31, 2015.

His trial had took place at the High Court in Demerara.

He had been sentenced to 45 years in prison by trial Judge Simone Morris-Ramlall, who had ordered that he must serve 35 years before he is eligible to be paroled.