Appeal Court overturns rape conviction, orders retrial

A 45-year-old man who was found guilty of breaking into a woman’s house and raping her at knifepoint has had his conviction and 40-year jail sentence overturned by the Court of Appeal of Guyana which found that several errors were committed by the trial Judge.

Following a trial before Demerara High Court Judge Simone Morris-Ramlall in February 2018, Julius Brunker was found unanimously guilty of engaging in sexual penetration with a woman against her will on February 15, 2014, in the county of Demerara.

The Judge ordered that he is to spend 35 years before becoming eligible for parole. Through lawyer Adrian Thompson, Brunker asked the appellate court to overturn his conviction and sentence, citing among other things, that his conviction was unsafe because there were issues with the identification evidence, and that the Judge failed to put his defence of alibi to the jury.

Given the circumstances of the case, he argued that the jail time was manifestly excessive and not in keeping with established sentencing guidelines.

In quashing Brunker’s conviction, acting Chancellor of the Judiciary Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards said that the trial Judge admitted evidence that was highly prejudicial to him.

According to her, the virtual complainant testified that apart from knowing Branker from being in her neighbourhood, she also recognised him from being on “Court Round-Up”.

“Court Round-up” is an aspect of MTV News Update which reports on persons who are primarily charged with and/or convicted of criminal offences. Since this evidence dealt with identification, Justice Cummings-Edwards held that the Judge failure to give the jurors the necessary directions did not allow them to dispassionately come to a verdict.

Further, the Court of Appeal noted that the trial Judge did not adequately put Brunker’s defence of alibi to the jury and that a miscarriage of justice occurred when she declined to grant his then-lawyer, the now late Maxwell McKay more time to prepare his client’s defence.

In light of the “strength” of the prosecution’s case and the serious nature of the offence for which Brunker is accused, the Court of Appeal overturned his conviction and ordered that he be retried at the next practicable sitting of the Demerara Criminal Assizes.

Brunker’s lawyer requested for his client to be released on bail pending the retrial, but the Court of Appeal advised him to make the necessary application before a High Court Judge. Senior State Counsel Mercedes Glasford presented the prosecution’s case.

It is the prosecution’s case that the virtual complainant 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, however, was shortly after awakened by a man standing at her bedside and she began hollering. The man, which she identified to be Brunker, allegedly threatened to “bore her” if she did not shut up.

It is alleged that Brunker pushed his hands into the woman’s pajamas and proceeded to have sexual intercourse with her against her will. After he allegedly committed the act, Brunker reportedly made good his escape and the complainant sought help from neighbours.

She was taken to the Wismar Police Station and then to the hospital for doctors to examine her. Brunker was subsequently apprehended and charged with the crime.