Convicted child molester loses appeal, sent back to serve 30-year jail sentence

Esan Germain, a 50-year-old father of three has lost his appeal against his conviction and 30-year jail sentence for engaging in sexual activity with a four-year-old girl.

In 2017, he was found guilty by a jury on three counts of the offence of engaging in sexual activity with a child under the age of 16.

On the three counts, trial Judge Simone Morris-Ramlall sentenced him to 15, 20 and 30 years, respectively, and ordered that the jail times be served concurrently. She further ordered that the convict becomes eligible for parole not before 20 years.

In this case, the charges stated that during 2010, 2012, and 2013, Germain performed oral sex on the girl, and caused her to do the same to him.

Particulars of the other charge stated that he rubbed his penis against her vagina and caused her to hold his penis. Germain started molesting the child when she was four years old up until she turned six.

In delivering the Court of Appeal’s ruling on Thursday, acting Chancellor of the Judiciary Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards said that she and the two other judges who heard the matter found no merit in Germain’s grounds of appeal against his convictions and sentences.

According to the appeal court, not only were the sentences imposed by the trial Judge fitting given the circumstances of the case, but they are also commensurate with the serious nature and prevalence of the offence.

As such, the Judges unanimously dismissed Germain’s appeal, thereby affirming his convictions and sentences.

The sex offender was represented by defence lawyer Tiffany Durant while the State’s case was presented by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Teshana Lake.

Earlier this year, Germain was found guilty by the jury of raping a 15-year-old girl between January and July 2014 in the county of Demerara and jailed for 30 years.

That sentence was imposed by Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.

The jurors heard that he raped the young girl three times: in the bathroom, another time on a bed with a sleeping two-year-old boy, and on a cupboard.