THE Guyana Court of Appeal, on Tuesday, affirmed the 23 years’ jail sentence imposed on Calvin Ramcharran for the rape and assault of a woman in 2012.
The 28-year-old appellant was challenging his conviction and sentence which he argued could not stand and therefore ought to be set aside or overturned.
In 2015, a 12-member jury found Ramcharran guilty of the rape and brutal assault that was committed on an adult female at a dance at Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara, on July 22, 2012.
The first charge stated that on July 22, 2012, in the county of Demerara, Ramcharran engaged in sexual penetration of an adult female without her consent. The second charge reads that on the same date, he assaulted the young woman, causing her actual bodily harm.

The Guyana Chronicle had reported that on the day in question, the young woman went to urinate and Ramcharran followed her, asking if she was “doing business” and she said no. Although he had heard that, he still assaulted the young woman and raped her.
Trial judge, Jo-Ann Barlow, at the High Court, had sentenced him to serve 23 years for the rape and four years for the assault charge. The sentences are running concurrently.
The appeal was heard by Chancellor (ag), Yonette Cummings-Edwards, Justice Dawn Gregory and, Justice Rishi Persaud. Ramcharran was represented by attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes and associates Ronald Daniels and Sophia Findlay, while the state was represented by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Dionne McCammon.
The Chancellor rejected arguments made on behalf of the convict and said the court did not find that the trial judge erred in her sentencing. As such, the court dismissed Ramcharran’s appeal and affirmed his conviction and sentence.