JULIUS Branker, who is currently serving 40 years for the knife-point rape of a mother of one at her home in 2014, has moved to the Court of Appeal, seeking to have his conviction and sentence overturned.

In 2018, Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall, in the Sexual Offences Court at the Georgetown High Court, sentenced Branker to serve 40 years, after a 12-member jury found him guilty of the crime.

The offence occurred on February 15, 2014 when the accused, armed with a knife, broke and entered the home of the victim. While she was in bed with her 18-month-old baby, he committed the rape.

In his appeal, Branker claimed that the trial Judge erred on several pertinent issues leading up to the verdict in the High Court.

As it relates to the severity of sentence, Branker claimed that the trial judge erred in law by failing to apply case law principles that promote fairness in sentencing.