THE Guyana Court of Appeal, on Thursday, threw out the appeal of convicted child rapist, Esan Germaine, who was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment following a High Court trial.

In 2017, Germaine, a 45-year-old researcher, was found guilty of raping a child in 2011 when she was four years old and then again in 2012 and 2013.

After a 12-member jury found him guilty at the Demerara High Court on all three counts, he was sentenced by Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall to 15 years, 20 years, and 30 years, respectively.

However, the sentences will run concurrently, which means he will spend 30 years in jail for those crimes.

In his application which was filed by attorney-at-law Tiffany Durant, Germaine had contended that the trial judge erred in law in imposing such an unduly severe sentence.

Another ground was that the verdict was unsafe and unsatisfactory.

The appeal was heard by acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Yonette Cummings-Edwards, and Justices Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud.

While delivering the ruling, the acting Chancellor rejected arguments made on behalf of the appellant and said the court did not find that the trial judge erred in her sentencing. As such, the appeal was dismissed.

Meanwhile, in March 2022, Germaine was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment on three counts of child rape committed on a 15-year-old girl between January and July 2014. He was found guilty of the crimes by a jury.

Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Demerara Sexual Offences Court had sentenced Germaine to 20 years on the first count, 25 years on the second count and 30 years on the final count.

The judge ordered that they run concurrently which means Germaine will have to serve an additional 30 years for those crimes.

Germaine has since approached the Guyana Court of Appeal to challenge those convictions and sentences.