THE Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which is currently sitting in Guyana, on Tuesday dismissed an application filed by a child rapist, who was seeking special leave to appeal his two life sentences for the rape and sodomy of an eight-year-old girl.

The ruling was handed down by Justice Denys Barrow, Justice Maureen Rajnauth-Lee and Justice Peter Jamadar at the CCJ’s itinerant sitting at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre.

In 2018, a 12-member jury found the defendant guilty of rape, which occurred during the period of January 1 and 31, 2016.

Justice Jo-Ann Barlow had sentenced the man to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving 20 years in jail.

The applicant, through his attorney Nigel Hughes, had later moved to the Appeal Court, challenging the conviction and severity of his sentence.

The Appeal Court however, did not find that the trial judge erred in law in her sentencing. The court also found that the sentence imposed by the trial judge was appropriate taking into consideration the mitigating and aggravating factors of the case.

On Wednesday, The CCJ’s judges, in their ruling, found that the crime committed by the applicant was among the most serious offences and life imprisonment was well within the range of sentencing for it.

As such, the CCJ dismissed the applicant’s special leave for appeal. This means that the applicant will have to serve his sentence, since the CCJ is Guyana’s final appeal court.