A hearing into an appeal filed by Mark Campbell who is serving two life sentences for raping two young boys is set to be called today at the Guyana Court of Appeal. The bench comprises Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud.
Campbell, in his Notice of Appeal, is asking the appellate court to reverse and/or set aside the jury’s verdict and for his sentences to be quashed and set aside.
Following a trial at the Demerara High Court in October 2017, for the first count, a jury found that Campbell first engaged in sexual penetration with the boy in question twice during September 2011, when he was six years old—and again on July 10, 2013, when he turned eight years old.
After the jury returned its verdict, Campbell, who had been unrepresented by counsel throughout his trial, begged the court for mercy, claiming that he did not have a fair trial. “Since the day I enter this court and see how everything was going, I knew I couldn’t get a fair trial,” he had said.
He had also told the court that his family did not assist him in obtaining legal counsel, adding that it was “very hard to know” that the jury found him guilty.
Responding to Campbell’s comments, trial Judge Simone Morris-Ramlall said that the court was not inclined to show him mercy given that he violated the boy in the worst possible way and did not even show “one ounce of love” to him when he testified.
“It was as if you were talking to a stranger. This court must send a strong message to others who may want to carry out such acts,” the Judge had noted.
In the end, Justice Morrison-Ramlall sentenced him to life imprisonment on each of the two counts, ordering that he only becomes eligible for parole after 30 years. The two sentences will run concurrently.
Meanwhile, in August 2018, Campbell appeared before Demerara High Court Judge Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on a charge for a similar offence.
This time, however, he forwent his right to a trial and pleaded guilty. He admitted to sexually penetrating a five-year-old boy on April 16, 2013. Justice Sewnarine-Beharry also imposed a life sentence on him, ordering further that he was not to be considered eligible for parole until after serving 30 years.
In sentencing the sex offender, Justice Sewnarine-Beharry had considered the aggravating factors, in that, Campbell abused a position of trust as he was left to take care of the young boy. She had also pointed to the physical, psychological and emotional trauma the act must have had on the little boy.
The Judge also considered the serious nature of the offence, stating that Campbell, with his early guilty plea, saved the victim the trauma of having to come and testify.
