The Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld the conviction and sentence of Kenrick Morrison, who was serving a seven-year term in prison for raping a child; he was released on bail in 2016 pending the outcome of the appeal and has now been ordered to surrender himself to the authorities.
In 2015, Morrison convicted a 12-member jury of the offense, which stated that he engaged in sexual activity with a child under 16 on February 12, 2013.
He was subsequently sentenced by case judge Jo-Ann Barlow in the High Court in Georgetown. In his appeal, filed by the attorney-at-law, Mark Conway, Morrison argued, among other things, that the trial judge misdirected the jurors and made several errors in summarizing the evidence. The judge was accused of being unbalanced at the gathering.
Morrison also alleged that the indictment was bad in law and that he had been charged under the wrong section of the Sexual Offenses Act.
The appeal was heard by the Chancellor (s), Yonette Cummings-Edwards, Justice Dawn Gregory and, Justice Rishi Persaud. The State was represented by the prosecutor, Mercedes Glasford.
The Chancellor, who delivered the ruling, said the court did not find that the trial judge erred in law and that there was no miscarriage of justice. He then dismissed the appeal and told Morrison to surrender himself to the authorities to impose his sentence.
According to reports, Morrison is known to the victim and her family; he probably dragged the child to his house, kissed her and liked her private parts. The victim managed to escape and trusted her parents. The matter was reported to police and Morrison was arrested.