A CONVICTED rapist will serve out the remainder of his 22-year sentence after he failed to convince the Court of Appeal his conviction was unsafe because of his trial.
In an oral decision on Tuesday, Justices of Appeal Prakash Moosai, Charmaine Pemberton and Gillian Lucky dismissed the appeal of Allison Paul who was convicted by a jury and sentenced by then High Court judge, now Justice of Appeal Maria Wilson.
In March 2018, Paul was convicted of burglary and for raping an elderly neighbour in a home invasion on June 1, 2006.
At his appeal, he maintained his trial was unfair as the prosecution was allowed to use the victim’s deposition from the preliminary inquiry, since she died a year before the trial before Wilson.
His attorney at the appeal, Daniel Khan, argued that Paul was unable to confront his accuser at the trial as he also maintained that the victim’s evidence was weak as she failed to prove he sexually penetrated her without her consent.
Khan also complained that Wilson allowed bad-character evidence from a woman who claimed Paul has raped her in 2001.
However, in their ruling, Moosai, who delivered the oral decision, said the trial judge had the discretion to admit the victim’s deposition after looking at the quality of evidence. He said at Paul’s trial, it was clear that the prosecution did not only rely on the victim’s testimony at the preliminary inquiry but her identification evidence was corroborated by oral admissions Paul made to the police when he was arrested.
Moosai also pointed out there was no objection by trial counsel to the depositions being admitted into evidence and further noted that at the preliminary inquiry, Paul elected to cross examine his victim and he did so without his questioning being “curtailed or abridged” in any way by the magistrate.
On the admission of the alleged “bad character” evidence of claims he had raped someone else, Moosai said such evidence could be used to establish unusual behaviour as in Paul’s case both women said he choked them before raping them.
In also dismissing that ground of complaint, Moosai said the court was satisfied that it was open to the trial judge to admit the evidence and saw no flaws in the judge’s handing of the trial.
Paul’s 22-year sentence runs from the date of his sentencing on May 4, 2018, as had been ordered by Wilson.
It was the State’s case that Paul’s 68-year-old victim was asleep at her home when she awoke to a noise in the kitchen. She tried to open her bedroom door and was attacked by a man who began choking her.
The victim said she recognised Paul as the intruder, as he has been her next-door neighbour for almost a year and he had put on the lights in the bedroom before raping her.
She said in her deposition after he raped her, Paul asked for $450 for a windshield for his car and when she told him she did not have money, he threatened to kill her.
Paul testified in his defence during his trial and claimed the victim mistakenly identified him. He also claimed the case against him was fabricated.
