By NICO SCAVELLA
Tribune Staff Reporter
nscavella@tribunemedia.net
A MAN has successfully argued his own appeal against a 25-year sentence for raping a woman at gunpoint and robbing her of almost $200 after burglarising her West Bay Street home.
Oscar Ingraham, who was not represented by an attorney, was successful in convincing the appellate court that he was not the one who the Crown claimed was behind the October 28, 2011 incident.
The appellate tribunal of Justices Stella Crane-Scott, Roy Jones and Milton Evans quashed both his conviction and 25-year sentence. No retrial was ordered.
During his appeal, Ingraham maintained the DNA report the Crown used in support of its case was inconclusive and contained no evidence that linked him to the crime. And for that reason, he successfully asserted the case should have never gone to a jury but ended at the no-case submission stage.
This is not the first conviction Ingraham has had overturned.
In August 2017, Ingraham had his 30-year sentence for the home-invasion, armed robbery and rape of a woman on the night of an island-wide power outage in May 2012 overturned. The appellate court found the forensic evidence in that case was insufficient to have been left to the jury for deliberation.
The appellate judges at the time did not order a retrial as they found that it would not have been in the interests of justice to do so.
In February of 2017, the appellate court quashed Ingraham’s conviction for raping a woman after burglarising her home and robbing her at gunpoint in February of 2012. However, the court ordered a retrial after determining the trial judge misdirected the jury during summation in that if they had reasonable doubt, they should convict him. There has been no final outcome in that matter.
In both of the latter two appeals, Ingraham led his own defence, though he initially did have an attorney, Ryszard Humes to represent him. However, the two were at odds for more than a month at the time on what arguments should be made concerning those appeals.
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