The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A JUDGE yesterday did not go along with Crown prosecutors’ request that a double rapist, considered “a serial rapist” and a “danger to society”, be given a life sentence.

Instead Justice Carolita Bethell sentenced Oscar Ingraham to 30 years in prison for the separate home invasions, gun-point robbery and sexual assaults of two women in 2012. The sentence was reduced to 28 years after taking into account his time on remand.

Justice Bethell said her decision not only took into account Ingraham’s probation and psychiatric reports, but was based on the seriousness of the offences, the wielding of a firearm in the commission of the crimes, the trauma felt by the victims as well as the prevalence of armed robberies and rapes in the Bahamas.

For the first attack, which took place on February 28, 2012, Ingraham received 10 years for burglary, 15 years for each of the two counts of armed robbery and 25 years for rape.

Regarding the second incident, which happened between 11pm on May 29 and 5am on May 30, 2012, Ingraham received 15 years for burglary, 20 years for the single count of armed robbery and 30 years for rape.

All of the sentences were ordered to run concurrently from the dates of conviction.

Ingraham, who has 21 calendar days to appeal his convictions and sentences, had no visible reaction to the ruling.

The convict, according to evidence in the trial concerning the first incident, broke into the home of two foreigners, and robbed them of cash, cell phones, travel documents and government-issued identification and work permits, valued at $3,325.

He raped one of the women while the other watched, according to the evidence led in the trial.

In the trial that concluded in May concerning the second incident, evidence revealed that he broke into a woman’s western New Providence home and robbed her of $165 cash and a $200 Nokia cell phone before sexually assaulting her with a gun to her head, despite her pleas for mercy.

The second incident occurred during an island-wide power outage.

Last month, in the commencement of sentencing proceedings, Ingraham told Justice Bethell he still maintained the cases against him were nothing more than a conspiracy and that he would like the public to know “the Crown is indicating my DNA was found on the crime scenes” and that it was “not true.”

Prosecutor Raquel Whymms said that Ingraham refused to accept responsibility for his actions even in the face of DNA evidence and that the convict allowed the two women to relive the trauma all over again in the courtroom.

“What he did, it is a robbery of the very soul of the person,” the prosecutor submitted.

The prosecutor further added that a psychiatrist had concluded that Ingraham was “a serial rapist” and a “danger to society.”

“Dr Bodha has diagnosed Mr Ingraham to be a sociopath and he said that sociopaths cannot be cured,” the judge was told.

She submitted that the punishment of life imprisonment would serve as a deterrent to society and others like the convict that such actions would not be tolerated.

Yesterday, Ms Whymms and prosecutor Darell Taylor offered no comment in response to the judge’s ruling.