104 cases listed for trial at Berbice October Criminal Assizes

The Registrar of the Supreme Court of Judicature, Suenna Lovell, said 104 matters have been listed for trial at the Berbice October 2021 Criminal Assizes which started last week Tuesday and is being presided over by Justice Brassington Reynolds. A murder trial is currently in progress at the Berbice High Court.
Of the 104 cases, 30 of them are for the capital offence of murder; a total of 50 persons are to be indicted. In some instances, accused persons will be indicted for up to three counts of murder. There are 10 cases for the offence of manslaughter in which 10 persons will be indicted separately.
There are 21 cases for the offence of rape of a child under 16; 10 for the offence of sexual activity with a child family member; one for carnal knowledge; and three for rape. There are also cases for attempt to commit murder, felonious wounding, inflicting grievous bodily harm, abduction, robbery under arms, possession of firearm without licence, arson, simple larceny, embezzlement by clerk, among others.
Meanwhile, the Berbice June 2021 Criminal Assizes commenced on June 15 with 102 cases listed for trial, however, only six of these matters were completed. Five of the matters were for the offence of murder, while the other was for the offence of rape of a child under 16 years.
Two of these murder matters were done before Justice Jo Ann Barlow. In one of them, she upheld a no-case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty. In the other matter, the accused pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The other three murder cases and the lone sexual offence matter were prosecuted before Justice Brassington Reynolds. One of the accused in the three murder matters pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Another accused was acquitted after the trial Judge upheld a no-case submission. The jury in the other matter found the accused not guilty for the offence of murder and returned hung on the lesser count of manslaughter. This accused was granted bail in the sum of $500,000.
In the sexual offence matter, the complainant testified that she did not wish to proceed with the evidence, and as such, the trial Judge directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.