35 of 266 matters disposed of at Demerara June Criminal Assizes

– October session opens today with 277 cases

The June session of the Demerara Criminal Assizes had commenced with a total of 266 cases listed to be heard – of which 35 matters were successfully disposed of.
Justices Navindra Singh, Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, and Jo-Ann Barlow presided over these assizes.
Twenty-eight of the 35 matters were presented at the High Court in Demerara. Of the 28 matters, 16 were for the offence of murder, 10 for sexual offences, and two matters for the offence of attempting to commit murder. The remaining cases were nolle prosequi by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC.
There were six convictions, 13 guilty pleas, six not-guilty verdicts by jury, five formal verdicts of not guilty, and two hung juries. There were 33 accused in these matters. Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (ADPP) Tiffini Lyken, Senior State Counsel Nafeeza Baig and State Counsel Praneeta Seeraj prosecuted five matters in the Sexual Offences Court before Justice Navindra Singh.
In these five separate cases, three accused were found guilty by jury while two of them were each sentenced to life imprisonment, the other one was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. ln the two other matters, one accused was found not guilty by jury verdict, while in the other, the trial Judge upheld a no-case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
State Counsel Caressa Henry, Latiffa Elliot, Abiola Lowe and Mikel Puran completed five matters for the offence of murder before Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry. ln four of these trials, the accused all pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter.
ln one of these cases there were two accused who were indicted together and each of them was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment. The accused in the other three matters were respectively sentenced to 12 years, 10 years, and six years and 11 months’ imprisonment. The accused in the other matter was acquitted by a jury verdict of not guilty.
State Counsel Caressa Henry, Marisa Edwards, Paneeta Persaud and Mikel Puran prosecuted four matters for the offence of murder before Justice Navindra Singh. ln three of these matters the accused all pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter and were sentenced respectively to seven years, six years, six years, and 10 years’ imprisonment.
There were two accused in one of these cases. ln the other case, Justice Singh upheld a no-case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
State Counsel Cicelia Corbin, Simran Gajraj, Rbina Christmas and Madana Rampersaud prosecuted two matters for the offences of murder and attempt to commit murder before Justice Sandil Kissoon. ln the one murder case the accused was found guilty by jury verdict and sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving 30 years.
The accused in the matter for the offence of attempt to commit murder and wounding with intent pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 16 years and six months’ imprisonment.
State Counsel Cicelia Corbin, Yonika Rowland, Madana Rampersaud, Praneeta Seeraj, Latifa Elliot, Rbina Christmas, Dellon Fraser and Caressa Henry completed seven matters before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall.
Of these seven matters, six were for the offence of murder and one for attempt to commit murder with the alternative of felonious wounding.
ln one of these murder cases the accused pleaded guilty as charged and will be sentenced on October 9. In two matters, the accused pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter; one was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment while the other will be sentenced on October 5.
In the other three murder trials, there was one in which three accused were indicted together and the trial Judge upheld no case submissions in favour of all and directed the jury to return formal verdicts of not guilty.
ln another one, the jury failed to reach a verdict and the accused was remanded to prison to await a new trial. The accused in the other matter was acquitted by a jury verdict of not guilty.
ln the one case for the offence of attempt to commit murder with the alternative count of felonious wounding, the accused was found guilty of the alternative count and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment. He was ordered to undergo anger management while in prison.
Meanwhile, State Counsel Lattifa Elliot, Simran Gajraj, Rbina Christmas and Delon Fraser presented five matters before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow in the Sexual Offences Court.
ln four of these trials the accused were acquitted by jury verdicts of not guilty. ln the other matter in which two accused were indicted together, one was found guilty and will be sentenced on October 26; his co-accused was sent back to prison to await a new trial after the jury failed to reach a verdict.
Of the eight matters nolle prosequi by the DPP, six were for sexual offences and two for attempted murder. The complainants in these matters submitted written statements that they did not wish to proceed with their matters.
The Demerara October 2023 Criminal Assizes will open today, Tuesday, October 3, with 277 cases listed for trial. Rostered to sit are Justices Jo-Ann Barlow, Simone Morris-Ramlall, and Navindra Singh.