The backlog of cases at the Demerara High Court has been significantly reduced following the disposal of 81 cases during the October Criminal Assizes in Georgetown.
The session commenced with a total of 183 criminal cases listed to be heard. Justice Navindra Singh, Madam Justice Jo-Ann Barlow, Justice Sandil Kissoon, Justice Peter Hugh, Madam Justice Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus, and Madam Justice Damone Younge presided over the Assizes.
According to the Director Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chambers, of the 81 matters disposed by the State during this Assizes, 45 were presented in the High Court. Of these, 21 were for the offence of Murder, 3 for the offence of Manslaughter, 15 for Attempt to Commit Murder with alternative counts of Felonious Wounding and Wounding with Intent and 6 for Sexual Offences.
State Counsels: Mohamed Muntaz Ali, Christopher Belfield and Madana Rampersaud prosecuted eight matters before Justice Singh while State Counsels Mikel Puran, Caress Henry and Abiola Lowe completed seven matters before Justice Hugh.
Additionally, State Counsels Delon Fraser and Alvaro Ramotar prosecuted nine matters before Justice Kissoon while another 11 matters were prosecuted by State Counsels Rbina Christmas, Praneeta Seeraj and Mikel Puran before Justice Barlow.
Senior State Counsel Taneisha Saygon along with State Counsel Padma Dubraj completed five matters in the Sexual Offences Court before Justice Isaacs-Marcus while State Counsels Caressa Henry, Abiola Lowe and Yonika Rowland completed three matters before Justice Younge.
The Demerara High Court
These cases resulted in eight convictions, 19 guilty pleas, seven formal verdicts of not guilty, 11 not guilty verdicts by jury, three Hung Juries and one Quashed Indictment. A total of 52 accused persons appeared in these trials.
Meanwhile, 36 matters were nolle prosequi (not prosecuted) by the DPP Chamber. Of these 36 cases, two were for the offence of Murder, 10 for Attempt to Commit Murder, 21 Sexual Offences, another two for Manslaughter and one for the offence of Robbery Under Arms.
“In some of these matters, either the complainants or the accused had died, main witnesses could not be located or the complainants in written statements had indicated they did not wish to proceed with their matters,” the DPP explained in its Assizes report.
The Demerara Criminal Assizes for January 2025 will be opened on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, with 134 cases listed to be heard by Justice Singh, Justice Barlow, Justice Younge, Madam Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and Madam Justice Zamila Ally-Seepaul.
Berbice October Assizes
At the Berbice High Court, State Counsel Cicelia Corbin prosecuted seven matters thus far in the October Criminal Assizes before Justice Ally-Seepaul. Of these, four were for the offence of Murder and one each for the offences of Manslaughter, Attempted Murder and Rape of A Child under 16 Years.
The murder accused were all sentenced. In the manslaughter matter, the trial judge upheld a no-case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty against the accused.
In the Attempted Murder case, the accused was acquitted by a jury while for the Rape of a Child under 16 Years matter, the complainant testified she did not wish to offer any evidence in the matter and the trial judge directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
This Assizes in Berbice continues until next month when the February 2025 Criminal Assizes commences.
Essequibo Assizes
Meanwhile, in the Essequibo October Criminal Assizes, State Counsel Latifa Elliot prosecuted 11 matters. Two of these were before Justice Younge for the offence of Murder and the other nine matters – seven Sexual Offences, and one each for Murder and Manslaughter – were completed before Justice Hugh.
The accused in the three murder cases along with the Manslaughter accused were sentenced while the accused in one of the Sexual Offence matters was found guilty and sentenced.
The complainants in two Sexual Offence cases did not proceed with their matters and the juries were directed to return formal verdicts of not guilty. In the other four sexual offences, the accused were all acquitted by jury verdicts.
This Assizes in the Essequibo continues until the February 2025 Criminal Assizes commences.
Only last week, the DPP reported that some 332 cases have been disposed of in 2024. Of this total, 218 received attention in the High Courts of Demerara (134), Berbice (43) and Essequibo (41); while 114 were nolle prosequi by the DPP last year.
These cases resulted in a total of 39 convictions; 81 formal not-guilty verdicts; 59 not-guilty verdicts by jury; 64 guilty pleas; six hung juries; one quashed indictment, and two aborted trials. A total of 149 accused persons made their appearances in the three High Courts.
Meanwhile, in April 2024, the DPP Chamber appeared at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in one matter for the offence of Murder. The appellant in this matter was found guilty and sentenced by the High Court to 81 years imprisonment with eligibility for parole after 45 years. He appealed his sentence at the Guyana Court of Appeal and got a reduction to 50 years imprisonment with no specified time for eligibility for parole. He appealed this sentence at the CCJ, which allowed the Appeal and ordered that consistent with the penalty imposed on the appellant’s co-accused, he should serve a life sentence with no eligibility for parole for 20 years.
