98 cases set to be heard during June Berbice Criminal Assizes

A total of 98 cases are set to be heard during the June session of the Berbice Criminal Assizes. The session opened on Tuesday with the traditional parade along the Esplanade Road outside of the High Court.
The session will be presided over by Justice Sandil Kissoon, who is currently on leave and is expected to return next Wednesday. In his absence, Civil Court Judge Nareshwar Harnanan took the salute and inspected the Guard of Honour.
The parade included two officers, an inspector, a Sergeant, and 20 ranks.
However, of the 98 cases to be heard, 12 of them are for murder, of which seven have indicated their willingness to plead to the lesser count of manslaughter. In addition, 52 of the cases are in relation to unlawful sexual activity and one for abduction.
The State cases are expected to be presented by Attorney-at-Law Muntaz Ali.
Apart from that, in a goal delivery to the court at the New Amsterdam Prison, it indicated that 48 males are awaiting trial, and of that number 39 are for murder and three for attempted murder.
The other seven cases are sexual-related matters including two for sexual activity of a child and one for sexual penetration of a child. There is also one case of rape in the list of 48.
Among those set to stand trial for murder are double-murder accused Ravendranauth Mohanlall.
Since being committed to stand trial on March 3, 2012, the High Court has ordered three psychiatric evaluations on the prisoner. The last was ordered by Justice Sandil Kissoon in February 2022.
During the Berbice Assizes in 2014, Justice Diana Inshanally observed that the accused was not mentally stable and as such, ordered the initial evaluation.
During the court hearings in 2014, Mohanlall was overheard saying from the prisoner’s dock of the courtroom, “No, Magistrate! No lawyer was not at the scene at the time of the incident. Dem nah know nothing. Was me and them two alone. Only the cloud and the stars can say what happened.”
Added to the 2014 recommendation for a mental health evaluation, a similar request was made by Justice Brassington Reynolds, who presided over the matter in 2018.
In 2011, Mohanlall was charged with setting two persons on fire in a boat just off the Albion foreshore. The victims were 45-year-old Motee Lall, and 15-year-old Reynard Fernandes, also known as “Renee”.
Also listed to stand trial at the June Session are Dillon Boucher, 30, of Haslington Village, East Coast Demerara, and Ramchand Latchman, 28, of Number 65 Village, Corentyne, who were indicted to stand trial for the murder of 27-year-old Neshan Jagmohan, who died following a fight between inmates at the New Amsterdam Prison on June 21, 2017.
Donald Shariff, 31, a miner of 11 Patrick Dam, Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam, Berbice, is also on the list to stand trial during the June session.
It is alleged that between Monday, May 8, and Tuesday, May 17, 2020, at Patrick’s Dam, Angoy’s Avenue, he murdered Keron Nicholson.
Also, Ricardo Shiwlall, 30; Shitohol Shivchan, 43, and Jagdat Khaloo, 63, have been indicted for the unlawful killing of Prettipaul Hargobin, who was beaten to death, after allegedly opening fire on a group of protesters, at Bath Settlement. The trio is also on the list.
Further, 33-year-old Ricardo Mitchell, who is on a joint charge with Redman Bharat Singh called “Jimmy”, is on a joint charge for the shooting to death of Winston Robertson on August 10, 2020, at Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice.
The June session will run until mid-October. (Andrew Carmichael)