April Demerara Criminal Session opens Tuesday

The opening of the April session of the Demerara Criminal Assizes is scheduled for Tuesday, April 3rd, 2018.
Much pomp and ceremony is slated to attend this occasion, with a Police procession marching along the streets of Georgetown and ending at South Road, before the Demerara High Court.
Guyana Times understands that Justice Sandil Kissoon, who was presiding over criminal matters in Berbice, is set to be placed on rotation in Demerara. Justice Kissoon last week sentenced Hemwattie Abdulla and her friend Seerojini Permaul to death for the brutal murder of Hemwattie’s husband, Abdool Majid, in 2012.
High Court Judges Navindra Singh, Simone Morris-Ramlall and James Bovell-Drakes presided over the January session in Demerara. Justices Singh and Bovell-Drakes presided over murder, manslaughter and attempted murder cases, while Justice Ramlall presided over matters at the Sexual Offences Court. Justice Ramlall passed lengthy prison terms on several men who were found guilty of rape, especially those involving young children victims.
Notably, over 140 listed cases in Demerara relate to sexual offences.
One of those sentenced was Rohan Daniels, called Shine Buck, who was sentenced to life, with possibility of parole after 40 years, on two counts of child rape. Another case was that of Ganesh Chaitram, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia after he was found guilty of child rape of a female relative in 2016.
Justice Singh’s court secured several convictions, including wife killer Miguel Barker, who was sentenced to 80 years’ imprisonment for murdering Donessa Barker in 2015, after he had accused her of infidelity. Additionally, Hofoswana Awena Rutherford was last month found guilty on two counts of manslaughter in relation to giving her children rat poison to consume in 2014. She will be sentenced on April 9.