Assizes review: 15 cases completed in Berbice, 17 in Essequibo

The Criminal Assizes in Berbice and Essequibo have resulted in over 30 cases being disposed of to date, according to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chambers in its latest review.

The Berbice October 2023 criminal assizes had continued into the new year with State Counsel Mohamed Ali, who presented 15 cases – one matter for the offence of Murder before Justice Sandil Kissoon and the 14 others before Justice Jo-Anne Barlow.
The one murder case before Justice Kissoon involved two accused who were indicted together. The jury retuned unanimous guilty verdicts for both and they were sentenced to life imprisonment with possibility of parole after serving 30 years.
Of the 14 matters before Justice Barlow, who first sat from January 2024, closed the October 2023 assizes and then opened the February 2024 assizes, three were for Murder, two for Manslaughter, five were Sexual Offences, three for Attempt to Commit Murder and one for the offence of Abduction.

In the three separate Murder cases, the accused all pleaded guilty. One pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of Manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. Of the other two, one was sentenced to 26 years imprisonment and becomes eligible for parole after serving 21 years. The other was sentenced to life imprisonment with eligibility for parole after 24 years. The Court has ordered that both prisoners undergo counselling programmes offered by the prison.
With regards to the two Manslaughter cases, one accused pleaded guilty as charged and is awaiting his sentence. While in the other matter, the mother of the deceased testified she did not wish to proceed with the evidence and trial judge directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
The accused persons in the five Sexual Offences were all acquitted by jury verdicts of not guilty. In one of these cases, the accused was charged with three counts of Sexual Activity with A Child Family Member and the State has filed an appeal in this matter.
There were three cases for the offence of Attempt to Commit Murder with the alternative count of Felonious Wounding. In one case, the jury returned a majority verdict of 11 guilty and he was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment. The two other accused were found guilty of Felonious Wounding and are awaiting sentencing.
In the one case for Abduction, the jury failed to reach a verdict and the accused was further remanded to await a new trial.
Seven matters were nolle prosequi (dismissed) by the DPP during this time, each for the offences of Murder, Sexual Offences and Attempt to Commit Murder and one for the offence of Manslaughter.
The committal in one case was quashed by the High Court; while in the five others, the complainants submitted statements that they no longer wanted to proceed with their matters; The accused in another matter has died.
Meanwhile, the Berbice Full Court sat two times to hear one Application for Bail Pending Appeal and this was denied. The other application for Extension of Time to File an Appeal against conviction and sentence was granted.
The Berbice February Assizes continues into June 2024.
Essequibo Assizes
Over in Essequibo, the October 2023 Criminal Assizes also continued in the new year with State Counsel Taneiha Saygon, who completed 17 matters. Five of these were before Madam Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and 12 before Justice Navindra Singh who sat from January, closed the October 2023 assizes and opened the February 2024 criminal assizes.
Of those five matters before Justice Beharry, three were for the offence of Murder and the other two were for the offence of Attempt to Commit Murder.
In one of the three Murder matters, the accused pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of Manslaughter and was sentenced to four years imprisonment after the Court ordered that the time spent on remand be deducted.
The other two murder accused were found unanimously guilty by jury verdicts and each sentenced to life imprisonment. One of them who was indicted on three counts of Murder was sentenced to life imprisonment on each count.
In one of the two cases for Attempt to Commit Murder, the accused pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment with time spent on remand prior to his conviction to be deducted. The other accused was found guilty by jury verdict and was sentenced to life imprisonment with possibility of parole after 20 years.
Meanwhile, of the 12 cases before Justice Singh, two were for the offence of Murder, eight for Sexual Offences and one each for the offences of Manslaughter and Attempt to Commit Murder.
In one of the two Murder cases, the accused was found unanimously guilty by jury and was sentenced to life imprisonment. In the other matter, the Court ruled that the caution statement (CS) was not free and voluntary and was inadmissible. The trial judge directed the jury in the matter to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
In six of the Sexual Offences matters, the complainants testified that they did not wish to proceed with their matters and Justice Singh directed the juries to return formal verdicts of not guilty. In another one in which the accused who was indicted on two counts of Rape of a Child under 16 years, he was found guilty on both counts and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. While in one other, the accused was acquitted by jury verdict.
In the case for Attempt to commit Murder, the accused was acquitted by a jury verdict.
While the accused in the Manslaughter matter was sentenced to time serve while on remand.
The Essequibo February assizes remains in progress until May, 2024. (G8)