Demerara January Assizes gets underway tomorrow with 259 cases to be heard

The Demerara January 2024 Criminal Assizes are scheduled to begin tomorrow, according to the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). In contrast, 30 matters were concluded in the Demerara October Assizes, which concluded last month.
In its end-of-year press statement, the DPP’s office said the Demerara October Criminal Assizes commenced on Tuesday, October 3, 2023, with a total of 277 cases listed to be heard by Justices Navindra Singh, Jo-Ann Barlow, and Simone Morris-Ramlall.
However, only 30 matters were disposed of. Of these matters, 18 were presented at the Demerara High Court; 12 were for the offence of murder and six were for sexual offences. The remaining 12 matters were nolle prosequi by the DPP.
Of the matters presented in the High Court, there were three convictions, five formal verdicts of not guilty, eight not guilty verdicts by jury, six guilty pleas, and a hung jury. A total of 23 accused persons appeared in these trials.
Before Justice Barlow, State Counsel Nafeeza Baig, Joy Willaims, Praneeta Seeraj, and Padma Dubraj prosecuted six matters for the offence of murder.
ln one of these cases for which three accused persons were indicted together, the trial Judge upheld no-case submissions and directed the jury to return formal verdicts of not guilty. ln another matter with two accused, the jury found one accused not guilty while the trial Judge upheld a no-case submission for his co-accused.
In another two cases, both accused persons pleaded guilty; one pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 25 years, while the other pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter and will be sentenced tomorrow.
In two other cases, one accused was found unanimously guilty by jury verdict and he would be sentenced tomorrow; the other accused was acquitted by jury verdict.
In Justice Singh’s court, State Counsel Marissa Edwards, Mikel Puran, Abiola Lowe, and Simran Gajraj completed six sexual offences matters.
In two separate cases, the accused were found unanimously guilty by the jury and were each sentenced to life imprisonment. One of them will become eligible for parole after serving 15 years while the other was sentenced without parole. ln the other four matters, the accused were all acquitted by jury verdicts.
Six cases for the offence of murder were prosecuted before Justice Morris-Ramlall by State Counsel Caressa Henry, Rbina Christmas, Delon Fraser and Madana Rampersaud.
ln one of these, the accused was found not guilty by jury verdict. ln another matter for which two accused persons were indicted together, the number one pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment with time deducted for time spent on remand.
The jury found his co-accused not guilty of murder and manslaughter. ln another case, two accused persons were indicted together and both pleaded guilty. They were each sentenced respectively to 13 years and 14 years’ imprisonment.
ln one other, the trial Judge upheld a no-case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
ln one of the other two matters, the jury returned hung and the accused was further remanded to prison to await a new trial. The other accused pleaded guilty to the offence of murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison after deductions for time spent on remand.
Of the 12 matters listed prosequi by the DPP, three were for the offence of attempt to murder in which the complainants submitted written statements that they did not wish to proceed with their matter. In one of the murder cases, the main prosecution witness was ill and unable to testify, while in the other murder case, the accused passed away.
The seven other matters were for sexual offences in which the complainants submitted written statements that they did not wish to proceed with the evidence.