DPP appeared in 14 matters at Appeal Court, 2 at CCJ

The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) reported that it appeared in 14 matters at the Guyana Court of Appeal during June, July, and August 2021. The matters were for the offences of murder, sexual offences, robbery under arms, and fraudulent conversion.
Of these 14 matters, three appellants were allowed their appeals in part. The Court of Appeal affirmed their convictions but varied their prison sentence. Another six appellants were allowed their applications; two of them were granted leave to file for an extension of time to appeal.
Four appellants were allowed to file and serve notices of appeal, while another two appellants withdrew their application to appeal. An application to appeal against conviction and sentence will proceed. An appeal against sentence filed by three convicts who were sentenced to death is in progress.
In another matter, the State had appealed against an order by a High Court Judge to release a murder accused from prison. In June, the appellate court overturned that order and ruled that the accused surrender himself to the prison authority.
During this time, the Demerara Full Court sat three times to hear matters for the offences of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking and illegal arrival and crossing a land frontier. One appellant was allowed his application to appeal against conviction and sentence.
The Demerara Full Court quashed and set aside his conviction. The other two appellants, a foreign couple, were allowed their applications to appeal their sentences that were reduced to time served and were subsequently deported. The Berbice Full Court also sat six times during this period.
The court heard appeals for the offence of abusive language, threatening behaviour, assault causing actual bodily harm, dangerous driving, and possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.
The court allowed two applications. In one of the applications, the appellant’s conviction was affirmed but his sentence was varied. The other appellant had his conviction and sentence set aside. The court dismissed two other applications because they had no jurisdiction to hear them. Two appellants withdrew their application to appeal against their sentences.
Meanwhile, in June and October, DPP Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, appeared before two matters at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). One of these is an appeal filed by US-based Guyanese businessman Marcus Bisram against a ruling of the Court of Appeal to surrender himself to the prison authority.
The other appeal is that of Calvin Ramcharran v the State. Ramcharran was convicted of raping a woman and assaulting her so as to cause her bodily harm during the furtherance of the rape. He was granted leave to appeal against his sentence. This matter remains in progress.