Sexual Offences Courts yielding speedier trials, prosecutors more attuned – Judges

High Court Judges who have presided in the Sexual Offences Courts across the three counties have said that the specialised courtrooms are yielding speedier trials. The Judges also shared that the prosecutors appear more attuned than in any other criminal court settings.

These sentiments were expressed by two of the six Judges who have presided over the courts, the first of which was established at the High Court in Georgetown in November 2017.
In remarks to commemorate the third anniversary of the court, Justice Brassington Reynolds and Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall shared their experience in presiding in the Sexual Offences Court as opposed to the other criminal courts.
Justice Reynolds highlighted that the discernibly enhanced efficiencies are afforded to court users through upgraded equipment with the capacity to blend platforms so that survivors and witnesses can enjoy an improved sense of safety,
The Judge said that the Sexual Offences Courts’ productivity was enhanced by the proficiencies garnered from being better able to marshal its resources in the specialised environment.
“On average, I was able to complete a new matter every five working days thereabout, doubling my production rate for regular criminal trials. The clearest challenge [is the] case flow, the ability of the transcriptionists to keep apace with the increased demands for records.”
According to Justice Reynolds, the prosecutors appear more attuned and focused on the issues than in other criminal court settings.
He described this as “a phenomenon I could only attribute to them being relieved, [and being] assisted with a lot of the administrative, coordinating responsibilities delegated to, handled by support staff and collaborating agencies.”
The Judge said, too, that the victim impact statement appears to be fairly formulaic in many instances and not nearly as alive as they could be.
Meanwhile, Justice Morris-Ramlall shared similar sentiments about the environment of the court. She said, “The setting and protocols facilitate [the] delivery of testimony in an environment that maintains the dignity and privacy of the complainant with safeguards to guarantee the accused a fair trial…”
The other Judges who have presided over the Sexual Offences Courts include Justice Jo-Ann Barlow, Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, Justice Navindra Singh and Justice Gino Persaud.
The Judiciary has recognised that data collection is key to the enhanced performance of the courts. As such, data is collected, capturing relevant details of each case such as the gender and age of victims, gender of the accused, place of the alleged offence, whether the accused has a lawyer, and the length of time each trial takes.
This information has helped the Judiciary to be more responsive to the needs of victims and accused, thereby ensuring improved access to justice and fair trials.
The Judiciary’s Communication and Protocol Department has revealed that from 2017 to present, 131 sexual offences cases have been tried in all three counties.
Convictions totalled 61 with 47 guilty verdicts and 12 guilty pleas. There were 40 not guilty verdicts, 18 hung juries, 18 acquittals and four aborted cases.
In some cases, the accused who appeared before the court was indicted for more than one count of the offence, thus having a conviction for a count or counts and/or an acquittal or acquittals for the other.
Sentences for such convictions ranged from the minimum of four years’ imprisonment to the maximum of a life sentence. The offences for which trials were conducted included rape, rape of a child under 16, sexual activity with a child family member and carnal knowledge.
The total number of cases for each offence is as follows: rape 34; rape of a child under 16, 56; sexual activity with a child family member 35; and carnal knowledge, four.
From 2017-2020, the victims in the above categories were predominantly females, accounting for 122 and the remaining nine were males.
The ages of the victims ranged from one-year-old being the youngest to 77 years old being the oldest. The Sexual Offences Court in Georgetown has seen the bulk of these cases, followed by Berbice and then Essequibo.