‘Cobra,’ murderous Coast Guards get stiffest penalties at Criminal Assizes

Sep 28, 2013 News

… dead witness frees murder accused, two alleged rapists walk without trial

The Criminal Assizes session which commenced last June, has seen most of the murder accused either being found not guilty, or guilty of a lesser count of manslaughter, while one man was sentenced to serve 78 years in prison and another three to face the gallows.
The assizes session saw a total of 217 cases listed for hearing before Justices Navindra Singh, Brassington Reynolds, James Bovell-Drakes, Dawn Gregory and Franklyn Holder.

Tyrone Rowe called ‘Cobra’

During the latest criminal assizes session, Tyrone Rowe, called ‘Cobra’ was convicted of the robbery/murder of Troy Collymore in 2010 and was sentenced to 78 years in prison.
He had appeared before Justice Navindra Singh.
Those sentenced to face the gallows are former Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard ranks, Sherwin Hart, Devon Gordon and Deon Greenidge, who were found guilty of the 2009 murder of Dweive Kant Ramdass, which occurred on August 20, 2009, at Caiman Hole in the Essequibo River.
They appeared before Justice Franklyn Holder.
Hung Jury
During the criminal assizes session, 21 cases were presented in the High Court of Demerara, of which Justice Navindra Singh, disposed of 11 for the offence of murder. There were two hung jury verdicts. These will have to be retried.
Of the 11 murder cases before Justice Singh, there were five not guilty verdicts. One such verdict pertained to the Lusignan Massacre. James Anthony Hyles, known as ‘Sally’ and Mark Royden Williams, were acquitted by the Jury.
The State has since filed an appeal citing “strong and compelling evidence for a conviction.”
In another of the cases, the accused walked away from the murder charge because the main witness died.
This forced the trial judge to direct the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
In the other three cases, two of the accused pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter and were sentenced to 20 years and 27 years respectively. The other person found guilty of manslaughter was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment.
Before proceeding on leave, Madame Justice Dawn Gregory completed murder cases.
One of the accused that appeared before her was found guilty while the other did not share the same fate.
Justice Brassington Reynolds in June commenced two murder trials and while one was completed through a no case submission being upheld, the other had to be aborted after this publication reported the details of a voir dire (a trial within a trial) and statements made by the State Counsel.
Editor-in-Chief, Adam Harris, and the journalist were both charged with contempt of court and fined.
Justice James Bovell Drakes, during the criminal session heard six murder cases. In the first murder trial there was a hung jury and a retrial was ordered.

Deon Greenidge

In another of the murder trials, the accused was sentenced to 19 years’ imprisonment after the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter while in the other two matters the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty.
There are at present two cases still in progress before Justice James Bovell-Drakes.
Essequibo
Meanwhile in the Essequibo jurisdiction, two trial Judges heard a total of 20 murder trials.
Justice Franklin Holder first sat at the Essequibo Criminal Assizes which commenced in May, while Justice William Ramlal continued from July.
Of the 20 cases that were listed to be heard for the May Assizes, four matters were completed, three for the offence of murder and one attempted murder.
In two of the murder cases, the accused pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter and was sentenced to five years. In another of the cases the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty.
In the case for the offence of ‘Attempt to Commit Murder’ the victim informed the trial judge that he did not wish to proceed with the prosecution.
He was compensated by the accused and the trial judge directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
Berbice
Over in Berbice, Madame Justice Dawn Gregory, commenced the sitting in May and Justice Navindra Singh

Sherwyn Harte

continued up until the June Assizes commenced.
Of the 33 matters that were listed to be heard during this session, five were disposed of.
One of these cases was for the offence of rape. The others were indecent assault and abduction.
The Trial Judge directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty after the mother of the alleged victim, informed the Court that the victim had migrated and did not wish to proceed with the matter.
There are also two Carnal Knowledge cases and another two for the offence of Murder.
In one of the two Carnal Knowledge cases, the accused was also indicted for buggery but he was acquitted after the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty on both counts.
In the other case, the alleged victim also indicated that she no longer wished to proceed with the matter.
Justice Navindra Singh completed the two cases of murder.
In the first trial, the jury did not agree on a unanimous verdict and a retrial has been ordered while in the other case there was a unanimous verdict of not guilty.