Nine murder trials completed during April criminal Assizes

Jun 03, 2014 News

---

Nine murders were presented and completed during April sessions of the criminal assizes.
According to a release from the Director of Public Prosecutions, (DPP) during the sessions, a total of ten criminal matters were completed at Georgetown Supreme Court.
Yesterday marked the end of the April session of the Demerara Criminal Assizes. A total of 242 cases are listed to be heard during the June 2014 sessions of the Demerara Criminal Assizes, which will open today.
In Berbice the June Criminal Assizes will start on June 9, with 37 matters listed to be heard; while in Essequibo the new Criminal Assizes commenced on May 20, last.  Fifteen matters are listed for the session which will continue until October 2014.
According to the release, in the Demerara Assizes, 230 cases were listed for the April 2014 Criminal Assizes, which were presided over by Justice Dawn Gregory, Justice William Ramlall and Justice Navindra Singh.
However, during the session ten murders were presented and completed.
Of the ten matters, there were three guilty verdicts, five not guilty verdicts and two ended in hung jury.
Justice Navindra Singh completed five matters of which four were for the offence of murder and one for the offence of Attempt to Commit Murder and felonious wounding.
In two of the four murder trials, the accused were jailed for 78 years and 56 years’ imprisonment respectively after the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts.
The accused in the other two murder trials were sent back to prison to await new trials after their jury failed to reach a verdict.
The accused in the case for attempt to commit murder and felonious wounding was discharged by the trial Judge after the Virtual Complainant (VC) indicated to the Court that he did not wish to proceed with the trial.
Justice Dawn Gregory completed three matters. Of the three matters, two were for the offence of murder and one for the offence of manslaughter. In the first murder trial, the accused was sentenced
to ten years imprisonment after the jury found him guilty on the lesser offence of manslaughter.
The accused in the other murder trial was acquitted after the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty. The accused in the manslaughter trial was acquitted after the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty.
Justice William Ramlal disposed of two murder cases. In both cases the Judge upheld no case submissions by the defence and directed the jury to return formal verdicts of not guilty.
The State has appealed the Court’s ruling in one of the first murder cases.
The Berbice February 2014 Criminal Assizes was in progress with Madame Justice Diana lnsanally, who sat first and then Justice Brassington Reynolds continued the Assizes.
Madame Justice Diana lnsanally disposed of two matters for the offence of murder.
In the first case, the accused pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter and was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment.
In the other murder case in which two persons were indicted, the trial Judge imposed twenty years imprisonment for each of the accused after the jury returned, a unanimous verdict of guilty.
Justice Reynolds completed one matter for the offence of rape and robbery under arms and jailed the accused for 12 years, after he was found guilty by the jury for the offence of rape and not guilty for the offence of robbery under arms.
A second murder trial is currently being heard before Justice Reynolds.
The Essequibo February 2014 Criminal Assizes had commenced on February 18, with Justice Harnanan.
Justice Franklin Holder then continued the session which concluded with four matters being presented and completed while one matter was nolle prosequi by the DPP.
Justice Harnanan disposed of one case for the offence of carnal knowledge of a girl under fifteen and sixteen years for which the accused was discharged after the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty.
Justice Holder completed three matters, one for the offence of Murder, one for the offence of Rape of a child under sixteen years and the third matter for the offence of manslaughter.
The accused in the murder trial was discharged after the Judge directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty because the State could not offer no further evidence, as the wife of the deceased and other eye witnesses did not wish to give evidence.
In the matter for the offence of rape of a child under sixteen years, the accused was dismissed after the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty. The accused for the offence of manslaughter was discharged
after the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.
One matter for the offence of incest and rape was Nolle Posequi by the DPP because the Virtual Complainant (VC) and her mother did not wish to testify against the accused.

---

---