26 of 218 cases disposed of in October session of Demerara Assizes

Jan 07, 2018 News

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Twenty six of 218 matters were disposed of in the last session of the Demerara Criminal Assizes. Of these 26 matters, 20 were heard at the High Court in Georgetown.
The remaining six were nolle prosequi by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Justice James Bovell-Drakes, Justice Brassington Reynolds and Madam Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall were the presiding judges in that session.
Out of the 20 cases heard by the High Court, two were for the offence of sexual activity with a child family member and three were for the offence of rape of a child under 16 years of age. Thirteen cases were for the offence of murder; one for the offence of murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm; and another for the offence of attempt to commit murder.
There were five guilty verdicts by jury, one formal verdict of not guilty, eight guilty pleas, five not guilty verdicts by jury and one hung jury.
Eight of these were prosecuted by State Counsel Nerrisa Leander, State Counsel Seeta Bishundial and State Counsel Abigail Gibbs before Madam Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall. Of these eight cases, two were for the offence of sexual activity with a child family member, four for the offence of murder and two others for the offence of rape of a child under 16 years.
In one of the two cases for the offence of sexual activity with a child family member, the accused, who was indicted on two counts, was sentenced to life imprisonment after the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty. In the other matter, the accused was indicted on three counts of the offence and was found guilty on all three counts by the jury. He was sentenced to a total of 65 years’ imprisonment. He will have to serve 50 years before becoming eligible for parole.
In two of the four murder trials, the accused were acquitted after the respective jury returned unanimous verdicts of not guilty of murder and of the lesser offence of manslaughter. In the other two matters, both accused pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter and were respectively sentenced to 45 and 40 years imprisonment.
However, one of these two prisoners will serve 22 years imprisonment after the trial judge deducted a total of 18 years for the guilty plea and for time spent in custody pending trial.
In the matter for the offence of rape of a child under 16 years and sexual activity with a child family member, the accused who was indicted on two counts, was acquitted by the jury which retuned with a majority verdict of 11 to one not guilty for rape of a child under 16 years and 10 to two not guilty for sexual activity with a child family member.
In the other matter for two counts of rape of a child under 16 years, the accused was sentenced to life imprisonment on each count with a possibility of parole after serving 35 years imprisonment.
Another seven of these 20 cases were completed by Justice Bovell-Drakes and prosecuted by State Counsel Orinthia Schmidt and State Counsel Mandell Moore.
Of these seven cases, one was for the offence of rape of a child under 16 years and the other six cases were for the offence of murder. The complainant in the rape matter testified that she did not wish to proceed with the matter and the trial judge directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty for the accused.
In three of the six murder cases, the accused all pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter and were respectively sentenced to 23 years’ imprisonment, 20 years’ imprisonment and 12 years’ imprisonment.
In another one of these six cases, the accused who was indicted for murder with an alternative count of inflicting grievous bodily harm was found guilty by the jury for the lesser offence of manslaughter. He further pleaded guilty to the alterative count and was sentenced to 21 years imprisonment.
In another one of these cases, the accused was acquitted after the jury returned a not guilty verdict. While the accused in one other murder case was found unanimously guilty by the jury. He will be sentenced on January 15, when a probation report ordered by the trial judge will be presented in court.
Justice Reynolds completed five matters which were prosecuted by State Counsel Shawnette Austin, State Counsel Lisa Cave and State Counsel Tiffiny Lyken. Of these five matters, four were for the offence of murder and the other for the offence of attempt to commit murder and discharging a loaded firearm with intent.
In three of these four murder cases, the accused all pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter.
In one of these three cases, the accused who was indicted on two counts of murder and was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment on each count. His sentences are to run concurrently.
The other two accused were respectively sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment and 12 years’ imprisonment.
In another matter, the accused was acquitted by the jury which returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty.
The jury, in the matter for the offence of attempt to commit murder and discharging a loaded firearm with intent failed to reach a verdict. The accused was remanded to prison and ordered to await a new trial.
The six matters nolle prosequi by the DPP were for sexual offences; two for the offence of sexual activity with a child family member, three for the offence of rape of a child under six years and one for the offence of rape.
In all of these matters, the complainants by way of written statements indicated that they did not wish to proceed with their matters.
The January Criminal Assizes for Demerara will open on Tuesday. There are 229 cases listed to be heard during the session. Justice Navindra Singh, Justice James Bovell-Drakes and Madam Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall have been rostered to sit during this session. (Feona Morrison)

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