List of cases for Criminal Assizes reveals…More sexual offences being committed against children by males

May 14, 2018 News

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Sexual Offences have dominated the list of cases set for trial in the Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice assizes. This is according to information published by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack on her website.
The second criminal assizes for 2018 for the High Court in Georgetown commenced on April 3. Of the 242 cases on the list, 161 are for sexual offences. The second criminal assizes for 2018 for the High Court in Essequibo will get underway from tomorrow and according to the list, 34 of the 60 cases are sexual offences.
The list for the January session of the Berbice assizes shows that 41 of the 96 cases are for sexual offences.
The sexual offences include carnal knowledge of a girl under 15 years, carnal knowledge of a girl under 12 years, buggery, rape, indecent assaulting of a male, sexual activity with a child family member, sexual activity with a child by abusing a position of trust, sexual assault and incest by male.
As it relates to the list of cases for the ongoing session of the Demerara Assizes, an accused Chanderpaul called Leonard Paul, has been indicted for nine counts of rape of a child under 16 years. On the list for the Berbice assizes which commenced on February 6, Gewan Rohit is charged with eight counts of sexual activity with a child family member. The accused Eric Wilson called Convict who is indicted on four counts of rape of a child under 16 years will go on trial in the upcoming Essequibo assizes.
It was revealed that over 200 persons, predominantly males, have been indicted for various types of sexual offences. From the lists, it has been observed that there are more sexual offences being committed against children by males. Some of these individuals are out on bail, while arrest warrants have been issued for others.
During the January session of the Demerara assizes, 11 cases for sexual offences were heard before Justice Simone Ramlall in the Sexual Offences Court. Four were for the offence of rape. In two of those matters, the accused were found guilty by jury and sentenced respectively to 45 years and 40 years imprisonment.
In one of the four cases, the trial judge upheld a no case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
In one other case, the accused was acquitted by the jury which returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty. In another five matters for the offence of Sexual Activity with a child family member, one accused was sentenced to life imprisonment and must serve 45 years before becoming eligible for parole.
Another accused who was indicted on four counts was found guilty by the jury and given two life sentences which are to run concurrently with a minimum of 40 years to be served before being eligible for parole.
The accused in one other matter was found guilty and sentenced to nine years imprisonment.
In another two of these cases, both accused were acquitted by the jury.
There were two matters for the offence of rape of a child under 16 years. In one case, the accused was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. The other accused who was indicted on four counts was also found unanimously guilty and sentenced to two life sentences which are to run consecutively.
Over in Berbice, Justice Sandil Kissoon first sat from January 2018 and closed the October 2017 assizes. He then opened the February 2018 assizes, during which, 11 of the 21 matters heard were for sexual offences.
The Essequibo Criminal Assizes commenced on February 20 and saw the prosecution of seven matters of which five were four sexual offences. In two of these five matters, the accused were respectively sentenced to 35 years and 25 years imprisonment for rape of a child under 16 years.
Some of the cases for sexual offences were nolle prosequi by the DPP. This was as a result of either the complainants giving statements indicating they did not wish to proceed or they have migrated. In some instances, matters were nolle prosequi due to the death of the complainant.
The other cases on the lists include those for the non-bailable offences such as murder, manslaughter, abduction, robbery under-arms, trafficking in narcotics substance, possession of firearm without licence, possession of ammunition without license, attempt to commit murder, murder in the furtherance or course of a robbery, discharging a loaded firearm with intent, malicious damage to property, obtaining money by false pretence, setting fire to public building, felonious wounding, unlawful wounding, causing grievous bodily harm, assault causing actual bodily harm and wounding with intent.

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