Demerara October Assizes closes with 49 cases disposed of

Dec 28, 2019 News

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The chamber of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has reported that 49 cases were disposed of at the October 2019 session of the Demerara Criminal Assizes, which commenced on October 1, at the High Court in Georgetown.
During this time, Madam Justice Jo-Ann Barlow, Madam Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall and Justice Sandil Kissoon were rostered to sit. Of the 322 cases listed to be heard at this session, 49 were completed, 36 received attention in the High Court of Demerara while 12 were nolle prosequi by the DPP.
Of these 36 cases presented, 20 were for murder and 16 for sexual offences. There were 13 guilty pleas, nine guilty verdicts by jury, three not guilty verdicts, six formal verdicts of not guilty, two hung juries and three aborted trials.
For these 36 cases, State Counsel Shawnette Austin and Sarah Martin completed 10 cases for the offence of Murder before Madam Justice Jo-Ann Barlow.
In one case, the accused pleaded guilty to the offence of Murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving 20 years. Six others pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of Manslaughter.
In one of these six cases, the accused who was indicted for Murder and an alternative count of Felonious Wounding was sentenced to 30 years on the first count and eight years on the alternative count. His sentences are to run concurrently.
Of the five others, two were sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment each while the other three were sentenced to 25 years, 18 years and 12 years respectively..
In another three cases, one accused was sentenced to l5 years’ imprisonment after the jury found him guilty of the lesser offence of Manslaughter. The other two accused were acquitted.
State Counsel Tuanna Hardy, Teriq Mohammed and Nafeeza Baig presented 16 Sexual Offence cases before Madam Justice Simone Ramlall.
Two of these cases were for rape, nine for the offence of Rape of a Child under the age of 16 and one each for Sexual Activity with a Child under 16 years, Sexual Activity with a Child Family Member, Carnal Knowledge of a girl under 15 years, Incest by a Male, Buggery and Indecently Assaulting another Male.
In five of these matters, the accused were found unanimously guilty by jury verdicts. Three of them were respectively sentenced to five years, 20 years and 18 years’ imprisonment.
Another one who was indicted on two counts for Rape of Child under the age of 16 and Sexual Activity with a Child under the age of 16 was sentenced to 15 years on the first count and seven years on the second count. His sentences will run concurrently.
The one other who was indicted on four counts for Sexual Activity with A Child Family Member was found unanimously guilty on all counts and was sentenced to a total of 85 years’ imprisonment.
In two other separate matters, the juries failed to reach a verdict and returned hung. While in another two, the accused were acquitted by jury verdicts of not guilty.
In four separate cases, the complainants failed to attend Court and the Trial Judge directed the juries to return formal verdicts of not guilty. Three cases were aborted.
State Counsel Abigail Gibbs and Mandel Moore presented l0 matters for the offence of Murder before Justice Sandil Kissoon.
In six of these cases, there were nine accused persons. Seven pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of Manslaughter; four of them were sentenced to life imprisonment while the three others were sentenced to 20 years, 17 years, and five years’ imprisonment respectively.
The other two accused were further remanded to prison to await new trials.
Of the four other matters, three accused were found guilty by unanimous jury verdicts. One accused was sentenced to death and the two others were each sentenced to life imprisonment.
The two will become eligible for parole after serving 40 years and 32 years’ imprisonment respectively. In the other one case, the accused was acquitted after the Trial Judge upheld a no case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
Twelve cases were Nolle Prosequi by the DPP. These l2 cases were for Sexual Offences. In five of the Sexual offences cases, the complainants indicated in written statements that they did not wish to proceed with their matters. Another seven complainants could not be located.
During this time, the Berbice Criminal Assizes opened October 15, 2019 and remains in progress until February 3, 2020.
State Prosecutor Seeta Bishundial presented six matters before Justice Brassington Reynolds. Of these six matters, three were for the offence of Murder, two for the offence of Rape of a Child under the age of 16 and one for Attempt to Commit Murder.
Of the three murder cases, two accused pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of Manslaughter and were sentenced to 19 years and 17 years’ imprisonment respectively. The other accused was acquitted by the jury.
In one of the two matters for Rape of a Child under the age of 16, the accused was found unanimously guilty by a jury verdict. He will be sentenced on December 30, 2019.
The complainant in the other case gave sworn testimony that she did not wish to proceed with her matter and trial judge directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
The accused in the one case for Attempt to commit Murder, pleaded guilty to the alternative charge of Felonious Wounding. He too will be sentenced on December 30, 2019.
Meanwhile, the Essequibo Criminal Assizes commenced on October 22, 2019 with Justice Gino Persaud and remains in progress. Sixty-three matters have been listed. State Counsel Lisa Cave has presented seven matters so far.
Of these seven matters, two were for the offence of Murder, two for Attempt to Commit Murder with an alternative count of Wounding with intent and three for Sexual Offences.
In one of the two Murder matters, the accused pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of Manslaughter and was sentence to 14 years imprisonment. The other matter remains in progress.
In one of the two matters for Attempt to Commit Murder with an alternative count of Wounding with intent, the complainant testified that she did not wish to proceed with the trial and as a result, the trial judge directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
The accused in the other case was taken to Court but did not enter a plea. The trial judge ordered that he undergo a mental evaluation to ascertain if he was fit to stand trial. The accused subsequently died.
In one of the three matters for Sexual Offences, the accused was acquitted by the jury while in the other two matters, the complainants testified in Court that they did not wish to proceed with their cases and the trial judge directed the juries to return formal verdicts of not guilty.
The Essequibo Criminal Sessions remains in progress.

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