Guilty pleas account for majority of criminal cases disposed this year

Dec 30, 2019 News

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Most of the criminal cases disposed of this year were as a result of accused persons opting to plead guilty to their respective indictments.
This is according to information released by the chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The information revealed that 212 cases were disposed, of which 178 received attention in the courts. The remainder, 34, was nolle prosequi. Of these 178 cases, 110 were presented at the Demerara assizes, 25 at the Berbice assizes and 43 at the Essequibo assizes.
There were 86 cases for murder, 84 sexual offences, two cases for manslaughter, five cases of attempt to commit murder and one case for accessory after the fact to murder. There were 36 convictions, 56 guilty pleas, 32 formal verdicts of not guilty, and 28 not guilty verdicts by jury, five hung juries, and four aborted trials. Fifty one cases were nolle prosequi, 16 of which were done in court.
There were several cases heard at the Demerara assizes in which the court accepted guilty pleas to the lesser count of manslaughter from persons charged with murder. These persons were ordered to serve various custodial sentences ranging from 30 years to life imprisonment. There were cases in which an accused person faced more than one indictment and was given concurrent sentences.
Below are some of the cases in which guilty pleas were accepted at the Demerara assizes:
BOUND AND GAGGED
Among those who the court accepted guilty pleas from were Imran Khan and Stephen Andrews, who were indicted for the murders of
89-year-old Constance Fraser and 77-year-old Phyllis Caesar. Both men opted to plead guilty to the lesser offence manslaughter, thereby admitting that they killed the women between October 02 and 03, 2017. They were sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving 35 years.
The two women’s bound and gagged bodies were found at their Lot 243 Albert Street and South Road, Georgetown home.
Initially indicted for murder, Khan and Andrews, both of Albouystown, Georgetown, opted to plead guilty to manslaughter after consulting with their counsel. They admitted to killing Fraser and Caesar between October 2 and October 3, 2017.
BURIED ALIVE
In another case, 18 year-old Sherwin Roberts was handed a life sentence after he pleaded guilty to murdering his one-year-old niece, who he buried alive after throwing her out of a window and into some mud on September 01, 2017 at Sophia, Greater Georgetown.
According to facts presented in court, Roberts broke into the home of his niece Ronasha Pilgrim where she was staying with three other minors.
He had entered through a window and grabbed the gold chain the child was wearing around her neck. After the child began to cry, Roberts became annoyed and threw her out a window and into some swampy mud.
He then buried the child in the mud; her cause of death was given as asphyxiation due to suffocation.
SERIAL RAPIST
Twenty two year-old Leon Jordan who pleaded guilty to raping two girls and a woman was sentenced to serve a total of 62 years imprisonment for the crimes. Jordan admitted that on February 02, 2012, he engaged in sexual penetration with a seven-year-old girl. He then admitted that on January 13, 2013, he engaged in sexual penetration with a 14-year-old girl. Added to these, he admitted to having sexual intercourse with a 28-year-old woman without her consent.
In all the cases, Jordan rose up to the victims on a bicycle. He took them to various locations, including the seawalls and isolated bushy areas where he held them at knifepoint and had sex with them before riding off.
WIFE KILLERS
Athlone Pitt, 44, was sentenced to serve 22 years in jail for killing his wife Cindy Pitt on June 01, 2016. He was initially indicted for murder, but opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter. Cindy Pitt called Candacy of 18 Chelsea Park, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, died almost instantly after she was attacked and chopped by her husband in the compound of the Bygeval Secondary School, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, where she was employed as a security guard.
Meanwhile, in a similar case, 46-year-old Seon Singh was handed a 30 years prison sentence for unlawfully killing his common-law wife Indranie Sugrim, who he stabbed to death on November 25, 2012. According to information, Singh and the woman were involved in an abusive relationship. On the day in question, they were involved in an argument during which Singh armed himself with a knife, which he used to stab Sugrim about her body. The killing took place at the couple’s 503 Block ‘Y’ Cummings Lodge, Greater Georgetown residence.
After committing the act, Singh escaped, but was later arrested by police.

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