Sexual offences, murder most dominant cases heard by Court of Appeal this year

Dec 31, 2019 News

Sexual offences and murder cases have accounted for more than half of the cases heard by the Court of Appeal this year.
This is according to the goal delivery released by the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Sexual offences, murder most dominant cases heard by Court of Appeal this year

The information shows that State Counsel from the chambers of the DPP appeared in 30 matters at the appellate court of which 12 were for sexual offences and eight for murder. There were another three matters for manslaughter, two for possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking and one each for felonious wounding, causing death by dangerous driving and uttering a forged document.
Of the 30 matters, the Court of Appeal dismissed and denied eight applications to appeal against conviction and sentence. Six applications were allowed to appeal against sentence only. The sentences were varied, which included commutation of two death sentences to life imprisonment. The Court of Appeal reserved one decision while one other application was withdrawn.
Furthermore, there were eight applications for extension of time to file and serve Notices of Appeal. Six of the applications were allowed, the remaining two were denied.
Five applications were made to the Court of Appeal for bail pending appeal. Of the five, only one application was granted. Three were denied and one of the applications was withdrawn. The Court of Appeal allowed an appeal by the State against an acquittal. Meanwhile, during 2019 the Demerara Full Court dealt with 15 matters for the offences of break and enter and larceny, possession of firearm without License, murder, possession of cannabis, possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking, assault causing actual bodily harm and rape of a girl under 16 years.
Four of these applications were withdrawn; one application was struck out after the Full Court ruled it had no jurisdiction to hear the matter; five appellants were denied their applications while five others were granted their applications to appeal.
During this time the Berbice Full Court also sat and heard an application to appeal against sentence for the offence of Possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking. The Appellant did not attend court and the application was dismissed. The Berbice Civil Court heard an application to quash a committal for the offence of murder and the application was granted.

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