Jury trials recommence under strict COVID-19 guidelines

Oct 07, 2020 News

Kaieteur News – Jury trials have recommenced at the Georgetown Supreme Court under strict COVID-19 guidelines. Trial by jury had been suspended by the Courts since June of this year due to the outbreak of the deadly virus, putting a number of criminal trials on hold.

The jury trial commenced yesterday at the Georgetown Supreme Court under strict Covid-19 guidelines

The decision to restart trials by jury was taken last month in keeping with the laws to preserve the right of the accused to a fair trial. According to practice directions of the Supreme Court published in the official gazette, steps were also taken to safeguard the integrity of the judicial process.
Further, the practice directions which were released outlined steps to ensure that the jury trial are conducted with minimal exposure of the infection to judges, jurors, court staff, the accused, witnesses, attorneys, members o f the media and the public.
As such, the recommencement of the jury trials yesterday was accompanied by strict guidelines: jurors who were selected to participate were seated six feet apart and wore masks in conjunction with the social distancing rules; the Court was also appropriately fitted with cameras to allow the Judge proper oversight of the proceedings.
The process was also video recorded in addition to being noted in the Judges’ minute books. In addition, Community Health Officers (CHO) were assigned to the courts to do temperature screening and related healthcare measures associated with the prevention and spread of COVID-19.
The recommencement of trial trials comes after a month of careful consultation and planning by top ranking officers of the Judiciary. Last month, officials from the Health Ministry and the National COVID-19 Task Force met with the Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire, Justice Brassington Reynolds, Justice Nareshwar Harnanan and Registrar of the Supreme Court, Sueanna Lovell.
The high-level team comprised Head of the COVID-19 Task Force, Colonel Nazrul Hussain; Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Karen Boyle; and Head of the Emergency Response Unit Dr. Colin James to discuss how to best utilize the existing facilities for criminal trials with the jury.
“The layout of the courts along with the installation of plexiglass, transparent screens around fixtures and furniture and proposed physical distancing of the judge, court staff, prosecuting and defence counsel, and jurors in the courtrooms have been approved,” the Judiciary had said in a statement on Friday.
Discussions also centered on the sanitation protocols. This led to the Health Ministry sending another team of officials and sanitisation of all courts and court offices at the High Court in Demerara was done on Thursday, October 1, 2020.
Further, the Supreme Court said it will continue this invaluable collaboration with the Health Ministry and the National Task Force to ensure that all courts throughout the length and breadth of Guyana are safe for all.
According to the Judiciary, this partnership, which started since the onset of the COVID pandemic, has seen discussions on health and safety protocols for the courts, its staff, lawyers, jurors and all court users. To this end, community Health workers are stationed at the entrances to many courts, particularly in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica); Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne and Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
The Health Ministry and the Supreme Court have been combining efforts to assure court users that all necessary public health arrangements for the safe conduct of criminal trials are in place.

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