Man who spent nine years on remand sues State for $3M

Dec 02, 2022 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

Kaieteur News – Raymond Jones, the Micobie Village, Potaro, Region Eight man who spent nine years on remand for allegedly killing Gary Joseph without a trial has sued the State for $3M.

Jones, 58, was on remand for the alleged fatally shooting Joseph with an ‘arrow and bow’ on December 26, 2012, at Micobie Village. He was freed by Justice Sandil Kissoon in July 2022.

Raymond Jones (News Room photo)

According to the lawsuit filed by attorney Dennis Jawan Paul, on behalf of Jones, and seen by this publication, Jones is seeking three declarations and $3M in compensation.

Jones wants the court to declare that the nine years he spent on remand at the Camp Street and Lusignan Prisons without a trial, after he was charged with murder, was in contravention of his fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 144 (1) of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.

Jones also wants the court to declare that the time he spent on remand without a trial, in particular the circumstances of such imprisonment, was in contravention of his fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 141 of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.

Further, Jones is seeking $1M for the violation of his fundamental right of protection of law guaranteed under Article 144 (1) of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana; $1M for the inhumane and degrading treatment he endured during his incarceration and $1M for being kept and housed in prison in awful and deplorable conditions for in excess of nine years.

Kaieteur News had reported that the Director of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP) Chambers had issued a statement saying that Jones was never indicted.

However, Jones was freed by Justice Kissoon in the Demerara High Court on July 15, 2022. Justice Kissoon found that his constitutional right to a free trial within a reasonable time was breached by the State.

It was reported that Jones was charged and committed to stand trial in 2014 following a preliminary inquiry (PI) at the Magistracy level. In 2015, when DPP, Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, received the depositions in the case, she remitted the matter back to the Magistrate to correct ‘irregularities’.

The DPP’s Chambers in its statement noted that additional evidence was requested in 2015, October 2020 and in January 2021, but that evidence was never provided, and resulted in the DPP not being able to favour an indictment. An indictment is a formal, written accusation of a crime that is presented to a court for the prosecution of an accused.

The Attorney General of Guyana is the respondent in the lawsuit.