Death penalty remains Law in Guyana

Dec 23, 2022 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

…as Court of Appeal refuses to strike it down despite fierce International lobby

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Court of Appeal has refused to strike down the death penalty as unconstitutional amid a fierce lobby by international organisations.

The Court of Appeal made the decision on Thursday following considerations in the cases of three former members of Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard, Devon Gordon, Deon Greenidge, and Sherwyn Harte, who in 2013, were found guilty of the robbery and murder of Dweive Kant Ramdass.

The Trial Judge imposed death sentence on all three defendants. The three men appealed to the Court of Appeal. The Death Penalty Project, an internationally recognised Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that uses the law to protect prisoners facing execution and achieve fairer and more humane justice systems had joined the matter to challenge the local justice system on the use of the death penalty.

In a statement issued on the matter, Barristers from UK-based Doughty Street Chambers who were among the Attorneys that represented the case against the death penalty said that while the Court of Appeal declined to strike down the death penalty as unconstitutional, three death sentences were overturned and replaced with life sentences.

The UK-based Law Firm said that it offered assistance to the appellants and supported their legal team in Guyana which included C.A Nigel Hughes (of the Bar of Guyana) and Douglas Mendes, SC (of the Bar of Trinidad and Tobago). Douglas Mendes, SC presented the legal arguments in the Court of Appeal. Assisting with this case were the Death Penalty Project and a team of Barristers from Doughty Street Chambers, Edward Fitzgerald KC, Joe Middleton and Pippa Woodrow.

In the course of the Appeal, the team provided evidence to the Court from leading academics. “The evidence showed that capital punishment does not act as a greater deterrent to crime than lesser forms of punishment and that there is a growing consensus that capital punishment is inherently inconsistent with respect for the rule of law,” the Law Firm said in the release. The Lawyers argued that the death penalty was unconstitutional, being arbitrary, irrational, disproportionate, and contrary to the constitutional principle of the rule of law.

The Law Firm noted that however that the Court of Appeal has not accepted these arguments and has declined to declare capital punishment unconstitutional in Guyana.

The Court of Appeal consequently overturned the Appellants’ sentences of death, on the basis that it was unconstitutional for the Trial Court to hand down the death penalty automatically without affording the appellants individualised sentencing hearings. The Law Firm nevertheless believes that failure to do so was a breach of their constitutional rights. “We consider that the Court of Appeal should have declared all death sentences unconstitutional. The legal team will now explore a further appeal to the Caribbean Court of Justice,” the Firm said in its release.