DPP hails sharp drop in criminal backlog

Jan 13, 2026 News

…as 2026 Demerara Assizes opens

Kaieteur News – The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, has announced a remarkable reduction in criminal cases listed for trial over the past five years, as the January 2026 Demerara Criminal Assizes opened on Monday with 126 cases scheduled from January to March.

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack,

Reflecting on the figures, Mrs. Ali-Hack noted there were 318 cases listed in January 2020. January 2021″,342 cases listed, January 2022, 367 cases listed, January 2023, 307 cases listed, January 2024, 259 cases listed and in January 2025, 134 cases listed.

The DPP noted that herself and her staff have been aggressively working to address the backlog of cases as well as to deal with current cases so as to ensure that persons who are awaiting trials, their cases are heard in a timely manner in accordance with the Constitution of Guyana, “we are proud of the bocklog that we have cleared up so for and continue to do same. It’s o work in progress.”

The DPP has assured that her office will continue to work assiduously to clear up the backlog of criminal cases, not only in the Demerara Assizes, but as well as in the Berbice and Essequibo Criminal Assizes. And while she acknowledged and thanked the Guyana Police Force for its work in support of the DPP’s Office to achieve its objective in clearing the backlog, DPP spoke to some of the challenges confronting her efforts.

“We still face the challenge of the police locating the witnesses to testify as well as accused persons who have been granted bail. ln some instances, the persons have moved and in other instances, wrong addresses were given to the police at the time of their investigations.” Ali-Hack noted that more efforts need to be put into ascertaining the accuracy of the addresses at the time of the police investigations. “Ascertaining the accuracy of addresses of witnesses and accused persons during investigations is critical to the prosecution of the cases.”

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Berbice, Constitution of Guyana, Criminal Assizes, Essequibo, Guyana, Guyana Police Force

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