Thirty-six criminal cases brought in the first session of the Demerara Assizes
Under COVID-19 guidelines…
Kaieteur News – Under strict COVID-19 guidelines, thirty-six criminal cases were disposed of through the Georgetown High Court. During the nod delivered last Thursday, Justice Navindra Singh explained that of the 342 cases listed, 36 have been disposed of. Of these 36 issues, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) lodged 23 in the Demerara High Court while 13 issues at dlele prosequi were written by the DPP, of which l2 were for sexual offenses and one for the offense of trafficking a narcotic substance . .
For the sexual offense issues, eleven complainants submitted written statements that they did not wish to pursue their affairs, while in the other case, the accused died while awaiting trial. In the narcotic substance trafficking case, the accused had committed to stand trial 24 years ago and the witnesses could not be found.
Those cases brought were virtually presided over by Justice Brassington Reynolds, Justice Jo-Ann Barlow and Justice Navindra Singh. Of these 23 issues presented, 14 were for the crime of murder, eight for sexual offenses and one for the offense of attempted murder with another count of felonious wounding.
A total of 29 were charged in relation to these matters. There were four convictions, three formal not guilty verdicts, eight suspended juries, eight innocent jury verdicts and five guilty pleas.
State Counsel Tiffiny Lyken and Teriq Mohammed concluded eight issues about the murder offense before Justice Singh. In three of these cases, juries returned and the accused were remanded to prison to await new trials. In the other five issues, one of which had two accused who both pleaded guilty, they were sentenced to 39 years and 29 years imprisonment. In another two, one accused was sentenced to 60 years imprisonment after the jury unanimously found him guilty, while the other pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of manslaughter and was sentenced to seven years and eleven months imprisonment. In one of the other two cases, the trial Judge upheld a no-case submission and instructed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
The accused in the other was acquitted by the jury with a unanimous verdict of not guilty.
State Counsel Nafeeza Baig and State Counsel Sarah Martin prosecuted eight issues in the Sexual Offenses Court before Justice Barlow. In two of these cases, the two accused were found guilty by jury verdicts; one accused charged on two counts of rape of a child less than six years, was sentenced to 22 years on the first count and 25 years on the second count. The other accused were sentenced to 21 years imprisonment. Four others were acquitted of jury verdicts while in the other two cases, juries returned hanging.
Meanwhile, State Counsel Seeta Bishundial and State Counsel Tyra Bakker filed seven issues in the Reynolds Court of Justice; six of these were for the crime of murder and one for attempted murder with another count of felonious wounding.
The accused for the attempted murder charge with another count of felonious wounding was found guilty of the felonious wounding and sentenced to five years imprisonment; the complainant in this matter also received $ 500,000 in Court damages. In three of the six murder cases, the accused were all found not guilty; two of these were through jury verdicts while in the other, the trial judge upheld a no-case submission and instructed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty. In one of these cases, two accused were charged together and acquitted of innocence. Of the other three issues, two accused pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of manslaughter and while one was sentenced to five years imprisonment, the other is awaiting sentence. The same other issue is pending.