Night Court wraps up today
The Georgetown Magistrates’ Court
The Georgetown Magistrates’ Court

AFTER almost six month in operation, the Night Court which was put in place to ease the backlog of cases will sit for the final time today at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.Outgoing Chancellor of the Judiciary, Carl Singh, disclosed that the Night Court had served its purpose and no extension is on the agenda since the fund allocated for its operation has been exhausted without any additional funding.

“In a significant way it has met its purpose and given the fact that they had a particular sum of money approved for the operation of the court,” the Chancellor added.

The first sitting of the night court was held on October 10 last, at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, and five temporary magistrates presided over summary offences.

The magistrates employed to tackle the backlog included: Beverly Bishop-Cheddie, Brendon Glasford, Madan Kissoon, Leslie Benjamin and Liza Hanoman.
Several matters being dealt with during the day courts were transferred to the night courts for hearing between 15:00hrs and 20:00hrs.

Outgoing Chancellor, Justice Carl Singh

The summary matters heard at the night court are assault, simple larceny, attempt to commit a felony, robbery with violence, fraudulent conversion, break and entry, unlawfully and maliciously wounding, threatening and abusive language and threatening language.

On Mondays new matter are heard in Courts 10 and 11 by Magistrate Kissoon; Magistrate Bishop-Cheddie on Tuesdays and Fridays in Court 6; Magistrate Glasford on Wednesdays in Court 12; and Magistrate Benjamin in Courts 8 and 9 on Thursdays.

In December, Magistrate Brendon Glasford had dismissed the case against five police officers who were accused of robbing three gold miners of 16 pennyweight of gold. The case was dismissed due to lack of evidence.
Another matter currently before Magistrate Glasford is the case of 52-year-old Narine Veersammy who is charged for the obstruction of justice.

Narine Veersammy is accused of offering an officer attached to the Major Crime Unit of the Guyana Police Force the sum of G$400,000 as a reward or inducement for the officer to show favour to Dennis Veersammy in relation to his principal offers.

A total of $25M was allocated by Government to finance the payment of salaries of the temporary magistrates and their staff.

The move to have night court was aimed at easing overcrowding at the country’s prison facilities, as well as significantly reducing the huge backlog of cases which have kept several inmates on remand for years.

Former President of the Guyana Bar Association, Christopher Ram, had said the association supports and will continue to support initiatives that will accelerate the judicial process.

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