DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, says that she wishes to see more defendants and their lawyers making full use of the plea bargaining legislation.
This law in my opinion is the making for more killings in Guyana. Killers are now given an invitation to go rob innocent people and kill if necessary, if caught then come to the court and say lets make a deal.
For the longest while now we are witnessing how killers come to the court after killing and take this plea deal only to receive eight years in jail.
Law makers in Guyana must now ask themselves if eight years in jail is the cost of one’s life?
Why is Latchman Persaud sentenced to 20 years in prison, while others only receive eight years, despite pleading to the lesser count of manslaughter?
DPP Shalimar Ali-Hack also talked of eyewitnesses and their absence in many cases due to the lengthy time some cases takes.
The onus must be on lawmakers to ensure every citizen receive a fair and speedy trial by hiring more judges and magistrates if need be.
I read where a drunken driver walked a free man after killing an innocent person because the eyewitness did not show up.
What has happened to circumstantial evidence? Is the DPP now saying to the nation that you can only win a case based on eyewitness and not circumstantial evidence?
What if that eyewitness was paid off not to show up in court?
I read where a woman recklessly drove her motor vehicle killing an innocent citizen, and was granted bail because she has some very important business to take care of at Lethem.
Picture this scenario where someone was robbed and raped and brutally killed and an eyewitness came forward.
The DPP laid charges against the perpetrator but did not know the eyewitness had already made a deal with the perpetrator for money.
Is the DPP now saying that there will be no case against this killer, robber, rapist because the eyewitness failed to show up in court?
This is a most frightening and dangerous precedence in law now in Guyana.