MADAM Justice Jo-Ann Barlow has ordered a new trial for 25-year-old Deochand Ramlall of Foulis, East Coast, Demerara, who allegedly raped a 12-year-old school girl in 2013.Represented by Attorney-at-law Miss Gwendolyn Bristol, the accused had pleaded not guilty at his trial, which was held ‘in-camera’ on the instructions of the judge, who noted that a child of tender years was about to testify.

Looking tiny for his age at the Demerara Assizes, the accused, who was on bail, attended his trial throughout the evidence of the child, until after his lawyer, Miss Bristol, and Prosecutrix Miss Narissa Leander had addressed the jury, commented on the evidence and offering suggested verdicts.

All that was left to be done was for Justice Barlow to sum up the evidence to the jury and hand them the case for their consideration and verdict.

On the day the judge had determined to address the jury, Ramlall was absent from court. The judge fixed another date, Friday, August 21, when the case was summed up in the absence of the accused, but Ramlall could again not be found within the precincts of the court, and was therefore absent at the summing up.

The judge completed her summing-up at quarter past three in the afternoon.
When the jury members were contacted, two and one-half hours later, the jury foreman disclosed that the jury had disagreed on a verdict in the proportion of seven to five, and that they did not need further directions.

The judge therefore intimated to the lawyers in the case that the accused would have to face a new trial at a subsequent session.

By George Barclay