THE Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in 2016 appeared in 33 matters in the Court of Appeal of which six appellants were granted leave for extension of time to file and serve notices of appeal.According to the DPP Chambers, five other appellants withdrew their applications for bail pending appeal, while four others had their applications for bail pending appeal dismissed.

Two other appellants were granted their applications for bail and one had his petition granted to have the registrar of the Supreme Court return his passport, allowing him to be out of the jurisdiction on condition that he is present at the hearing of his appeal.

The chambers also indicated that five appellants had their appeals allowed and their matters to be done De Novo (starting from the beginning).

One application to appeal the sentence and conviction was withdrawn by both the State and the appellant, while four appellants withdrew their applications for extension of time to appeal.

Another four appellants had their appeals dismissed and sentences and convictions affirmed by the Court of Appeal.

One other appellant had his appeal against his sentence and conviction allowed in part in relation to his 10-year prison sentence, which was substituted with a six-year sentence.

Further, the DPP Chambers revealed that in the Demerara Full Court, 10 matters were heard during 2016 before Justice Dawn Gregory, Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, Justice Roxane George, Justice Margaret Kurtzious, Justice BS Roy and Justice James Bovell-Drakes.

Of these 10 matters, one was referred to the Court of Appeal , since the Full Court ruled it had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.

Two other matters were struck out. In three other matters, the appellants made applications to withdraw their matters. There were two applications for extension of time to appeal and both applications were dismissed.

In one case, the appellant had his custodial sentence set aside and substituted with a fine in the sum of $100,000. One matter was dismissed for want of prosecution.

During 2016, the Berbice Full Court heard 19 matters before Chief Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, Justice Roxane George, Justice Franklyn Holder, Justice William Ramlal and Justice Navindra Singh.

In six of these 19 matters, the court ruled it had no jurisdiction and these matters were referred to the Court of Appeal. Another six appellants had their applications to appeal allowed. Seven matters were adjourned.