THE Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has dismissed an application by U.S.-based murder accused Marcus Bisram for special leave to appeal the Guyana Court of Appeal’s decision not to grant his application for an urgent hearing.

Bisram, who is incarcerated in the U.S., is wanted in Guyana for the murder of Berbice carpenter, Faiyaz Narinedatt, whose lifeless body was found on the Number 70 Public Road on November 1, 2016.

Bisram is expected to be extradited; however, there have been attempts to block the move. Through a Fixed Date Application in November, 2017, two orders were sought against the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) – one, an order prohibiting the DPP from further proceeding with the decision to prosecute Bisram for the murder of Narinedatt, and two, an order compelling the DPP to wholly withdraw and discontinue the charge against the accused. However, Justice Navindra Singh on November 24, 2017 in the High Court, refused the orders sought and dismissed the application. An appeal was subsequently filed at the Appellate Court, in addition to an application for an urgent hearing, but the latter was rejected on July 31, 2018.

The U.S.-based murder accused in August then turned to the CCJ. But the application for special leave to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal was dismissed on Friday by a panel of five judges, led by President of the CCJ, Justice Adrian Saunders.

In the court document seen by the Guyana Chronicle, the CCJ said the decision to dismiss the application for special leave was made after reviewing the submissions made by the applicant and the respondent – Guyana’s Director of Public Prosecutions.

“It is ordered that the application filed herein by the applicant on the 2nd day of August, 2018, for special leave to appeal and the application to be heard during the vacation period are hereby dismissed,” the CCJ stated. The DPP was represented by Solicitor-General Kim Kyte-Thomas and Senior State Counsel, Stacy Goodings.

Hours after the decision was handed down by the CCJ, the solicitor-general told the Guyana Chronicle that Bisram has been raising “red herrings” so as to stall the process of having him extradited.

“We have maintained at all times that we have a very good case against Bisram. All these issues that they are raising are ‘red herrings’” she said.

While maintaining that the state has a strong case, Kyte-Thomas said if the court finds that there is no case against Bisram, the matter will be dismissed, but for now the case should be allowed to continue.

“The criminal process must take its course, due process must be had, and the arm of the law should reach any and all of us, anybody and everybody,” she told this newspaper, and added, “We don’t know how it will turn out in the final analysis, but all we are saying is let due process be had, that’s all.”

Justice Arif Bulkan, in delivering the decision of the Court of Appeal last July, had pointed out that during the hearing of the application, Bisram’s attorney Siand Dhurjon, in justifying why his client should be entitled to ‘jump the queue’ of pending cases, said in addition to him being incarcerated, the prosecution’s case is weak.

Justice Bulkan reminded Dhurjon that under the current system of administration, appeals are generally heard in the order in which they are filed, and as such, if an application of such nature is approved, it would result in ongoing cases being delayed.

“Depending on the conditions at any given time, the disparity could be stark. While a lucky few would be heard within weeks or months, those subject to the normal course would have to wait years. This court cannot automatically or reflexively accede to any application that seeks an expedited hearing, for that would indirectly privilege litigants with the resources to bring them. Rather, this court must be concerned with treating all appeals even-handedly,” Justice Bulkan had reasoned.

He said while there ought to be provision for deviating from standard procedures in order to accommodate exceptional cases, there is nothing unique about Bisram’s case.

“Marcus Bisram is one of hundreds whose alleged involvements in murder are currently at some stage in the criminal justice system. There are multiple stages in the process of prosecution for any criminal offence before a person actually serves his or her sentence of imprisonment: investigation, arrest, charge, preliminary inquiry, committal, trial, conviction, appeal, consideration of mercy, and commutation, if applicable,” the justice of appeal (ag) stated.

He noted that the situation has been complicated by the fact that multiple applications have been brought on behalf of Marcus Bisram. There are at least three applications filed seeking to direct the DPP in the exercise of her discretion – which is a clear breach of the process.

“This repeated litigation is undeniably an abuse of the court’s process, and for that reason alone, ought to disentitle the applicant from the relief sought in this motion. But the repeated litigation possibly demonstrates the lack of merit of the substantive appeal. At each development in the matter, the applicant seems to file another application, so that the picture before the court has been unfolding in piecemeal fashion,” Justice Bulkan had explained.

In making her submission at the Court of Appeal, the solicitor-general had alluded to the issue of abuse of procedure.

“In summary, the court is being asked to exercise its discretion from evidence in a preliminary inquiry which touches and concerns the co-accused persons involved in the commission of the murder committed on Faiyaz Narinedatt, while Marcus Bisram though charged has not appeared to answer same and as such, his preliminary inquiry has not commenced facing a charge for as well,” she had argued, noting that the court is being asked to usurp the functions of the magistrate.