–69 matters completed at last session

THE Demerara October 2024 Criminal Assizes officially commenced on Tuesday, October 1, with 183 cases scheduled for hearing.
A panel of esteemed judges, including Justice Navindra Singh, Madam Justice, Jo-Ann Barlow; Justice Sandil Kissoon, Madam Justice Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus, and Justice Peter Hugh, will preside over the matters.
The opening was observed with the customary ceremonial parade held outside the High Court in Georgetown.

Members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) staged their regular march on the southern side of the courthouse, along the South Road and Croal Street carriageways in Georgetown. Justice Singh took the salute and inspected the Guard of Honour.
According to the Oxford Language Dictionary, the word “assize” is a Middle English word from the Old French “assise”, feminine past participle of “asseeir” meaning, “sit, settle, and assess,” from the Latin word “assidere”. It is a historical noun; ‘assize’ singular and ‘assizes’ plural.
Assize is defined as “a court which formerly sat at intervals in each county of England and Wales to administer the civil and criminal law.” According to Britannica; ‘assize’ in law means a session, or sitting of a court of Justice and historically represents trial by jury.
The term was historically applied to certain Courts in England and France. This practice, which originated in England, was adopted in Guyana when it became a colony. It was received as part of the country’s common law and later incorporated into its legislation.
The Demerara Criminal Assizes are held as follows: the second Tuesday in January, the first Tuesday in April, the first Tuesday in June, and the first Tuesday in October.

The cases cover a wide range of offences, including, murder, manslaughter, sexual offences, attempt to commit murder, inflicting grievous bodily harm, trafficking narcotics, abduction, obtaining money by false pretence, conspiracy to commit a felony, robbery under arms, conspiracy to commit murder, wrongful confinement for ransom and accessory after the fact.

Meanwhile, in a press statement on Monday, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said that the Demerara, June 2024 Criminal Assizes commenced on Tuesday, June 4, with a total of 234 cases listed to be heard.
Justices Simone Morris-Ramlall, Justice Jo-Ann Barlow, Sandil Kissoon and Navindra Singh presided over the session. Following their appointments as judges, Hugh, Ally-Seepaul and lssacs-Marcus were assigned to the criminal courts.
During these assizes, the State disposed of 69 matters; 44 matters were presented in the High Court. Of these, 13 were for the offence of murder, six for manslaughter, 15 were for the offence of attempt to commit murder, nine for sexual offences and one for the offence of accessory after the fact of murder. The remaining 25 matters were deemed nolle prosequi by the DPP.

There were four jury verdicts of guilty, 11 guilty pleas, 17 verdicts of not guilty by jury, one hung jury, an aborted trial and 14 formal verdicts of not guilty, of which five were no case submissions upheld by the trial judge and nine complainants testified that they did not wish to proceed with their matters. There was a total of 49 accused in relation to these matters.

Senior State Counsel Taneisha Saygon, State Counsel Marisa Edwards, State Counsel Mikel Puran, State Counsel Praneeta Seeraj, State Counsel Yonika Roland and State Counsel Abiola Lowe completed eight matters before Justice Barlow.
There were two matters for the offence of murder, another five for sexual offences and one for the offence of manslaughter. In six of these eight matters, the juries returned unanimous verdicts of not guilty. In one of the two other matters for sexual offences, one accused was found unanimously guilty on two counts of rape and sentenced to 26 years’ imprisonment.

The complainant in the other matter testified that she did not wish to proceed with the evidence, and the trial judge directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
State Counsel Robina Christmas, together with State Counsel Madana Rampersaud, State Counsel Mohamed Muntaz Ali, State Counsel Yonika Roland, and State Counsel Abiola Lowe prosecuted four matters for sexual offences before Justice Morris-Ramlall.
In one of these, the accused was found guilty by jury verdict and sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment. Another two accused were found not guilty by unanimous jury verdicts. While the other one accused was remanded back to prison after the jury failed to reach a verdict.
State Counsel Caressa Henry, State Counsel Alvaro Ramotar, State Counsel Joy Williams and State Counsel Padma Dubraj prosecuted five matters in Justice Kissoon’s court.
Two of these matters were for the offence of murder and three for the offence of attempt to commit murder, with the alternative of felonious wounding.

In one of the murder cases, there were two accused who both pleaded guilty to the offence. The number one accused was sentenced to 20 years in prison while his co-accused was sentenced to 18 years. They were both ordered to undergo anger management and vocational training while in prison.
The accused in the other matter was acquitted by a unanimous jury verdict. In two of the three matters for the offence of attempt to commit murder, the complainants declined to testify and trial judge directed the juries to return formal verdicts of not guilty. The accused in the other one was found not guilty by a jury verdict.

State Counsel Delon Fraser, State Counsel Simran Gajraj and State Counsel Mikel Puran prosecuted 13 matters before Justice Peter Hugh. Three of these matters were for the offence of murder, one for manslaughter, eight for attempt to commit murder with alternative counts of felonious wounding, and one for the offence of accessory after the fact of murder.

In one of the three murder trials, the trial judge upheld a no-case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty. In another matter, there were two accused who were indicted together and both pleaded guilty as charged.
They were respectively sentenced to 17 years and 15 years’ imprisonment. The other one accused was also sentenced to 15 years in prison. They were all ordered to undergo development programmes while in prison.
In the one manslaughter case, the trial judge upheld a no-case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty. In two of the eight matters for attempt to commit murder with alternative counts of felonious wounding, one accused pleaded guilty to the alternative count and was sentenced to five years in prison.

The other one was found guilty by jury and sentenced to nine years and four months in prison. In another trial the accused was acquitted by jury. In the four other trials, there were all formal verdicts of not guilty. In one of these, the complainant had died. While the complainants in the others did not wish to testify.

One trial was aborted after a juror was seen speaking with a family member of the accused.
The accused for the offence of accessory after the fact of murder was acquitted by jury verdict. State Counsel Rbina Christmas, State Counsel Padma Dubraj and State Counsel Mtumika Lumumba prosecuted five matters before Justice Ally-Seepaul.

Three of these matters were for the offence of murder and one each for the offences of manslaughter, attempt to commit murder with alternative counts of discharging a loaded firearm and felonious wounding.
Of the three murder matters, one accused pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Another one was found guilty by a jury verdict and sentenced to 29 years in prison. The other accused was found not guilty by a jury verdict.
In the two separate matters for the offences of manslaughter and attempt to commit murder with alternative counts of discharging a loaded firearm and felonious wounding, the trial judge directed the juries to return formal verdicts of not guilty. In one, the trial judge upheld a no-case submission. In the other, the complainant testified that he did not wish to proceed.

Senior Counsel Taneisha Saygon, State Counsel Caressa Henry, State Counsel Praneta Seeraj and State Counsel Christopher Belfield completed two matters before Justice Singh. Of these two matters, one was for the offence of murder and the other for the offence of manslaughter.
In the murder trial, there were two accused who were each indicted on two counts; they pleaded guilty to each count of murder. The number one accused was sentenced to 20 years in prison on each count, while the number two was sentenced to 25 years on each count. Their sentences will run concurrently. And in the matter for the offence of manslaughter, the trial judge upheld a no-case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
State Counsel Madana Rampersaud, State Counsel Alvaro Ramotar, Senior State Counsel Nafeeza Baig and State Counsel Marisa Edwards completed five matters before Justice lssacs-Marcus.

One of these was for the offence of murder, two for manslaughter and another two for attempt to commit murder with the alternative count of wounding with intent.
The accused in the one murder trial pleaded guilty as charged and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He will become eligible for parole after serving 15 years. He was ordered to undergo anger management while in prison.
In one of the two matters for the offence of manslaughter, the jury returned a not-guilty verdict for the accused. In the other one, the trial judge upheld a no-case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
Of the two matters for attempt to commit murder with the alternative count of wounding with intent, one accused was acquitted by a jury verdict. The complainant in the other trial testified that he did not wish to testify.

As such, the trial judge directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty. The 24 matters declared nolle prosequi by the DPP were for the offences of murder, malicious damage to property, manslaughter, wounding with intent to commit murder, attempt to commit murder, sexual offences, abduction and robbery with violence, wrongful confinement and abduction for ransom.
In two of these matters, the accused were both medically certified as being unfit to stand trial, while three complainants have since died. The complainants in the other matters submitted written statements in which they indicated they did not wish to proceed.