The Demerara Criminal Assizes heard a total of 37 cases, out of the 307 which were presented in its first assizes for 2023.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) noted that during the assizes which commenced on January 10, 2023, 49 cases were disposed of by the State.
And, 37 were heard in the High Court.
Out of the cases presented, the DPP said 19 were for sexual offences while 15 were related to murder. There was one attempted murder and the other two were for the offence of murder committed furtherance to a robbery.
The remaining 12 matters were nolle prosequi, which simply means that the DPP did not continue with the prosecution of these cases.
According to DPP, there was a total of 43 accused altogether in these matters.
“There were 10 guilty pleas, two convictions, 17 formal verdicts of not guilty, eight verdicts of not guilty, and two hung jury,” DPP said.
In providing a breakdown of the cases heard in the assizes, the DPP said in 13 out of the 19 sexual offence cases which were heard by Justice Sewnarine-Beharry, the complaints refused to proceed with the cases, resulting in the judge directing the jury to return formal verdicts of not guilty.
And of the remaining six sexual offence matters, five of the accused were acquitted by jury verdicts, while in one case, the accused was found guilty and is awaiting sentence.
Another six matters – five murders and one attempted murder – were bought before Justice Morris-Ramlall.
The DPP said in two of the murder trials, three accused pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter.
One of the accused, who was a juvenile, was sentenced to a maximum of five years imprisonment.
“In the other case, there were two accused who were jointly indicted, the Number 1 accused was sentenced to 22 and a half years imprisonment while his co-accused was sentenced to 18 and a half years imprisonment,” DPP said.
“In one other in which two accused were indicted together, the trial judge upheld a no case submission for the Number 1 and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty, while the Number 2 accused was acquitted by a jury verdict of not guilty. The State has served Notice of Intention to Appeal,” the statement noted.
And in another two murder trials, the DPP said the juries returned not guilty verdicts for both accused.
Justice Jo-Ann Barlow presided over another 10 murder cases and two murders in furtherance of a robbery.
“In six of these murder matters, a total of two accused pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of Manslaughter.
“In one case, both accused were each sentenced to 7 years and 353 days imprisonment. In the other, while the number 1 accused pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is awaiting sentencing, the trial for his co-accused was aborted because the court ruled it would be prejudicial. He was further remanded to await a new trial before a new jury.”
According to the DPP, the other accused were sentenced to four years, four months and 18 days; four years, four months and 29 days and five years, 10 months and seven days, respectively after the Court made deductions in each of their cases.
One other accused is awaiting sentencing.
In another three murder trials, the DPP said one accused was found unanimously guilty by jury verdict and is awaiting sentence while another one was further remanded to prison after his jury failed to reach a verdict.
And in the third case, the trial judge upheld a no-case submission due to insufficient evidence.
Further, out of the one offence for murder in the furtherance of a robbery, one accused was acquitted by jury verdict of not guilty while in the other, the Court upheld a no case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
One matter remains in progress.
