Latest update March 29th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 05, 2014 News
… victims refuse to testify
Perpetrators of sexual offences in Guyana continue to walk free because the victims are reluctant to pursue the
matters in the High Court.
Judging from figures released by the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions, following the closure of the Demerara June Assizes, a number of cases in the sexual offences bracket, including rape, were Nolle Prosequi by DPP Shalimar Ali-Hack, when the victims declined to testify against the accused persons.
According to the figures, 17 sexual offence cases were dealt with by justices William Ramlal, James Bovell-Drakes and Rishi Persaud. They comprised, rape, buggery, indecent assault and incest.
Except for one matter where the accused pleaded guilty, another where there was a not guilty verdict and one more where the accused asked for time to present his defence, the other matters were discontinued, mainly because the virtual complainants had migrated or had refused to testify.
During July, seven sexual offences matters were presented before Justice James Bovell-Drakes. Of these seven matters, four were for rape, one of Buggery, one for Carnal Knowledge and another one for the offence of lncest.
In five of these matters, the Virtual Complainants (VCs) testified before the jury that they no longer
wished to give any evidence against the accused. Justice Bovell-Drakes had no option but to direct the jury to return formal verdicts of not guilty.
In the matter for the offence of Buggery, evidence was led to prove that the complainant had migrated and was no longer interested in proceeding with the matter.
The accused in the matter for the offence of Incest was acquitted after the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty.
Justice William Ramlal dealt with one sexual offence matter and in that matter for Rape and Robbery, he quashed the indictment and ordered that the Preliminary Inquiry be done over.
Justice Rishi Persaud disposed of seven matters for the offences of Rape, Rape and Indecent Assault, attempt to commit a felony and Indecent Assault and Carnal Knowledge of a girl under 15 years.
The accused in one of the matters for Rape of a child under 15 years of age pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment.
The Virtual Complainants in the other six matters testified before the jury that they did not wish to testify. The Trial Judge directed the jury to return formal verdicts of not guilty.
Four matters were presented before Justice Naresh Harnanan. Two of these four matters were for the offence of Rape, while a third matter was for the offence of Carnal Knowledge of a Girl under 15 years and
Buggery. The fourth matter was for the offence of Rape, Buggery and Robbery under Arms. The accused in one Rape case was acquitted after the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty, while in the other Rape matter a retrial was ordered after a hung jury was returned.
The VC in the matter of Carnal Knowledge of a Girl under 15 years and Buggery testified before the jury that she did not wish to offer any evidence and the Trial Judge directed the jury to return a formal not guilty verdict.
In the case of Buggery and Robbery Under Arms, the unrepresented accused informed the court that he would need five years to prepare his own defence. He was further remanded to Prison.
The June Demerara Criminal Assizes commenced with three judges, Justice William Ramlal, Justice Navindra Singh, and Madam Justice Dawn Gregory, sitting during the month of June.
Then five judges- Justice Franklyn Holder, Justice James Bovell-Drakes, Madam Justice Diana lnsanally, Justice Naresh Harnanan and Justice Rishi Persaud – sat during the month of July.
Two of these judges, Justice Franklyn Holder and Madam Justice Diana Insanally, continued during the month of September, bringing the Assizes to an end.
During this Assizes which commenced on Tuesday June 3, 2O14, a total of 242 cases were listed to be heard but only 49 matters were disposed of.
In addition to the 17 sexual offence cases, the High Court dealt with other cases such as murder.
In relation to murder, there were four convictions, seven not guilty verdicts, one retrial and two hung jury verdicts.
In one of the matters, the accused was acquitted in Justice William Ramlal’s court after the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty.
Justice Navindra Singh completed two cases for the offence of Murder. In one matter the accused was acquitted after the jury returned a verdict of not guilty while in the other matter the jury returned a
unanimous guilty verdict and the accused was sentenced to 57 years’ imprisonment.
Madam Justice Dawn Gregory completed three murder matters. In one of these cases, the accused was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment after the jury unanimously found him guilty on the lesser count of Manslaughter. The accused in the other two Murder trials both pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of Manslaughter and were sentenced to 20 and 15 years’ imprisonment respectively.
Madam Justice Diana Insanally disposed of four murder matters. The accused in one of these four matters was further remanded to prison to await a retrial after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
In another matter, the Trial Judge upheld a no case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty. However, the State has since appealed this decision. In the other two matters, the accused were acquitted after the jury returned unanimous verdicts of not guilty.
Justice Holder also completed two murder matters. In the first matter he withdrew the case from the jury. Consequently, the jury was directed to return a formal verdict of not guilty. The accused in the other Murder matter was acquitted after the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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