Femi Harris-Smith

While his former lover and co-convict Bibi Sharima-Gopaul will have to spend 25 years behind bars for the gruesome murder of her 16-year-old daughter Neesa Gopaul, Jarvis Small has been cleared of all culpability.

Citing a number of errors which it is contending the Chief Justice made, the opposition APNU+AFC has filed an appeal to the ruling upholding the President’s appointment of Clifton Hicken to act as Commissioner of Police.

Declaring the President’s appointment of Clifton Hicken to act as Commissioner of Police, lawful; Chief Justice (Ag) Roxane George SC said the Head of State acted well within the Constitution, given the peculiar circumstances with which he was confronted.

While their neighbour Rean Ghani has been cleared of all culpability in the fatal 2017 beating of Ruby fisherman Shereffudeen Nazamudeen; father and daughter duo Surendra Sukhdeo and Mandy Sukhdeo have been found guilty of unlawfully killing the young man.

Acting Chief Justice Roxane George SC, has tentatively set August 23rd to rule on whether the President had meaningfully consulted the Opposition Leader in appointing Patrick Findlay Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC).

International Day against Trafficking in Persons (TIP) will be observed tomorrow, and as part of the local judiciary’s efforts to combat this scourge, it has placed significant emphasis on reporting the crime.

Forty-one-year-old father of two, Colin Venture called “Dain,” who back in 2020 raped a 13-year-old girl on three separate occasions has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Former AFC parliamentarian Charrandass Persaud who back in 2018 helped to topple the APNU+AFC government after he voted in favour of the then Opposition PPP/C’s no-confidence motion, has won $7M in damages against then Minister of National Security Khemraj Ramjatta who he had said defamed him.

With the promotion of members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) by the new Police Service Commission (PSC) having taken place in spite of his efforts to prevent any such move, retired Assistant Commissioner of Police and immediate former Chairman of the Commission Paul Slowe has had to withdraw his application for an injunction.

Citing its national importance, and having heard all the arguments yesterday, acting Chief Justice Roxane George SC has tentatively set August 11 to rule on whether the President’s appointment of Clifton Hicken as acting Commissioner of Police was lawfully done.

Lawyers for the government and elections petitioners battled for nearly five hours yesterday before the CCJ on whether a decision on a petition, which had not been determined on its merits, could be appealed to Guyana’s Court of Appeal.

Clearly overwhelmed by emotion and moved to tears, Jones Raymond spoke of what he described to be a harrowing experience he was made to endure in prison on remand for close to a decade.

Following an undertaking given by the Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall SC, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton is now under no obligation to respond to President Irfaan Ali’s request for consultation regarding the appointment of Clifton Hicken who is currently acting as Commissioner of Police.

With the State denied both leave to appeal as well as its application for a stay, the way is now clear for Justice Gino Persaud to move ahead to hear the substantive challenge brought by the former Police Service Commission (PSC) to the suspension of its Commissioners and non-promotion of ranks.

With a $20M judgment and court costs in the sum of $75,000 currently against him for defaming former government Minister Annette Ferguson, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has incurred an additional $75,000 debt to Ferguson, after losing his bid to set aside the initial sums awarded to her.

With the Full Court set to rule on whether it will grant the State’s application to appeal its ruling that Justice Gino Persaud continues to hear the substantive challenge brought by the former  Police Service Commission (PSC) to the suspension of its Commissioners and non-promotion of ranks, Justice Persaud has stayed any further conduct of the matter.

Stating that the selection of an intimate partner is a private and a personal choice between same-sex consenting adults, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) has stuck down Antigua and Barbuda’s buggery laws which were challenged by gay rights activist  Orden David and the Women Against Rape Inc.,

Thirty-eight-year-old former taxi-driver Thurston Semple, has been sentenced to 11 years behind bars for brutally raping and beating a sex worker back in February of last year.

After spending eight years on remand for murder and facing two previous trials which both ended in hung juries, Lennox Wayne, called ‘Two Colours,’ was visibly relieved yesterday after a jury in his third and final trial acquitted him.

Finding that Diamond Quarry had been given an “unequivocal assurance” from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) that its quarry licence application over 848 acres had been favourably considered, and Notice of the Intention to Grant would be published, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in a unanimous judgment, on Wednesday ruled that licence over what was deemed disputed lands, belongs to Diamond Quarry Inc.