In Guyana, an unusually large proportion of felony prosecutors in the High Court in order to prove their case and get a conviction rely heavily on written or oral confessions obtained from the accused while he was in police custody. Anyone who reads the newspaper is aware of the reference to the procedure known as a ‘voir dire (trial within a trial)’, where the accused claims that his confession was not obtained voluntarily and should not be admitted into evidence, and the court has to determine that issue. It seems that, having remorsefully repented and unburdened himself to the sympathetic police officer, the accused is prone to subsequently disavow his confession in court to save his skin. This is not a new phenomenon. As long ago as 1884,
