Dear Editor,
All rape cases tried in Georgetown at present are conducted in camera, whether or not the victim is a child or an adult. This is due to the fact that the young judges at the session have opted for the camera sittings and the banning of the press from the proceedings.
I personally have been accustomed to enter courts in the past where the older judges have had cause to conduct cases in camera without clearing the court of the press. I attempted to visit the courtrooms where the current cases were in progress, only to be met by the marshal of the court who pointed me to the door with the explanation that the court was in camera and the press was debarred. I asked whether that was the judge’s order and the reply was yes.
Also, the press in Demerara are not only banned from the courts during the in camera sittings when all the courts are doing rape cases, but members of the press are no longer accommodated with desks as was done in the past, but have to jostle with members of the public for seating accommodation on the benches in the courtroom.
The exception to this is the Guyana Court of Appeal, where there is adequate seating accommodation for the press, and the Chief Magistrate’s Court, Georgetown.
One day, after a judge had asked me to leave a chair not far from his clerk, I enquired from him who the person was responsible for issuing chairs in the court to the press, and he told me, “No one can direct me how to use my court.”
To get back to the rape cases, the press is not admitted until the jury arrives with their verdict. In such a case, the only information that a journalist could glean from the verdict is whether the accused is guilty or not guilty. All that a judge can do in such a case is to free the accused or to pass sentence, depending on the verdict. Therefore to be let into the court for the verdict only is tantamount to telling a journalist who has no prior information and wishes to write a proper report on the rape case, to get the information the best way they can.
We wish that young judges would follow the footsteps of their colleagues when dealing with journalists, remembering always that they too are professionals who demand respect. Give the press proper seating accommodation.
Yours faithfully,
George Barclay
