Femi Harris-Smith

In accordance with its Article 8, it is the Constitution which in Guyana is the supreme law, and by which any other law which stands in contravention thereof is voided.

Devon Thomas was this afternoon sentenced to 12 years behind bars for the 2013 Mashramani Day killing of Enterprise businessman Kumar Mohabir; but will spend just about a another two, after deductions were made for his pre-trial remand and his guilty plea.

Bevon Griffith who in a drunken attack killed Sophia resident Celwin Mark Allen on Christmas night back in 2017, was yesterday sentenced to 18 years behind bars and will serve around eight years after deductions for his guilty plea and the period he spent on remand.

High Court Judge Fidela Corbin-Lincoln last Friday annulled a decision of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to reassess and impose additional taxes on goods imported by Chinese businessman Shanglin Lin.

At the trial of Sean Dos Santos and Stephon Howard who are accused of the 2017 murder of Abdool Fazal Saheed, the court heard of Dos Santos allegedly telling investigators that it was he and his co-accused who shot and killed Saheed at the Lot 194 Freeman Street pre-mises which they also burgled.

Six years after a challenge was mounted by now retired judge William Ramlal, the High Court has found that a law granting tax exemptions to the Chancellor and Chief Justice to be discriminatory and unconstitutional.

Section 72 of the Criminal Law (Procedure) Act which empowers the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to order the committal of a murder accused for trial even though a Magistrate may have found no prima facie evidence to so do, came under extensive scrutiny before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) yesterday.

With the life of the Police Service Commission (PSC) having expired, Attorney General Anil Nandlall SC, has advanced that the Fixed Date Application (FDA) it filed challenging its suspension by the President and the non-promotion of ranks ought to be struck out.

Colin Grant who said he acted as a “look-out” while businesswoman Sirmattie Ramnaress was bludgeoned sometime during the night of August 30th, 2013 was today sentenced to 21 years behind bars but will serve only eight after deductions for his guilty plea and the period he spent on remand.

Travis McDougall, who is currently serving a 25-year sentence for the shooting death of businessman, Ashok Raghoo, is of the view that the judge who conducted his trial made implications to the jury that he (McDougall) needed to prove his case to them.

Lamenting the condemnation of the judiciary by persons who “should know better,” acting Chancellor Yonette Cummings-Edwards yesterday said it is doing its best to deliver justice despite its limited human resources.

Dialogue Solutions (Guyana Inc.) on Thursday launched its local operations, offering alternatives to the time-consuming settlement of litigation before the courts.

The widow of Fazal Shaheed yesterday tearfully recalled his final words to her that he was “not going to make it” after being shot by bandits who had invaded the Lot 194 Freeman Street premises where relatives were preparing for a memorial service.

It is the contention of Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall SC that the Full Court of the High Court has no jurisdiction to hear any matter arising out of anything connected with an election petition.

Academics Professor Cynthia Barrow-Giles and Dr Ronnie Yearwood see the resort to the courts to resolve political grievances stemming from last year’s elections impasse here as being representative of a trend towards the “judicialization of politics” in the Commonwealth Carib-bean.

“Heinous, diabolical, calculated and brutal,” were among the words Justice Sandil Kissoon used to describe the manner in which Staymon George snuffed out the life of British teenager Dominic Bernard, back in 2015.

Forty-nine-year-old carpenter, Bhola Bhagwandin called ‘Buddy,’ was yesterday morning sentenced to two and a half years in prison for beating a woman he had also been accused of raping back in 2019.

Former Police Sergeant Colin Bailey, who after spending six years behind bars was released following an admission from the prosecution at his trial that it never had any evidence linking him to the murder of his reputed wife of 21 years has vowed to sue the State.

Ex-police constables Delon Chapman and Leon Ashby who raped a woman who had gone to the Turkeyen Police Station to make a report back in 2018, have each been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

With the prosecution conceding that it had no evidence linking Colin Bailey to the murder of his common-law wife—businesswoman Sirmattie Ramnaress—Justice Jo-Ann Barlow today directed the jury hearing the case, to return a formal verdict of not guilty.