Breaking Down the Sexual Offences Act
Generally, all hearings in Guyana’s Magistrates’ Courts and the High Court are open to the public, including the media.
This practice is intentional, and part of the principle of open justice, which requires that judicial proceedings be conducted in a transparent manner. What better way to achieve open justice than to allow observers in the courtroom as proceedings take place? This practice allows anyone interested in a specific matter (including the media), or anyone who just wants to observe random matters to sit in the galleries of the courts and observe.
In the post-Covid-19 era, Guyana’s judiciary took impressive steps toward ensuring open justice when doing so became difficult. These steps include allowing litigants, their counsel, and journalists to attend hearings remotely (via Zoom etc) and even providing live video-audio streaming of decisions of national interest, such as the decision(s) in the election petition cases.
