Femi Harris-Smith

In the action brought against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enforce the liability clause in the permits issued to ExxonMobil Guyana for its offshore oil operations, Justice Sandil Kissoon, in a ruling yesterday, said the EPA, which he described as “submissive,” had abdicated its responsibilities “…thereby putting this nation and its people in grave potential danger of calamitous disaster.”

As he had done before in dismissing a case against former Guyana Defence Force Chief of Staff, Gary Best, who had been charged with driving under the Influence (DUI) in relation to the death of cyclist Jude Bentley, Magistrate Clive Nurse has thrown out  another case of DUI, even though a breathalyser seemingly recorded a reading above the legal limit.

High Court Judge Damone Younge has ruled that President Irfaan Ali must act with “all convenient speed” in ensuring the appointments of a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice and therefore must also move with swiftness in engaging Leader of the Opposition Aubrey Norton as is mandated by the Constitution.

Deonarine Bhikhari who murdered an Enmore father of four, Daniel Singh, in 2000 was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment and will have to serve 30 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Finding that he was attempting to litigate issues already pronounced upon, a Court on Friday last dismissed a suit brought by former Police Sergeant and murder accused Colin Bailey, whose contention it was, that the State had unlawfully and maliciously imprisoned him.

With the completion of arguments in the appeal of Chief Justice Roxane George’s ruling throwing out the Elections Petition which challenged the recount order from which the polls of March 2nd 2020 were declared, the Court of Appeal will next move to rule.

Andy Boodram who back in 2018 was sentenced to life in prison for severely wounding  his neighbour Deonarine Persaud, who had asked him to turn down the volume of the music he was playing, has appealed both his conviction and sentence.

On April 27th, the Full Court will rule on the appeal filed by former President David Granger, who is challenging Justice Navindra Singh’s waiver of a pre-trial review (PTR) in a libel suit he filed against a number of media houses.

The issue of whether the ruling in the case of Desmond Morian v.

Former Attorney General Basil Williams SC has been unsuccessful in his attempts to avoid being sued in his personal capacity in a defamation claim which former Deputy Solicitor General, Prithima Kissoon, had filed against him.

The Government has filed an appeal against a decision handed down late last year by High Court Judge Navindra Singh, who has ruled that Senior Superintendent of Police Marcelene Washington, who is currently facing criminal prosecution, is no longer required to seek the Court’s permission whenever she wants to leave the country.

In what is not a new, but extremely rare occurrence, bail has been granted to a murder accused here in Guyana.

In what will be seen as a historic decision, the Chief Justice has confirmed the rights of Indigenous peoples of the Upper Mazaruni to their ancestral lands, though she stopped short of saying that those rights are “to the exclusion of all others.”

Finding no merit in his appeal, the Guyana Court of Appeal yesterday affirmed the conviction and 65-year sentence imposed on Esan Germain, who a jury in 2017 had found guilty of sexually abusing a 4-year-old girl on three occasions—with the final assault occurring when she was seven years old.

Finding that he did not have a fair trial, but in the same vein that the prosecution’s case against him appears strong, the Guyana Court of Appeal has ordered that rape accused, Julius Brunker, face a fresh trial.

Both the conviction and 28-year sentence imposed upon child rapist Colvin Norton were yesterday affirmed by the Guyana Court of Appeal.

Ruling that no stay would be granted, or additional time for appeals to first be heard on interlocutory issues, Justice Gino Persaud yesterday cleared the way for the substantive action challenging the suspension of the previous Police Service Commission (PSC) to move forward.

Denying that it is responsible for any destruction, the owner of the MV Tradewind Passion which crashed into the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) last month, resulting in what the government says will cost in excess of one billion dollars in repairs; is arguing that the incident resulted from unforeseen circumstances.

Owing to a number of issues which have arisen, the hearing in the appeal filed by Vikash Ramkissoon and Sarah Browne, who are challenging the annulment of their appointments as Parliamentary Secretaries; has been deferred until those issues are resolved.

Guyana yesterday pilloried Venezuela’s preliminary objections to a case seeking validation of the 1899 arbitral tribunal award fixing the boundaries between the two countries and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is to notify the agents of both sides when it is ready to rule.