Preparations being made for judge-only trials – AG Nandlall

Last Updated on Tuesday, 9 January 2024, 16:25 by Denis Chabrol

Legislation to allow for judge-only trials for specified cases is being drafted, even as Guyana prepares to abolish preliminary inquiries for indictable cases in the magistrate court, Attorney General Anil Nandlall said Monday.

“There are certain cases where it is now accepted that the interest of justice is not best served where judges must sit with a jury and we in Guyana will now embrace that reality,” he told a 2023 review news conference.

Mr Nandlall later told Demerara Waves Online News that a contract has already been awarded for the drafting of the judge-only legislation, as Guyana seeks to follow the trend in the United Kingd0m and a number of Caribbean countries. “There are certain technical cases that are unfit for consideration by a jury,” he added.

According to the government’s constitutional principal legal adviser, plans are also advanced for the abolition of Preliminary Inquiries in the magistrate court of indictable charges to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for trial in the High Court.  He said the no-PI bill would be tabled in the National Assembly shortly after the 2024 National Budget.   He explained that PI cases could take as much as three years but if that process is scrapped, cases could be removed from the magistracy to the High Court. “This will move the backlog so we will have to get more judges and other resources,” he said.

The Attorney General, meanwhile, issued a public appeal for the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to appoint more Justices of Appeal so that there can be two Court of Appeal sittings at once and sittings in Berbice and Essequibo.

With the Court of Appeal Act having been amended to increase the number of Justices of Appeal to eight, he said “we ought to have advertisements soon published seeking suitably qualified persons to apply” for positions.

Now that the Court of Appeal building on High Street and Wight’s Lane has been extended, Mr Nandlall said if there are more judges two appeals could be heard there by two differently constituted courts either simultaneously or after another.

“It will also remove a lot of backlog pressure from the Court of Appeal in Georgetown,” he added.