28 December 2022 :

The Court of Appeal in Guyana on 22 December 2022 overturned three death sentences and replaced them with life sentences but declined to strike down the death penalty as unconstitutional.
In a statement regarding its “landmark challenge to capital punishment”, the London-based Death Penalty Project said the Court of Appeal was considering the cases of three former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guards members, Devon Gordon, Deon Greenidge and Sherwyn Harte, who in 2013 were found guilty of the robbery and murder of Dweive Kant Ramdass.
The trial judge imposed death sentences on all three defendants. The three men appealed to the Court of Appeal.
The Death Penalty Project, which has, for over three decades, been providing free legal representation to those facing the death penalty, said it offered assistance to the appellants and supported their legal team in Guyana.
“In the course of the appeal, we provided evidence to the Court from leading academics. The evidence showed that capital punishment does not act as a greater deterrent to crime than lesser forms of punishment and that there is a growing consensus that capital punishment is inherently inconsistent with respect for the rule of law,” the project stated.
In its statement, the organisation said the appellants’ legal team that included attorney C A Nigel Hughes of Guyana and Trinidad-based Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes SC, presented the legal arguments in the Court of Appeal, argued that the death penalty was unconstitutional; being arbitrary, irrational, disproportionate, and contrary to the constitutional principle of the rule of law.
“The Court of Appeal has not accepted these arguments and has declined to declare capital punishment unconstitutional in Guyana. The Court of Appeal overturned the appellants’ sentences of death, on the basis that it was unconstitutional for the trial court to hand down the death penalty automatically without affording the appellants individualised sentencing hearings. The failure to do so was a breach of their constitutional rights.
The Death Penalty Project considers that the Court of Appeal should have declared all death sentences unconstitutional.
The legal team will now explore a further appeal to the Caribbean Court of Justice.

15 June 2022 :

Justice Sandil Kissoon, on 8 June 2022, sentenced in Guyana five Berbice men for the murder of Corentyne phone card vendor Danian Anthony Jagdeo, who was gunned down during a robbery in 2017.
The mastermind behind the murder, Mark Dhuman and his wingman Abdul Andre Azimullah, were sentenced to death, while their co-accused, Abdul Zahir and Shannon Batson were sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 35 years. The youngest accused, Satesh Budhram was sentenced to 17 years.
Justice Kissoon took into consideration that Budhram was only 19 when the crime was committed and played a minor role. As such, he expressed the view that he can be rehabilitated.
The judge, while delivering his ruling at the Berbice High Court said that those who resolve to engage and embrace the path of crime and criminality that violates the dignity of human life and threatens the safety and well-being of members of society, must be prepared to accept the consequences of such conduct.
“In the present case, the multitude of aggravating factors and features of this crime reflect the inherent gravity and seriousness of the offence and places this matter at the extreme high end of the scale of gravity of seriousness,” the judge told the court.
He said that the specific aggravating features and factors of the crime included the degree of planning, premeditation, and orchestration by the five accused. He also considered that a deadly weapon was used.
While reflecting on the factual circumstances of the case, Justice Kissoon said that five children have been deprived of the benefit of their father and a spouse denied the presence of her husband.
Justice Kissoon, while handing down the respective sentences, said that the victim was also a former teacher who influenced the lives of many.
The state was represented by prosecutor Abigail Gibbs. The five men were represented by attorneys-at-law Siand Dhurjon, Moti Singh, Ravindra Mohabir, and Surihya Sabsook.