Dear Editor,
I write on behalf of a young man who was the victim of an assault that almost resulted in his death. About 6 years ago he had a misunderstanding with an individual who is from the same village of Lusignan on the East Coast of Demerara where he resides. A car driven by the accused was used as a weapon against him. The accused used a car and knocked him off his motorcycle. While he was lying in an unconscious state on a pile of sand on the street at Lusignan as a result of the severe impact, the accused reversed the car. The rear wheel of the car rolled over the victim’s head, causing the young man’s jaw to be crushed. The matter took five years for the trial, held at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court, to complete.
In 2025 the accused was found guilty at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court and sentenced to prison. However, the accused is out on bail because he filed an appeal. It has been over 6 months and nothing has been heard about the appeal. Checks with the Appeal Court have shown no record of this matter. In fact we were told that the delay is a result of the Court Clerks and senior ranks within the police force at C Division Headquarters, Cove and John ‘ducking’ the file. There are many cases in Guyana whereby people have been sentenced to prison, but because of corrupt institutions within the Guyanese society, justice sometimes gets interfered with.
Poor people who cannot retain expensive attorneys and post high bails rot in prison. The wealthier ones use the corrupt system to their advantage