With two more convicts recently sentenced to die and no executions carried out since 1997, the number of persons on death row is approaching capacity with no clear idea of when legal challenges to some of the sentences will be resolved.
The death row inmates with cases attempting to set aside their convictions are being spared thanks to High Court bureaucracy. The longer the various appeals take to be heard the better are the chances of the convicted murderers being able to challenge their execution on the grounds that the detention under the conditions at the Camp Street jail could be considered cruel and inhumane.
The last executions at the Georgetown Prisons were on August 25, 1997 when Michael Archer and Peter Adams were executed for the 1986 murder of Rasheeda Khan of Corentyne, Berbice during a robbery. Their executions followed that of Ayube Khan and Rockcliffe Ross four months apart during the previous year. Khan was executed on February 12, 1996 for the murder of a schoolboy and Ross on June 4, 1996 for the murder of Vibert Mohan who was killed on his first day at work.
The cases presently in legal limbo are the constitutional motions brought by Oral Hendricks, Lawrence Chan and Ravindra Deo challenging their execution, as well as the appeal by Noel Thomas now that his co-defendant Abdool Yasseem has died.
Hendricks, Chan and Deo were granted conservatory orders barring their execution and these orders were extended at recent hearings before Justice Jainarayan Singh. Informed sources say that there are no indications when the substantive issues will come up for hearing.
Thomas' appeal is a little more complicated. Thomas and the late Yasseem were refused a conservatory order by a High Court judge but which the Full Court later granted on appeal. In the meantime a constitutional motion challenging the appointment of Justices of Appeal Nandram Kissoon, Ian Chang and Claudette Singh on the grounds that it was contrary to the recommendation of the Judicial Services Commission awaits hearing.
Justice Oswell Legall had begun hearing the case but it was not completed before he resigned. As a consequence it has to be reassigned and a High Court official has told Stabroek News that it will come up for hearing in due course.
Thomas and the late Yasseem had explored every avenue available in their efforts to have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Their appeals have extended over more than a decade during which time Yasseem and his father, who was behind most of the appeals, have died. It is a case which has seen both Attorney-General Doodnauth Singh SC and former Attorney-General Bernard De Santos SC associated with their defence. Also because of comments he had made, their lawyers successfully challenged another Attorney-General, Charles Ramson SC from chairing the Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy when it considered their petition.
Their successful appeal to a United Nations committee which had recommended their immediate release from prisons, led to Guyana withdrawing from the United Nations Optional Protocol on Civil and Political Rights. At the same time, Guyana then re-subscribed to it with a reservation which now prevents convicted murderers from appealing to that body.
Thomas and Yaseem were sentenced to death in April, 1988.
The continued delay in the hearing of the case, legal observers say, could result in Thomas being eligible for release if his appeal is upheld and his sentence commuted to life imprisonment. While there are no legal provisions as to how long a prisoner must remain in jail when sentenced to life imprisonment, there is an unwritten rule that the prisoners do not serve more than twenty years, with nine months being the length of a prison year.
Meanwhile Thomas, Chan, Hendricks and Deo continue to languish on Death Row together with 21 other convicted murderers, two of whom are female. Apart from the four whose executions have been stayed, there is nothing presently preventing the State from carrying out the executions of the others who do not have petitions pending before the Committee for the Prerogative of Mercy.
Informed sources say that the present Death Row population is now near to the capacity of the facility reserved for these prisoners. The facility can accommodate 30 prisoners all of whom are by law required to be individually supervised. These sources say the larger the Death Row population the greater the strain on the prison administration given the need to comply with the law regarding the supervision of this category of prisoners.
Last month two others, Odinga Green and Shawn St Hillaire were sentenced separately to die for murders they committed. (Patrick Denny)