Police must improve efforts to get witnesses to testify & find accused persons who were granted bail – DPP

See full statement from the Director of Public Prosecutions 

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mrs. Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, is proud of her Office’s accomplishment in the reduction of criminal cases listed to be heard for the corresponding period over the past five years from 2020 to 2025.

Her brief comments were made on reflection as the January Demerara Criminal Assizes 2026 opens [tomorrow], Tuesday 13th January, 2026, with 126 cases listed to be heard from January to March.

For the years January 2020, there were 318 cases listed, January 2021, 342 cases listed, January 2022, 367 cases listed, January 2023, 307 cases listed, January 2024, 259 cases listed and in January 2025, 134 cases listed.

Madam DPP noted that herself and her staff have been aggressively working to address the backlog of cases as well as to deal with current cases so as to ensure that persons who are awaiting trials, their cases are heard in a timely manner in accordance with the Constitution of Guyana, “we are proud of the backlog that we have cleared up so far and continue to do same. It’s a work in progress.”

Mrs. Ali-Hack, SC, has assured that her office will continue to work assiduously to clear up the backlog of criminal cases, not only in the Demerara Assizes, but as well as in the Berbice and Essequibo Criminal Assizes.

And while she acknowledged and thanked the Guyana Police Force for its work in support of the DPP’s Office to achieve its objective in clearing the backlog, DPP spoke to some of the challenges confronting her efforts. “We still face the challenge of the police locating the witnesses to testify as well as accused persons who have been granted bail. In some instances, the persons have moved and in other instances, wrong addresses were given to the police at the time of their investigations.”

She noted that more efforts need to be put into ascertaining the accuracy of the addresses at the time of the police investigations. “Ascertaining the accuracy of addresses of witnesses and accused persons during investigations is critical to the prosecution of the cases.”