When gun cases are accounted for, sex cases dominate the matters before the St Mary Circuit court that opened this morning Monday, Feb 22, in Port Maria.
Of the 68 cases down to be tried, 41 cases are gun court matters, while the remaining 27 are circuit court matters of which nearly half, 13, are sexual offence cases.
The statistics for gun and circuit matters include: murders – eight; attempted murder — one; rape — three; sexual intercourse with a person under the age of sixteen – five; one each for carnal abuse, incest and assault occasioning grievous bodily harm; illegal possession of firearm – 21; robbery with aggravation – 15; shooting with intent – seven; burglary – two, and three cases for possession of identity information (lottery scamming).
Presiding high court judge is Justice Carol Lawrence-Beswick.
(See details in this week’s issue of The Times).
