In the courts

Court allows ship owner in bridge collision to lodge limited liability amount of $245.5M: The High Court has allowed the owner of the Panama-registered ship which collided with the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) last month to lodge the sum of $245.5 million as limited liability compared to the more than $1 billion being sought by the bridge company and the vessel has now left Guyana’s waters. The limited liability application which was made by Panamanian company, Canama Trading, which owns the vessel—the Tradewind Passion—was granted by High Court Judge Fidela Corbin-Lincoln. Canama Trading’s position has been that if it is at all liable for any damage, it would be only for $244,944,006.21. The Judge in granting the Order sought by Canama Trading to argue limitation of liability in the action brought against its ship by the bridge, also ordered that the vessel be released, once a letter of undertaking constituting the limitation fund has been lodged with the Registrar of the Supreme Court. According to the Order seen by this newspaper, Justice CorbinLincoln directed that the letter be lodged no later than November 25th and that thereafter the DHB Company forthwith release the vessel to return to service and leave Guyana. Stabroek News has been able to confirm that that letter has already been lodged, and that the ship has been released.

Man gets 15 years for raping girl, 12: Thirty-twoyear-old father of four Ray Williams was on Wednesday afternoon sentenced to 15 years behind bars for raping a 12-year-old girl on three occasions over a seven-month period last year. He had pleaded guilty to all three counts of the offence of rape of a child under 16 years, when they were read to him at his arraignment some weeks back. At his sentencing hearing, Justice Sandil Kissoon underscored the lack of remorse on the part of the offender, to whose scheming he said the young child was vulnerable. In an impact statement, the tearful mother of the now 13year-old child said that her daughter has not been the same since the assault which she said has caused the teen shame, owing to the manner in which she is often mocked by her peers and the community. After considering all the circumstances of the case, both aggravating and mitigating— Justice Kissoon imposed a sentence of 12 years on the first count; 13 years, three months on the second count; and 15 years, three months on the third count.