Commonwealth Caribbean Criminal Practice and Procedure

Dana S. Seetahal SC was an attorney at law of over 30 years’ experience. She was a privatepractitioner who appeared for both the defence and the State. She was also a public prosecutorfor several years and a senior lecturer at the Hugh Wooding Law School, Trinidad and Tobagofor 12 years. She held a Master of Science in Criminology from Florida State University and wasa Fulbright scholar. Ms Seetahal wrote widely and presented numerous papers on criminaljustice and related areas. She acted as a criminal justice consultant to governments across theregion and various international bodies. Ms Seetahal was for eight years an independent senatorin the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. In January 2006 she was appointed Senior Counsel.Tragically Dana Seetahal was murdered in May 2014 at Woodbrook, Trinidad. Her untimelypassing left relatives, friends and the legal fraternity in a state of shock at the callousness of herassassination. In 2011, when I, Roger Ramgoolam, assumed the post of Course Director ofCriminal Practice and Procedure at the Hugh Wooding Law School, St Augustine, I quicklydiscovered that this excellent textbook, which was the backbone of the course, would serve as avaluable guide for both students and practitioners of criminal law. Subsequent to my appointment,Ms Seetahal released a revised fourth edition to the text that kept abreast of the latestdevelopments in the law. I consider myself fortunate to have been asked by the publishers of theprevious editions to do the honour of working on a new fifth edition of this text. It is my hope thatthe various updates I have inserted into the text will further enhance the quality of the text andensure its continued status as an indispensable reference for all persons in the legal fraternity.Roger Ramgoolam is the course director for Criminal Practice and Procedure at Hugh Wooding Law School. He is an experienced practitioner and has served as state counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, San Fernando, as well as in the capacity of Magistrate for the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago.

• 1: Acknowledgements; 2: Introduction; 3: Table Of Abbreviations; 4: Table Of Cases; 5: Table Of Legislation; 6: Chapter 1 – Jurisdiction; 7: Chapter 2 – Abuse of Process; 8: Chapter 3 – Arrest, Search, and Seizure; 9: Chapter 4 – Prosecution and Bail; 10: Chapter 5 – Initiation of Proceedings; 11: Chapter 6 – The Plea; 12: Chapter 7 – Summary Trial; 13: Chapter 8 – Criminal Procedure Rules; 14: Chapter 9 – Summary Appeals; 15: Chapter 10 – Triable Either Way; 16: Chapter 11 – Committal Proceedings; 17: Chapter 12 – Paper Committals and Committal for Sentence; 18: Chapter 13 – Preliminaries to Indictable Trial; 19: Chapter 14 – The Course of an Indictable Trial; 20: Chapter 15 – The Jury; 21: Chapter 16 – The Verdict; 22: Chapter 17 – Criminal Appeals; 23: Chapter 18 – Sentencing; 24: Chapter 19 – Juveniles; 25: Chapter 20 – Extradition; 26: Appendices; 27: Bibliography; 28: Index.