ABSTRACT
After a jury is selected, including alternates where permitted and utilised, the defendant is put in the charge of the jury who will determine whether he is guilty or not guilty. The judge may decide at that stage whether to sequester the jury or not. It is not permissible for a judge to discharge a juror simply because of the possibility of his ruling at some later stage of the trial that the jury should be sequestered: Abdool Salim Yaseen and Thomas v The State (1990) 44 WIR 219. In that case, the Court of Appeal of Guyana held that after a jury had been selected, jurors could only be excused as provided for by statute and common law. Fear of being sequestered was not a sufficient reason for excusing a juror from service.
