Dana S. Seetahal SC was an attorney at law of over 30 years’ experience. She was a private practitioner who appeared for both the defence and the State. She was also a public prosecutor for several years and a senior lecturer at the Hugh Wooding Law School, Trinidad and Tobago for 12 years. She held a Master of Science in Criminology from Florida State University and was a Fulbright scholar. Ms Seetahal wrote widely and presented numerous papers on criminal justice and related areas. She acted as a criminal justice consultant to governments across the region and various international bodies. Ms Seetahal was for eight years an independent senator in 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 untimely passing left relatives, friends and the legal fraternity in a state of shock at the callousness of her assassination. In 2011, when I, Roger Ramgoolam, assumed the post of Course Director of Criminal Practice and Procedure at the Hugh Wooding Law School, St Augustine, I quickly discovered that this excellent textbook, which was the backbone of the course, would serve as a valuable 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 latest developments in the law. I consider myself fortunate to have been asked by the publishers of the previous editions to do the honour of working on a new fifth edition of this text. It is my hope that the various updates I have inserted into the text will further enhance the quality of the text and ensure 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.