How much more can police clumsiness be tolerated at police stations and in the courts?
On September 28 Police Legal Advisor and Special Prosecutor, Mandel Moore was unable for the fourth time to produce evidence in the cybercrime case against Detective Sergeant, Dion Bascom. The evidence in question is the recording of a press conference which was streamed live on multiple platforms and as such, the prosecutor should be able to produce a copy to the court yet Prosecutor Moore once again informed the court that he does not have a copy of the Police press conference to present. When the case was recalled Senior Magistrate Daly, held the prosecutor in contempt of the court and ordered that he be escorted and placed in custody in the lock-ups after he repeatedly failed to produce evidence. The Police was quick to declare that Prosecutor Moore was never placed in custody!
This is an ongoing scenario in a litany of bundling processes in the legal system with seemingly no end in sight for similar calamities. With government expenditures in the legal system skyrocketing to 11 billion to ensure safety of Guyanese one is left to wonder what aspects of law enforcement and criminal proceedings have seen improvements. The recent dismissal of the case against Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, Sharon Hicks, who was arrested by the police after allegedly demanding bribes from a businessman who paid her with marked bills that were retrieved by the police during a sting operation is a total calamity. The businessman who contacted the police refused to testify hence the dismissal.
The recent ‘assistance’ in the Fagundes murder case by the Regional Police has turned out to be somewhat of a Jerry Springer talk show. Not only did the team refuse to interview the whistlebglower Detective Sergeant, Dion Bascom, but not a single one of the findings and instructions to charge has been enacted. Juxtapose this scenario with a man murdering his wife, burying her body in the back dam and the DPP accepting a plea of manslaughter and we arrive at Jurisprudence somersaulting into a comedy show in the Land of many Waters which presently imports water.
Around 2017, under the Coalition gov’t, about seven high level PPP officials were charged for fraudulently obtaining under-valued house lots what is colloquially named Pradoville. Among the accused was The Director of Public Persecutions, Shalimar Ali Hack. In 2020 all charges were subsequently dismissed. Did she drop the charge against herself?
Leyland Chitlall Roopnaraine
