Sale of Police CCTV footage: Defence gets time to fix affidavit deficiencies in US-sanctioned LO’s bail bid

The High Court in Demerara has postponed proceedings on a judicial review application filed by Bonita Mohamed, mother of United States sanctioned and indicated Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed, seeking to challenge the refusal of bail to her son on a cybercrime charge. The matter was called on Wednesday, November 4, before Justice Priscilla Chandra-Hanif.

However, the defence was granted additional time to correct deficiencies identified in the supporting affidavit, and the proceedings were adjourned to November 12 for hearing.
The court is expected to rule on November 13 on whether Mohamed will be granted bail.
The substantive judicial review application is scheduled to be heard on November 23.
The adjournment followed objections by Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, who described the affidavit as “one of the worst drafted affidavits” he had encountered.

Inadmissible hearsay, scandalous assertions
He argued that it contained inadmissible hearsay, scandalous assertions and irrelevant material. He also complained that the State had been given only about 24 hours to respond.
Bonita Mohamed is seeking to quash Magistrate Abigail Gibbs’ October 30 decision refusing bail and have her son admitted to reasonable bail.
Her affidavit argued that the Section 9 Cybercrime Act charge was improperly framed because the prosecution identified Azruddin Mohamed as the recipient of electronic data, rather than the person who accessed the protected computer system and supplied the footage.
She maintained that receiving the recordings did not establish the offence and that her son had lawful justification to obtain and disclose them because they were relevant to his defence in the case arising from the October 12 shooting incident outside Senior Superintendent of Police Prem Narine’s Kitty home. Narine is the head of the Special Branch Unit.
The application also challenged his 25-day remand, alleging that it exceeded the 21-day limit under the Criminal Law Procedure (Paper Committals) Act 2024.
The application also alleged bias on the part of Magistrate Gibbs, claiming that she was in a relationship with Deputy Superintendent of Police Jamine Bacon, the investigating officer in the case.
Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde and attorneys Siand Dhurjon and Damien DaSilva represented Azruddin Mohamed.
The defence told Justice Chandra-Hanif that it needed additional time to correct deficiencies in the original affidavit and sought permission to file a supplementary affidavit from Azruddin Mohamed himself to support the bail challenge.
Justice Chandra-Hanif subsequently directed that Mohamed’s supporting affidavit be filed by 18:00h on Wednesday.
Forde said the defence chose judicial review under Section 20 of the 2022 Bail Act to challenge the magistrate’s refusal of bail through a more direct legal process, arguing that the charge against Mohamed was classified by statute as a non-serious offence.
Named as respondents in the judicial review proceedings were the Director of Public Prosecutions, Magistrate Abigail Gibbs and the Attorney General of Guyana.
Nandlall indicated that his defence is expected to be filed on or before November 17, while the Director of Public Prosecutions is also required to submit a response.
Justice Chandra-Hanif imposed strict deadlines for any additional submissions before adjourning the proceedings to November 23.
Mohamed and Police Constable Ryan Greene were jointly charged with unauthorised granting of access to or giving of electronic data, contrary to Section 9 of the Cybercrime Act 2018.
Neither was required to plead to the indictable charge, and both were remanded until November 24. Police Constable Ashton Chappelle was subsequently charged and remanded to prison by Magistrate Gibbs in connection with the matter.
The US-sanctioned opposition leader remained on bail in the separate extradition proceedings.
He is also on bail in the criminal proceedings stemming from the October 12 incident outside Senior Superintendent Narine’s Kitty residence, in which he was jointly charged with his driver, Eugene Thorne, and videographer, Mario Mohamed, with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and attempting to obstruct the course of justice.
They were each granted $750,000 bail on the three charges, subject to conditions including surrendering their passports, remaining in Guyana and staying away from Narine’s residence. They were also ordered to refrain from contacting or interfering with Narine, a key prosecution witness in the extradition proceedings, his family or any other prosecution witnesses.

Source: Guyana Times