Son of former Prime Minister moves to have wounding conviction thrown out

The 34-year-old Hinds of Agricola, East Bank Demerara was found guilty of the unlawful wounding charge by Magistrate Geeta Chandan-Edmond but the case was stalled after the Magistrate was terminated by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) during the same week that she was preparing to sentence the young man.

Son of former Prime Minister moves to have wounding conviction thrown out

The son of former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds has moved to the High Court in an effort to get his unlawful wounding conviction overturned.

The man, Sam Hinds Jr. has submitted an affidavit to Justice Navendra Singh in which he is asking the Court to overturn the unlawful wounding conviction for which he is currently awaiting sentencing. He was charged and found guilty of wounding his 18-year-old sister-in-law, Tensa Layne.

The 34-year-old Hinds of Agricola, East Bank Demerara was found guilty of the unlawful wounding charge by Magistrate Geeta Chandan-Edmond but the case was stalled after the Magistrate was terminated by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) during the same week that she was preparing to sentence the young man.

According to the court document seen by News Source, Hinds Jnr. is contending that his constitutional rights with respect to a fair hearing within a reasonable time and due process was being flagrantly disregarded and continues to be infringed by the Judicial Arm of the State.

Hinds in the Affidavit which was drafted by Attorneys Peter Hugh and Latchmie Rahamat, reasoned that this is as a result of the “undue” delay in arriving at a finding and further delay in arriving at a sentence by former Magistrate Geeta Chandan- Edmond.

When Chandan-Edmond was terminated earlier this year, the matter was transferred to Magistrate Annette Singh. But Singh decided to seek legal advice before moving ahead with the sentencing.

Hinds is also contending that it would unfair for Singh to sentence him since she has no knowledge of the evidence taken at the trial and as such cannot offer a reasonable sentence.

He also said the evidence laid before Chandan-Edmond did not support the commission of any offense and as a consequence her decision should be seen as arbitrary, null and void and a breach of his fundamental rights under Article 114 of the Constitution.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had advised that Magistrate Singh conduct a new trial for Hinds Jnr. But Hinds does not believe this is enough and wants the matter thrown out altogether.

His assault and unlawful wounding matter was before the court for more than a year. He was first charged for the incident which occurred in February 2014 on March 3, 2014 where he pleaded not guilty.

According to the Prosecution, the incident took place at Duke St. during an argument he had with the woman.

The court heard that he dragged the woman by her hair, shoved her to the ground, stomped on her and threatened to shoot her as he accused her of being a thief.

The prosecution claimed that Hinds whipped out his weapon and “cranked” it as he continued to threaten the woman to “treat her like a thief”.

This is not the first time that the younger Hinds has been accused of violent behavior. He is the father of a six-year-old son whose mother filed for asylum in the United States after accusing the former Prime Minister’s son in court documents of being extremely violent against her and beating and threatening her. Hinds has always denied those charges.

The ex wife who still lives in the US also accused him and his mother of whisking her young son to Guyana without her permission.  (Kurt Campbell)

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