Election Fraud Trial further delayed until September; Magistrate on 30-days sick leave

The Election fraud trial, which started last week and was adjourned after three days, will now see the Attorneys and Defendants back in Court in mid-September, as the presiding Magistrate has fallen ill and has been granted 30-days sick leave.

The case was originally schedule to restart on Monday, but over the weekend, the Prosecution and Defence teams were informed of the Magistrate’s illness, with a plan to restart the case on Wednesday.

However, the two sides were informed today by the Magistrate’s Clerk that she remains ill and has been granted 30-days sick leave.

Since the trial started, only two witnesses for the Prosecution have so far taken the stand, with one of them still to complete her testimony.

During the last Court date, the Special Prosecutor, Darsham Ramdhani, complained about the many objections by the Defence. He had also questioned the Magistrate, Leron Daly, about her note taking and some of the evidence that had been disallowed in the matter.

Since then, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has also questioned the pace of the trial so far, and the objections being allowed by the presiding Magistrate.

The Vice President has also called for Diplomatic observers to be present in the Courtroom to observe the trial.

The main Opposition parties have since accused the Vice President of attempting to intimidate the Court, and they have called on the Guyana Bar Association to take note of the statements being made by the Vice President about the ongoing trial.

The defendants in the matter are former Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield, former Deputy Chief Election Officer Roxanne Myers and former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, along with Opposition Member of Parliament, Volda Lawrence; People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) Member Carol Smith-Joseph; and Election Officers Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Bobb-Cummings and Michelle Miller.

Together, the nine accused are facing 19 conspiracy charges relating to an alleged attempt to declare fraudulent results during the course of the 2020 Elections.

They have all declared their innocence.