Principal Magistrate Faith Mc Gusty repeatedly cautioned former Elections Commissioner Robeson Benn about his conduct in Court today, after he refused to answer a series of questions posed to him by the Defence.

Benn was a member of on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) during the 2020 elections.

Returning to the stand today to face cross-examination following his earlier testimony, Mr. Benn was questioned by Defense Counsel, Nigel Hughes on whether he had documented discrepancies that allegedly occurred during the course of the 2020 elections.

Benn said the issue was a matter of public knowledge.

“How many times do you want me to answer the question? I have answered it four times already,” Benn told the Counsel.

Interjecting, Principal Magistrate Mc Gusty, said it was not for witness to question the Defense Counsel.

“It seems that the witness is mistaken as to his purpose in the Court,” the Magistrate said, as she called on the Prosecution to advise the witness on his conduct.

Jumping to his feet, Prosecutor Darshan Ramdani, in response, told the Court that sometimes witnesses feel so strongly about a matter that their emotions come out.

But the Principal Magistrate redirected the Prosecution’s attention to Section 64 of the Summary Jurisdiction (Magistrates) Act and Section 22 of the Summary Jurisdiction (Procedure) Act.

According to Section 64, anyone who willfully insults a Magistrate or is guilty of any other grave misconduct during the hearing of any matter can be removed from Court and detained on the orders of the Magistrate, while Section 22 states that if a person refuses to answer any question without sufficient reason, the Court can adjourn the case for no more than eight days, and have the person committed to prison.

Defense Attorney, Ronald Daniels, who made a virtual appearance, told the Court it was “frustrating” to listen to Commissioner Benn, explaining that his conduct was unacceptable.

“Mr. Benn is being patently disrespectful to Counsel and he is being disrespectful to the Court. And respectfully, this can’t be excused whereby my learned friend, simply saying that this is an emotionally charged matter, and emotions are flaring,” Daniels told the Court.

But notwithstanding the Principal Magistrate’s initial warning, she was forced to issue another warning, as Benn refused to answer questions put to him by the Defense.

No Documented Discrepancy

Meanwhile, as he was being cross-examined by Attorney Hughes, the former GECOM Commissioner told the Court that while he learned belatedly that the Election Commission’s server was removed from the Tabulation Centre by the then IT Manager Aneal Giddings, he was not aware that an audit was conducted following the incident.

 Earlier this week, the former IT Manager admitted to the Court that the removal of the server was unauthorized and against the instructions of the then Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Roxanne Myers.

During the course of his testimony today, Mr. Benn told the Court that while he witnessed discrepancies during the course of the elections, he did not document any of them.  

In his earlier testimony, he had linked then GECOM staffer Enrique Livan to the alleged discrepancies that surfaced during the tabulation of the votes for District 4.

However, he testified today that he did not document any of the alleged discrepancies.

“Did you in your capacity as Commission, after you would have observed the activities of Mr Livan, caused Mr Lowenfield or any other GECOM official to conduct an audit of the information Mr Livan had entered into the system,” Hughes questioned.

In response, Benn repeatedly sought to explain that he had made a request to then Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield to have the discrepancies “sorted out.” He said it was not an instruction.

It was not until he was cautioned by the Court and the question was repeated to him several times, that he informed the Court that he did not instruct that an audit be done.

The case will continue tomorrow.

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