Police handwriting analyst continues testimony in trial of former GGB accountant
Amir Mohammed, a police handwriting analyst, was yesterday allowed to continue his testimony during the trial of Rosanna Ramnarine, the former Guyana Gold Board (GGB) accountant accused of six counts of fraud.
Mohammed’s evidence came three weeks after presiding magistrate Faith McGusty overruled objections made by the defendant’s attorney, Nigel Hughes, who had contended that the witness was not doing certain things to be deemed qualified or considered an expert.
Mohammed was deemed competent by the magistrate to continue his testimony.
During the continuation of his testimony yesterday in Georgetown, the witness noted that on April 6th, 2018, he would have received two sets of 10 documents for handwriting analysis. The documents, he noted, were in envelopes at the time of submission, each sealed with police seal number 13.
A side by side examination and comparison was then carried out on the submitted documents, using magnification, lighting and various comparators.
Mohammed stated that based on the examination and comparison, he was able to conclude that there were a number of general and personal identifiable handwriting features. This included initial stroke, spacing between letters, loops, hooks, peeks, connectivity of letters, where they are connected to each other, and formation of letter strokes. The witness stated that from this analysis he formed the opinion that the handwriting and numbers in question were written by the same author but the signature on the document was written by a different author.
Mohammed is expected to return to court on November 5th, when he is to be cross-examined by the defendant’s attorney.
The charges against Ramnarine came subsequent to a 2017 investigation into allegations of “millions of dollars” in theft through the manipulation of the gold testing system.
Prosecutor Dominic Bess is leading the police force’s case.