Decision likely soon on if all election charges will be heard by one magistrate - source

State prosecutors as well as the defence attorneys and their clients, are all awaiting the new court date to hear two of the Magistrates at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court pronounce on whether the 30-plus election fraud charges will be tried before one Magistrate instead of the three who are currently presiding over the matters.

The defendants, former Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy Chief Election Officer, Roxanne Myers; former District Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo; member of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Volda Lawrence; APNU+AFC activist, Carol Smith-Joseph; former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Registration Clerks, Shefern February, Michelle Miller, and Denise Babb– Cummings; along with Information Technology Officer, Enrique Livan, were all charged in June of 2021 with conspiring to defraud the voters of the March 2020 general and regional election.

According to sources close to the case, the adjourned date which was given by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan two weeks ago as April 18, could see a decision on an application made by the state’s prosecutors sometime last year for the matters to be tried before one magistrate.

Additionally, the source said that two other fraud charges are before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly who had ruled that those charges must be tried indictably rather than summarily. However, that ruling was subsequently appealed by the state’s prosecutors in the High Court and as such they are also awaiting a decision from the judge on a way forward for those two matters.

The majority of the charges are before Chief Magistrate McLennan and Principal Magistrate Sherdel IsaacsMarcus.

Sources say that 80 persons are now to be called as witnesses to testify in the matters. According to them, the prosecutors have since made disclosure to magistrates McLennan and Daly but not to Magistrate Isaacs-Marcus as yet.

In July of last year two applications were made by the state’s prosecutors, Darshan Ramdhanie QC, Glenn Hanoman, Mark Conway, Ganesh Hira, Arudranauth Gossai, and George Thomas for, the matters to be tried before one magistrate instead of three and for the charges to be amended.

The defendants were all released on $100,000 bail each.