AG asks court to throw out Mohamed’s interim-bail application — ruling expected Friday
Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, asked the Demerara High Court on Thursday to strike out Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed’s application for interim bail, arguing the bid rests on a “jurisprudential error” and cannot be considered before the substantive challenge to his bail refusal is decided.
“This cannot be classified as an application for bail. It is not. It is a judicial review. Bail is a consequence,” Nandlall told Justice Priscilla Chandra-Hanif at the Demerara High Court, according to reports from the hearing.
Mohamed is challenging Magistrate Abigail Gibbs’ October 30 decision to refuse him bail on an indictable charge under the Cybercrime Act. The substantive judicial review — brought by his mother, Bonita Mohamed, acting as his next friend — asks the court to quash the magistrate’s decision and grant him bail. That hearing is set for November 23.
The interim-bail application, filed on November 8, asks for Mohamed’s immediate release while the judicial review is pending. Nandlall argued that bail is a consequential remedy that can only be considered after the substantive proceedings are heard and determined, and that the defence cannot pursue it as a separate interlocutory remedy in the meantime. He is asking the court to strike out the application rather than consider the request for temporary release.
Mohamed’s legal team — Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde, Siand Dhurjon and Damien DaSilva — argued that keeping him in custody until November 23 causes prejudice that a later decision cannot undo.
Bonita Mohamed has offered conditions if her son is released, including surrendering his travel documents, remaining in Guyana, reporting regularly to police, and having no contact with his co-accused or prosecution witnesses except through his lawyers.
Justice Chandra-Hanif has not yet ruled on the interim-bail application. A ruling is expected today, Friday.
The DPP’s separate application to strike out six portions of Mohamed’s supplemental affidavit was also listed on Thursday. No decision on that application has been reported.
Mohamed and Police Constable Ryan Greene are charged under the Cybercrime Act over the alleged unauthorised handling of police surveillance footage linked to the October 12 shooting outside the Kitty home of Senior Superintendent Prem Narine, head of the Police Force’s Special Branch. The prosecution alleges $800,000 was paid for the footage.
Mohamed remains remanded to November 24 in the cybercrime case. The cybercrime case is separate from the extradition proceedings against him.
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