Mohamed’s High Court bail hearing adjourned to November 12
The High Court in Demerara has adjourned the hearing of an application seeking bail for Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed on a cybercrime charge, pushing the matter to November 12.
The application, filed by Mohamed’s mother, Bonita Mohamed, came before Justice Priscilla Chandra-Hanif on Wednesday, November 4. It asks the court to quash Magistrate Abigail Gibbs’ October 30 decision refusing Mohamed bail, and to admit him to bail.
The defence was granted additional time to correct deficiencies identified in the supporting affidavit, and to file a supplementary affidavit from Mohamed himself in support of the bail challenge. The hearing was adjourned to November 12, with a ruling on the bail application scheduled for November 13. The substantive judicial review application is scheduled to be heard on November 23.
The adjournment followed objections by Attorney General Anil Nandlall, who described the affidavit as “one of the worst drafted affidavits” he had encountered. He argued that it contained inadmissible hearsay, scandalous assertions and irrelevant material, and complained that the State had been given only about 24 hours to respond.
Bonita Mohamed’s affidavit argued that the Section 9 Cybercrime Act charge was improperly framed, because the prosecution identified Azruddin Mohamed as the recipient of electronic data, rather than the person who accessed the protected computer system and supplied the footage. She maintained that receiving the recordings did not establish the offence, and that her son had lawful justification to obtain and disclose them because they were relevant to his defence in proceedings arising from the October 12 shooting incident outside Senior Superintendent of Police Prem Narine’s Kitty home.
The application also challenged his 25-day remand, alleging that it exceeded the 21-day limit under the Criminal Law Procedure (Paper Committals) Act 2024.
The application also alleged bias on the part of Magistrate Gibbs, claiming that she was in a romantic relationship with Deputy Superintendent of Police Jamine Bacon, the investigating officer in the case. That allegation has not been determined by any court.
Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde and attorneys Siand Dhurjon and Damien DaSilva represented Mohamed. Forde said the defence chose judicial review under Section 20 of the 2022 Bail Act to challenge the magistrate’s refusal of bail through a more direct legal process, arguing that the charge against Mohamed was classified by statute as a non-serious offence.
Named as respondents in the judicial review proceedings were the Director of Public Prosecutions, Magistrate Abigail Gibbs and the Attorney General of Guyana.
Mohamed and Police Constable Ryan Greene were jointly charged with unauthorised granting of access to or giving of electronic data, contrary to Section 9 of the Cybercrime Act 2018. Neither was required to plead to the indictable charge, and both were remanded until November 24. Constable Ashton Chappelle was subsequently charged and remanded to prison by Magistrate Gibbs in connection with the matter.
Mohamed’s custody position has not changed as a result of the adjournment. He remains remanded until November 24 in the cybercrime case, and he remains on bail in the separate extradition proceedings, as well as in the criminal proceedings stemming from the October 12 incident.
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