I WAS warned that to write to your august body would be a waste of good manpower as well as time. I beg to differ from those comments because I feel that any good democracy enjoys freedom of press to express oneself and one’s beliefs, regardless if such expressions are in direct contrast to that of the establishment. I am quite sure that you are familiar with this case which has been prolonging now for a little over three and a half years and after which three of the persons that stood accused were not only freed, but amazingly so, the comments from the upper echelons of the legal fraternity are among those who registered shock and outrage as to why charges were instituted against these three people in the beginning.
Mr. Arjoon’s attorney, the highly respected and learned attorney Mr. Nigel Hughes, also QC trained, had this to say about it, and I quote verbatim: “There was no evidence linking Mr. Arjoon to this crime and even the police could not justify why he was charged.”
The police could not justify, simply amazing, that the courts could snuff out 3 1/2 years from a highly respected citizen’s life and then expect that he can just carry on as though nothing happened.
Please be mindful also that the magistrate, the Honourable Mr. Azeez was not only aghast at the Director of Public Prosecution’s failure to respond to a letter from the prosecution asking that the third case be withdrawn, but also at the said Director’s insistence of continuing with the charges. At this point I would like to quote the Honourable Magistrate. “Why doesn’t the DPP wake up and smell the coffee? I cannot understand why the DPP is keeping the matter. It is clear that the lady will not come to give that testimony for whatever reason people may want to speculate.”
This coming from the Magistrate! My only comment at this juncture is that someone should politely point out to the Honourable Magistrate that maybe the DPP drinks tea in the morning and not coffee.
Please be mindful again that the Honourable Magistrate noted in his remarks that even if the woman had testified he didn’t believe that he would have come to a different conclusion, which is to discharge and for some unexplained reason they (the DPP) still want to hold on to it.
Can the DPP retain a straight face or any aura of respectability after the way these citizens of Guyana, especially Mr. Arjoon, were treated. The only inside of a courtroom that Mr. Arjoon could boast of having seen before this ordeal, has been in his living room of movies and television. He was nine, I repeat nine months from a full retirement package and due to the utter recklessness and savage barbaric actions on his character from the DPP’s office, the last 3 1/2 years of his life has been hellhole of unimaginable proportions. This is because of maybe one person’s fanatical desire to shoot down an honest citizen’s integrity. It is time that the whole of Guyana wake up and smell something, if not coffee then something else.