TWENTY-SIX-YEAR-OLD University of Guyana (UG) student, Sheneza Jafarally, who was on trial for allegedly threatening to bomb the tertiary institution, was, on Wednesday, freed of the charge.  Jafarally also called ‘Diane’, of Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara, appeared in the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Rushelle Liverpool.
Particulars of the charge alleged that, on February 5, 2019, at Cummings Lodge, Jafarally sent by means of a public telecommunication device system, for the purpose of causing needless anxiety to the staff and students, a message which she knew to be false.

In December, the prosecution closed its case after calling about nine witnesses to give evidence.
Jafarally’s attorney, Latchmie Rahamat made a no-case submission on the grounds that the prosecution failed to lead evidence to support the particulars of the charge and to prove that her client sent a message using the telecommunication system and that she sent a message to cause public anxiety.
When the matter was called on Wednesday, Magistrate Liverpool upheld the no-case submission and dismissed the case.
Speaking subsequently with the Guyana Chronicle, Rahamat said, “There was absolutely no evidence to show that this young lady was the one that sent any message to any telecommunication systems about any bomb threat to cause any anxiety.”

She described this lack of evidence as a “big blow” and a “gaping hole” in the prosecution’s case.
The attorney further explained that when she saw the statements in the case for the first time, she knew that the matter would have ended in her client’s favour.
“I could not understand having gone through these statements that were disposed through the magistrate, why she was even charged… I did not believe then and I still do not believe now and I’ve been proven right by the magistrate’s ruling that there was never enough evidence to charge her in the first place,” she added.
Jafarally spoke to the media shortly after she was vindicated.

“It has caused me great psychological trauma. I have not been able to attend school as yet. And that is not because I am not allowed to attend, but because I am so afraid because of the situation I was put in. I have been going to therapy for the past year. I don’t think another person should have to go through something like this because of negligence, because of people not investigating properly,” she said. The Guyana Chronicle had reported that based on a police investigation, a telephone number belonging to Jafarally was allegedly linked to the number from which the bomb threats to the university were made. The case against her was that she, on the day in question, made several calls to the institution and made bomb threats which resulted in the cancellation of classes.