EIGHT months after being charged, former Government Minister, Simona Broomes, and her driver/bodyguard, Dexter Austin, were, on Thursday, freed of all criminal charges by Magistrate Dylon Bess at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. Broomes and Austin were before the court on a total of 12 charges, and were represented by attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes. They both pleaded not guilty to the charges, and were released on self-bail. The first of those charges alleged that the duo, on August 3, 2020, at Sophia, used threatening language towards Dion Younge, who is a People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) councillor, while the second also alleged that the duo unlawfully restrained Younge. The last of the joint charges alleged that Broomes and Austin caused public terror. Broomes was charged separately for assaulting Younge, so as to cause him actual bodily harm, while Austin was also charged separately for discharging a firearm within 100 yards of public space. On Thursday when the case was called, the court prosecutor did not have the case file in his possession, which lapse had, in the past, caused the case to be delayed on several occasions.

It was on those grounds that Magistrate Bess dismissed the charges against Broomes and Austin. The Guyana Chronicle had previously reported that on August 3, Broomes took to Facebook to livestream her pursuit of two men who had allegedly removed some ‘No fishing’ signs she had posted around her property.
The footage showed Broomes and her driver trailing the men all the way from her Meadowbrook home to the Sophia area where she confronted them about their business at her private residence. The former minister, who appeared to be distressed at the time of the livestream, said that when she initially enquired of the men what was their reason for being at her home and destroying her signs, they’d responded by making death threats, before attempting to escape.
During the confrontation, Broomes identified one of the men as Younge, a former schoolmate of hers who had since become a PPP/C councillor. Both men, who could be seen clearly in the Facebook livestream, maintained their innocence of the allegations all the while. During the confrontation, Younge was reportedly assaulted, while Austin, who is a rural constable, pulled out his service weapon and discharged several rounds.