-Imam jailed for rape to face eight similar charges

-trials also listed for Coen Jackson & former AFC councillor accused of murder

WHEN the new session of the Demerara Assizes opens on Tuesday, its agenda will comprise trying a total of 367 cases. Among the long list of accused is Mufti Nezaam Ali, the “Muslim Scholar” who has been accused of raping nine young boys below the age of 16.

In 2019, ‘Mufti’ was sentenced by Justice Navindra Singh to 45 years in prison, after a 12-member jury found him to be guilty of engaging in sexual activity with a child by abusing his position of trust.

Ali was, at that time, an Imam at the Turkeyen Masjid, where the boys were all attending the Arabic and Quranic lessons that he taught.

This time around, he will be tried for the eight additional counts of engaging in sexual activity with boys under the age of 12, back in 2012. The charges allege that between December 2011 and January 2012, Ali, being a teacher attached to the Turkeyen Masjid, engaged in sexual activity with the children. He was granted bail in the sum of $1.3 million at the time.

During the 2019 trial, Ali denied raping the victim, claiming that he was suffering from erectile dysfunction. However, the prosecution told the court that while there were no physical scars present on the child, the act left emotional scars on the victim and that the accused betrayed the victim’s trust by taking away his innocence.

Justice Singh, in passing down his ruling, had said that he considered the geography of the act and determined that Ali took advantage of an under-privileged child.

“There is nothing I can tell you that can mitigate these types of crime,” Justice Singh said to the accused. It was noted, too, that whilst the young victim was put to identify Ali during the court trial, the accused smiled at the young man.

Meanwhile, also set to stand trial in the coming weeks is Coen Jackson, the former Bishops’ High School teacher who has been accused of sexual misconduct and the “grooming” of school-aged girls, during his tenure as an economics and business teacher at the reputable school.

In this instance, Jackson is facing the charge of ‘sexual activity with a child by abusing position.’

In 2018, Jackson was charged and later committed to stand trial at the Demerara High Court for engaging in sexual activity with a child under the age of 16, while being in a position of trust. He was released on $300,000 bail, pending the commencement of his trial.

Meanwhile, the list of cases, more than 130 of which are related to rape and the sexual abuse of children, also includes the trial of 25-year-old police constable, Carlos Pollydore who was charged for sexually penetrating a 15-year-old girl and permitting another man to also do it in a room at the police station at Mathew’s Ridge, Barima-Waini, Region One.

Previous reports on this matter indicate that in January 2012, the teen was standing on the road with her friend, while the accused and another male were about eight feet away from them.

As the matter was called up before then Chief Magistrate, Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, the prosecutor informed that the accused, Constable Pollydore, ordered the girl to go at the station and, when she refused, he threatened to “lock her up.”

Reports are that the young lady subsequently complied with the order and when she arrived at the station, the accused took her into a room, had sex with her and then allowed the other male to do the same.

According to the prosecutor, the accused then sent the girl home, where she related the incident to her sister. During the investigations, the victim was able to positively identify the policeman.

The approaching sitting of the Demerara Assizes will also see Orlando Fraser being on trial for also raping a child. Last year, the 49-year-old Lot 12 Pike Street, Kitty, Georgetown resident was placed on bail for raping a 12-year-old child.

According to information, Fraser picked up the child from school and took her to his residence where he raped her. The child reported the incident to her teacher, who immediately called in the Childcare and Protection Agency.

MURDERS
Additionally, the Assizes also has on its agenda the retrial of former Alliance For Change (AFC) Councillor, Mandy Sukhdeo, along with her father Surendra Sukhdeo and a neighbour, Rean Ghani, who have been accused of killing 22-year-old fisherman, Shereffudeen Mohamed Nazamudeen, in February 2017 at Ruby, East Bank Essequibo.
When the matter was being tried in February 2017, a 12-member jury was unable to arrive at a verdict, and the trio have been on remand ever since. It was reported that Mandy Sukhdeo and the now-dead man were well-acquainted, having grown up together in the same village.

The former AFC Councillor claimed that on February 14, 2017, she was walking along the Ruby Access Road, when Nazamudeen grabbed her bag and ran away. She allegedly raised an alarm, after which her father and a neighbour came to her aid.

The trio claimed that they managed to corner Nazamudeen in a nearby yard and dealt him several blows about his body. They then tied him up with pieces of wire and rope and continued beating him about his body.

Nazamudeen sustained several injuries about his body and was taken to the Leonora Cottage Hospital, where he subsequently died from haemorrhage and shock due to multiple blunt force traumas to his head, chest, and other parts of his body.

Also set for trial are 27-year-old Sherwin Clarke and 22-year-old Godfrey Gill who were charged for the murder of pensioner, David Ramkissoon, also known as ‘Short Man’.

It is believed that the accused, both from villages along the East Coast of Demerara, killed the 76-year-old man during the course of a home invasion and robbery which occurred in August 2016. Ramkissoon’s body, with its throat slashed, was discovered in a pool of blood in the living room of his home by his son. He was a father of five.

Also expected to be on trial is Corwyn Arthur called ‘Cross Eye’ who was charged for allegedly stabbing to death Claude DeJonge, his ex-lover’s reputed husband on May 10, 2018.

Initial reports are that following the incident, Arthur, a 32-year-old unemployed man of Amelia’s Ward, Linden, escaped. He was later apprehended at a house at Bennett Dam, Rosignol Village, West Bank Berbice.

The facts, as reported then, indicate that DeJonge, the now-dead man, was engaged in an argument with “Cross Eye” who refused to leave his premises. The police were called in and Arthur left DeJonge’s home. The accused reportedly texted DeJonge to relay his intention of making his life “a living hell” for calling the police.

Hours later, as DeJonge was sleeping alongside his partner – Arthur’s ex-lover- the man, armed with a knife, gained entry through an open bedroom window and is said to have dealt DeJonge three stab wounds.
Tanya Samuels, DeJonge’s partner and Arthur’s ex-partner, is said to have witnessed the horrific ordeal and alerted neighbours with her screams.