Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty has ruled that the long-delayed election fraud trial involving former senior electoral officials and political operatives will restart from the beginning at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
The decision resets all prior proceedings and mandates that the charges against the defendants be formally read once more.
Magistrate McGusty on Monday also requested written submissions on whether the trial will proceed summarily or indictably, with a final decision expected on January 13, 2025.

Defence attorney Nigel Hughes has expressed a preference for an indictable trial, which would require a preliminary inquiry to assess whether sufficient evidence exists to commit the case to the High Court.
However, prosecutor King’s Counsel Darshan Ramdhani has argued for the matters to proceed summarily.
The case was previously overseen by Senior Magistrate Leron Daly, who had made critical rulings about how charges would be tried before going on medical leave in September 2024.

Only two witnesses including Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Sonia Parag have managed to testify before Magistrate Daly.
Magistrate McGusty’s appointment prompted fresh discussions on whether the trial should be restarted entirely, with defence attorney Hughes advocating for the principle of de novo.
According to Hughes, this legal standard requires the case to be treated as if it were starting anew, voiding all prior rulings.
The defendants in the case include prominent political and electoral figures: former District Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, former Health Minister Volda Lawrence, People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) activist Carol Smith-Joseph, former Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers, and GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings, and Michelle Miller.
Together, they face 19 charges of conspiracy to commit electoral fraud. All defendants have pleaded not guilty and are out on cash bail.
The allegations stem from claims that the accused manipulated the results for Region Four, the country’s largest electoral district, to favour the APNU+AFC coalition. Prosecutors allege that these actions sought to inflate the coalition’s vote count and undermine the democratic process. Central to their case are key pieces of evidence, including flash drives containing Statements of Poll (SOPs) and Statements of Recount (SORs), approximately 72 witness statements, and official documents. The defence team also includes attorneys-at-law Ronald Daniels, Eusi Anderson, and Darren Wade. On the prosecution side, there is also attorney-at-law Latchmie Rahamat and several state counsels from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
The reportedly altered elections results, announced by Lowenfield, indicated an APNU+AFC win with 171,825 votes against the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C) 166,343.
However, a subsequent recount, overseen by a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) team and GECOM, reversed the outcome, revealing a PPP/C victory by over 15,000 votes.
The recount clearly demonstrated that the PPP/C won with 233,336 votes while the coalition received 217,920. GECOM made the decision to dismiss Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo in August 2021, after the allegations of fraud came to light. Many welcomed this decision.