THE voir dire in the ongoing election fraud trial commenced on Monday morning and continued into the afternoon session before ending at 1500hrs. The proceedings were held before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
A voir dire, or trial within a trial, is a legal process held to determine the admissibility of certain evidence, such as confessions, video recordings, or statements made to police, before it is presented to a jury or admitted into the main trial.
The media cannot report on a voir dire because publishing details could prejudice the fairness of the ongoing trial. Consequently, before the proceedings began, Magistrate McGusty advised reporters on the limits of what can or cannot be reported.
The proceeding is being held to determine the admissibility of the video-recorded interviews submitted by the prosecution as evidence against former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo.
Mingo is one of the nine defendants currently on trial into the allegations of fraud arising from the March 2020 General and Regional Elections.
Four police witnesses were called by the prosecution, led by State Counsel Madana Rampersaud. Those who testified were Senior Superintendent Mitchell Caesar, Assistant Superintendent Komal Pitamber, Inspector Jermaine Laundry, and Lance Corporal Devon Benjamin.
Detective Senior Superintendent and Deputy Crime Chief, Head of the Major Crimes Unit Mitchell Caesar was the first to take the witness box.
He told the court about his role in August 2020, when he conducted an interrogation of Mingo at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, in Eve Leary, Georgetown.
Following his testimony, Caesar was extensively cross-examined by Defence Attorney Nigel Hughes.
Inspector Laundry, the second witness, testified that he acted as the scribe during the interview with Mingo. Lance Corporal Benjamin told the court he was attached to the CID Headquarters Registry.
Assistant Superintendent Pitamber stated that on August 25, 2020, he was stationed at the Major Crimes Investigation Unit, where he made diary entries and assisted in conducting the video-recorded interview with Mingo.
They, too, were cross-examined by Attorney Hughes.
The voir dire is set to continue when the matter resumes on Wednesday.
Those facing charges include former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers; former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo; former Health Minister under the previous A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) government, Volda Lawrence; and People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) member, Carol Smith-Joseph.
Also on trial are former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) staffers Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings, and Michelle Miller.
Collectively, they face 19 conspiracy charges, and are represented by a robust defence team.
Due to the charges arising from the same set of circumstances, the matters have been consolidated. Each defendant has pleaded not guilty to the charges and secured their release by posting significant cash bail.
The prosecution, led by King’s Counsel Darshan Ramdhanie, argued that each defendant played a “critical role” in the deliberate effort to inflate votes for the APNU+AFC and reduce votes for the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
In the weeks that followed the contentious March 2, 2020, vote, Guyana’s judiciary was inundated with multiple applications and appeals filed by various political actors over the electoral process.
The saga lasted five months before a national recount, led by GECOM and a delegation from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), confirmed the PPP/C’s victory and ultimately led to the swearing-in of President Dr. Irfaan Ali on August 2, 2020.
The recount confirmed that the PPP/C won the elections with 233,336 votes against the APNU+AFC coalition’s 217,920.
The initial elections results, announced by former CEO Lowenfield, claimed an APNU+AFC victory.
The APNU+AFC coalition received 171,825 votes, while the PPP/C received 166,343 votes, according to Lowenfield’s election report.
Following the PPP/C’s return to office in August 2020, criminal charges were filed against the defendants.
GECOM made the decision to terminate the contracts of Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo in August 2021, after the allegations of fraud came to light.