THE Muslim cleric recently charged on three counts of rape, allegedly committed on three boys under the age of 12 years, made another court appearance yesterday. Before Magistrate Alex Moore at Sparendaam Court, East Coast Demerara, Nizam Ali called ‘Mufti’, who is on $250,000 bail granted by the High Court, was served statements in the cases involving him.
The magistrate set April 10 and 11 for the preliminary inquiry (PI).
The accused is being represented by Attorney-at-law Mr. Peter Hugh, in association with Ms. Latchmie Rahamat.
Last February 2, Ali appeared in front of the same magistrate, charged with having sexual intercourse with the three boys and was remanded to prison before a judge granted him bail.
The charges said he engaged himself in sexual intercourse with three under age boys at the Turkeyen Section ‘D’ masjid where the virtual complainants would, usually, take Islamic lessons from him.
It is alleged that Ali committed the acts between December 2011 and January 2012, while he was in a trusted position as a religious teacher and knew or could be reasonably expected to have known of the trust in relation to the boys.
Meanwhile, the children involved are still being kept by the Child Care and Protection Agency.
The charges against Ali and his court appearances followed weeks of investigations, during which police were criticised for the delay in prosecuting him and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack recused herself from advising on the probe.
Ali, an employee of the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG), has been sent on leave pending the outcome of the cases.