Attorney-at-law questions Magistrate’s decision to dismiss GEA fuel case

Apr 27, 2010 News

Attorney-at-law, Euclin Gomes, is questioning a ruling by Magistrate Priya Beharry which saw the dismissal, yesterday, of a case against two defendants who were charged with illegal possession of fuel.
The matter was scheduled to be heard in the Providence Magistrate’s Court at 09:00 hours yesterday. Gomes was appearing on behalf of the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) in a matter of GEA versus Azaad Hussain and Tarran Piaralall, both of Non Pareil, East Coast Demerara.
The defendants on August 13, 2008, in the vicinity of Old Road, Eccles, East Bank Demerara, reportedly had in their possession a quantity of dieseline which did not contain the GEA marker in the required proportion as determined by the relevant Minister.
The two were charged accordingly and placed before the court for unlawful position of the unmarked fuel.
At the request of Acting Chief Executive Officer of GEA, Mahender Sharma, Nandlall and Associates Bhagwati Chambers of South Road, Lacytown, Georgetown, through attorneys-at-law Mohabir Anil Nandlall, Euclin Gomes and Manoj Narayan were authorised to prosecute the matter.
However, the smooth flow of the matter in the Providence Magistrate’s Court was hindered, as according to Gomes, Magistrate Beharry had previously refused to have Anil Nandlall prosecute the said matter on behalf of the GEA.
As a result, Nandlall was forced to turn to the High Court to secure an order from Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang who ruled that GEA has the authority to allow Nandlall or any duly authorised attorney-at-law to prosecute the matter on its behalf.
And during the hearing at the High Court, Gomes said that the matter in the Magistrate’s Court was held up.
However, the matter resumed yesterday and in a matter of minutes was dismissed even without the presence of Gomes and his witnesses or the defendants’ counsel.
“The defendants’ counsels did at no point in time inform our chambers of information that would have led to their absence.”
Gomes said that he arrived at the East Bank Magistrate’s Court around 9:08 hours yesterday and remained outside for about four minutes to brief his witnesses.
However, by the time Gomes and his witnesses entered the courtroom he was informed by Magistrate Beharry that the matter was dismissed against both defendants.
According to the attorney-at-law, it was strange that a matter of such magnitude was dismissed by the Magistrate mere minutes after 09:00 hours, which is in fact an unusual occurrence.

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Attorney-at-law questions Magistrate’s decision to dismiss GEA fuel case

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