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Dec 04, 2014 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
The presiding magistrate at Sparendaam, Mr. Alex Moore, has been removed by the Judicial Service Commission pending an enquiry. At the time he was “evicted” he was ensnarled in two controversies. He assigned a suspended sentence to an accused who pleaded guilty to possession of almost 150 pounds of cocaine. Secondly, he purportedly used scatological language in a cuss-down mode to a woman who appeared in front of him.
Obviously, he was removed because of the cocaine judgement. The alleged abuse of a litigant would never be the reason. The magisterial humiliation of poor people goes on daily in the courts. This columnist is of the opinion that the Judicial Service Commission has no interest in such legal atrocities.
One of Guyana’s most prominent medical doctors told me that a very senior Georgetown magistrate (who was a student of mine at UG), shouted at him with the order, “stand up straight when you are in front of me!” The doctor said he explained that he has a back problem, but the lady is so power-drunk that she shouted on him with the same order on another occasion when he was giving testimony.
He informed me that he wrote to the Chancellor about this power-drunk magistrate. After three years he has heard absolutely nothing about his complaint. This doctor works for the State and still attends court. What an unbelievable human being. A far less qualified Guyanese abuses him, State officials ignore his complaint, yet he continues in the job as if he is slave.
A letter by Mr. Mike Persaud appeared in this newspaper (October 29, 2014) with the caption, “Can judges in the High Courts (sic) of Guyana be so easily fooled”? This is a trenchant condemnation of the crazy things that go on in the judicial system in Guyana. You read that letter of a serious allegation against a judge and you know that Guyana is Chato’s Land.
In Chato’s Land, there is no such thing as justice. If what Persaud wrote in that letter is true, then what is the fuss about Alex Moore? The judge was never investigated. The judge is still on the bench. Moore must be wondering where he went wrong.
I will tell you why Moore had to go. Someone in the power establishment woke up one morning, heard Moore’s judgement, and got a fit. Moore’s decision may anger the Americans and this scared them real bad. One hundred and fifty pounds of cocaine is serious trafficking.
Afraid of American reaction (which was misplaced in the first place – the Americans only prosecute Guyanese for sending cocaine to the US; the Americans aren’t interested in cocaine in Guyana, only shipments to the US), the power establishment and the judicial boys in their commission club had to use Moore as an example.
One has to be silly or naïve, or both, to think Moore’s “eviction” is about judicial impropriety. It is about his questionable decision, presumably not backed by law, in a cocaine case. Judicial and political personnel are afraid of American reaction.
If Moore had freed a man who had confessed to burning down Queen’s College, the judicial boys in the commission would not have even noticed. Remember a school boy tried to do just that to Queen’s College, and he burned down a big part. The horror of the lenient decision exceeded Moore’s indiscretion. That magistrate was never even asked for an explanation. In Moore’s case, he was unceremoniously thrown out. Of course, Moore’s decision needs to be investigated. There should be an inquiry into his alleged behaviour towards the female litigant, who accused Moore of gross indecent language against her in open court.
But my contestation is that there is a sordid manifestation of rank hypocrisy by the Judicial Service Commission on the Nandlall tape scandal. Where is the concern of the Judicial Service Commission into what Anil Nandlall is being accused of? For me, Moore’s unbecoming conduct in his cocaine decision is child’s play compare to Nandlall’s descent into the pit of legal and political disgrace.
Could any member of the Judicial Service Commission watch an eighteen-year-old high school graduate in the eyes and tell that child that the Commission has integrity, when that very body has disgraced itself by its shameless silence on the Nandlall tape?
Oh, wait a minute! The Commission may have taken the road of Ramotar. Why pursue Nandlall when the tape was illegally recorded and it may not be Nandlall’s voice after all. I have news for the Judicial Service Commission. It wasn’t Moore who delivered judgement in that cocaine case. It was a ghost. So leave Moore alone.
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