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– lawyers for Mingo complain
Lawyers representing Returning Officer (RO) for District Four, Clairmont Mingo who was arrested Tuesday are complaining about being kept in the dark by the Guyana Police Force (GPF) on the arrest of their client and what will happen next.
Mingo’s lawyers tried for almost two hours to get a word in with their client before only “limited” discussions were had. Mingo remains in custody. Tuesday afternoon news broke that the police had arrested Mingo in Mahaicony after weeks of trying to locate him. The lawmen had intended to serve him summons to appear in Court to answer to a private criminal charge of alleged forgery.
The charge was brought against him and People’s National Reform (PNC) Chairperson, Volda Lawrence by Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr, for their alleged involvement in a forged Elections document with the intent to defraud the public, contrary to the criminal law Offences Act.
While Lawrence had attended Court on Monday, Mingo was yet to be served and was only located by the police Tuesday. He is being represented by Attorney-at-Law, Darren Wade and Senior Counsel, Roysdale Forde. Appearing briefly on Mark Benschop’s ‘Straight Up’ on 107.1FM Tuesday evening, Wade provided an update on the matter.
“We were able to meet with Mr. Mingo and have a discussion with him, of course, our discussion was very limited and careful because we were in the police environment…we made several attempts to have an audience with the police but the police would not have afforded us that opportunity to speak to them to get an understanding of what is transpiring,” he said.
He later added: “…so we don’t know what is the police next move or what they’re doing; we don’t know the current state of affairs as it relates to our client, the police did not give us that respect that is usually given when attorneys visit their client at a police station.”
Apart from the police, Wade is disappointed with the actions of special prosecutor in the case, Glenn Hanoman who was present at the police station but refused to speak up about the police’s silence on the matter.
According to Wade, Hanoman claimed that he was coincidentally at the police station for another matter and was otherwise engaged. Wade believes that Hanoman, being the special prosecutor in the case, should made an effort to address the situation.
“He’s the special prosecutor in the case, so whether or not you’re here for another matter, if Mr. Mingo is there you must have some interest or somebody must come to you and say ‘your man is here’… he should have stepped in and allowed his brother, which is me, to be able to see the client. [He should have] said to the police ‘you cannot do this’, [you cannot] interview the suspect without his lawyer, this is inappropriate, it is wrong, it is unlawful’,” Wade argued.
In addition, Wade said that it is “disgraceful” that the charges against Mingo, which are private criminal charges, were brought before the Court with insufficient evidence and, the prosecutors, knowing this, have decided to rely on the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) to take over the proceedings.
He said that, under normal circumstances, if the DPP takes up the matter and there is insufficient evidence, the case is dismissed. However, Wade said that, under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration, the DPP is going the extra mile to pin Mingo and others to the alleged criminal activities. “Mr. Charles Ramson should have gotten his evidence before filing the charges. That is very unusual, the approach of the police is very unusual,” the attorney said. Mingo remains in custody with another individual said to be a registration officer.
