Alleged drug trafficker Barry Dataram was ordered released by the Full Court yesterday after an Order Nisi was made absolute in his favour, but he was rearrested shortly afterward when he made a stop at a shop at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
Dataram’s attorney, Vic Puran, told Stabroek News last evening that Crime Chief Seelall Persaud informed him that a judge had granted a stay of execution of the order, resulting in Dataram’s arrest. Puran said that first thing today he will find out is if such an order was indeed granted. If the order was made, the lawyer said, “We will immediately mount a challenge to it.”
Dataram has been in custody since October 4, when he was arrested for the alleged breach of a court order. Since then his attorneys have filed a series of actions to secure his freedom. A provisional arrest warrant was issued by Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton and an extradition hearing commenced in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court after permission was granted for this by Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee.
Dataram, for whom the US has issued two provisional arrest warrants – the most recent after his last arrest – walked out of court a free man yesterday after the Order Nisi was made absolute by Chief Justice Ian Chang and Justice William Ramlal at a Full Court sitting.
Among the arguments in the application was that the Home Affairs Minister has no authority to permit an extradition hearing.
But minutes after Dataram was granted his freedom he was once more rearrested and placed in the Brickdam lock-ups. Up to late yesterday afternoon his attorneys were at the Brickdam Police Station inquiring as to the reasons for his arrest.
Attorney Glenn Hanoman told Stabroek News last evening that when he and Puran enquired as to the reasons for Dataram being taken into custody again, one officer told them that Dataram was in breach of a court order, while another said the police were carrying out a stay of execution order.
The Chief Justice had already refused a stay of execution application by the Attorney General Doodnauth Singh in court yesterday. He, however, granted an application for leave to appeal the matter.
This twist in Dataram’s matter is reminiscent of late last year when he was arrested after his wife and daughter’s alleged drug-related kidnapping.
Prior to this last instance, provisional arrest warrants were issued twice before in the Magistrate’s Courts for Dataram and both times Puran had moved to the High Court to secure his release.
The latest of three Habeas Corpus applications filed by Puran culminated in Dataram’s release last December when Justice Jainarayan Singh Jnr. ruled in the High Court that Dataram’s detention was not lawful.
Police started showing interest in Dataram after the kidnapping of his wife, Sheleza, and their three-year-old daughter last year December by two Venezuelans, one of whom was later shot dead in confrontation with police.
He was arrested and had been detained by police beyond the 72 hours that the law allows a person to be held in custody before being charged.
His lawyers subsequently ap-proached the court with a habeas corpus writ but police asked for an extension to conclude their investigation into the kidnapping, which they said was drug-related.
Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards had ruled in favour of the extension and Dataram’s lawyers subsequently appealed her ruling before Justice Singh Jnr and secured bail in the sum of $100,000.
However, police said soon after bail was granted they had received the warrant from the US and Dataram was rearrested, even before he left the precincts of the Brickdam Police Station. He was taken back to the Magistrate’s court where the second provisional warrant was issued.
His lawyers then moved to the high court again before Justice Singh Jnr., where Dataram was freed.
Upon his release, he was ordered to report to the Commissioner of Police every Monday and Friday, but failed to do, leading to his arrest in October, after which the US issued another warrant.
Dataram remained in custody last night.