Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire yesterday quashed criminal charges against a former employee of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) who had been charged with stealing from the revenue body, recognizing that her right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time had been breached.
Nearly four years after she was slapped with a string of charges in relation to the offence of larceny by a clerk or servant, Sadika Tularam was told that the charges against her have been permanently stayed.
The orders granted by Justice George-Wiltshire have quashed the charges filed against Tularam back in September 2005, and assert that her right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time, guaranteed under Article 144 of the Constitution, has been contravened.
Tularam’s attorney, Basil Williams said yesterday that his client had endured a string of endless adjournments and return court dates as her case failed to get off the ground. He said justice has been served now that the charges have been dropped, adding that “the system failed to see that she got a fair trial”.
Tularam was charged indictably on September 19, 2005 before then Magistrate Bertlyn Reynolds and was admitted to bail in the sum of $90,000 after the Administration of Justice Act was applied and she pleaded not guilty. She next appeared before then acting chief magistrate Cecil Sullivan over a six-month period, but the charges were never heard.
According to an application filed in the High Court by Tularam, the charges were called for two years before former magistrate Gordon Gilhuys at Court Two, but the only witness called during that time never completed her evidence-in-chief.
The case was then transferred to Magistrate Nigel Hawke at Court Four, but the matter suffered adjournments during a ten-month period. While at this court, the case had been put down for report, pending directions from the Chancellor.
Tularam, frustrated by the process, filed the application in the High Court in November 2008 seeking to have the charges quashed.
In an affidavit sworn to in reply to the application filed by Tularam, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack said that the police had indicated there was strong and compelling evidence against the accused in the matter.
The DPP mentioned the absence of Magistrate Gilhuys from the bench at the time saying that she had written to the Chancellor for the matter to be reassigned. At the time, she advised that there had been no response from the Chancellor.
According to the DPP, the letter to the Chancellor was dispatched on December 16, 2008, and it had adverted his attention to the matters that were being heard by Magistrate Gilhuys that were all pending and inquired as to a way forward.
The then attorney general Doodnauth Singh was also consulted in the case by Williams, and he had responded that the case was being adjourned for report on whether or not Magistrate Gilhuys, who was involved in a legal matter at the time and was later retired early, was likely to return to the bench to continue hearing the preliminary inquiry.
Tularam was expected to return to court on April 21, 2009. She had been charged with stealing $70,000; $118,769 and $275,573 from the GRA on separate occasions during 2005.
