A police lance corporal accused of obtaining $5,000 from a man in order that his wife would not be prosecuted on a traffic violation was yesterday placed on $40,000 bail by acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.
The allegation against Quamme Benn, 31, is that on February 12, at the Grove Police Station, being an agent of the State, he corruptly obtained from Mark Julius the sum of $5,000, as inducement for his wife June Thomas to avoid prosecution. Benn, of 942 Grove, East Bank Demerara, was not required to plead to the indictable charge of corrupt transaction by agent when it was read to him at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
In presenting the prosecution’s facts of the case, Sergeant Lionel Harvey told the court that on the day in question Benn was on traffic patrol duty on the Grove Public Road, when he stopped June Thomas, who was driving her motor car.
The court then heard that Thomas and her husband were later taken into the Grove Police Station, where the woman was found to have committed a traffic violation.
According to Harvey, subsequent police investigations later revealed that Benn had obtained the money through corrupt means in a bid to avoid the woman facing prosecution. The serving member of the Guyana Police Force was later arrested and charged for the offence.
Attorney Patrice Henry, who represented the accused, made an application for his client to be admitted to reasonable bail on the grounds that he had no antecedents, had a fixed address, posed no risk of flight and had been cooperating with police.
The prosecution had no objection to the accused being granted his pre-trial liberty but requested that bail be set in a substantial sum to ensure that he returns to court to stand trial.
The matter was transferred to the Providence Magistrates’ Court for February 22, for reports and fixture.
