A man accused of defrauding another of $13M in a land sale transaction was today remanded to prison when he appeared before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
The allegation against Telford Layne is that between December 4, 2012 and February 18, 2013, he obtained from Wayne Hubbard the sum of $13M by falsely pretending to him that he was the owner of 12 plots of land located at Ekereku, Region Seven, and was in a position to sell them, knowing same to be false.
The man who resides at 3264 Lamaha Place, South Ruimveldt Park was not required to plead to the charge when it was read to him.
When asked by the court if the facts were as charged, the prosecution responded in the affirmative, after which no further details relating to the facts were given.
Attorney Lyndon Amsterdam who represented the accused told the court that his client never defrauded the virtual complainant (VC). He said that in fact the lands in question were all legitimately allocated to his client by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
He said too that contractual agreements were signed between his client and the VC to give effect to the contract. Amsterdam added too that his client had received a map from the GGMC demarcating the allocations.
He stressed that while all negotiations between the parties were not yet complete, they were in the process of so being.
In a spirited but eventually futile bail application, Amsterdam contended that the matter was of a purely contractual nature as opposed to a criminal one and that his client’s pretrial liberty should be considered.
The VC who asked to speak, informed the court that the defendant had been placed on $20,000 station bail but failed to report to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) as required. According to Hubbard, the man never contacted him or the police.
“He was in hiding,” Hubbard contended.
According to the complainant, he happened to have encountered the accused in the compound of the GGMC on Monday where he held onto him and called in the police who later arrested and charged him.
Having listened to what the VC had to say, the presiding magistrate subsequently stood the matter down for a short while and ordered the prosecution to ascertain the merit of the VC’s claim.
After sometime, Prosecutor Stephen Telford who was tasked with the responsibility of contacting the officer to whom Layne was required to report at the CID informed the court that the accused did fail in his obligation to report to the CID when required to do so.
According to Telford, he was informed that calls made to the defendant’s cell phone went unanswered and that his phone was eventually turned off; adding that, “it was indeed the VC who handed the defendant over to the police.”
The prosecution argued that even if the lands were legitimately allocated to the accused, he was not authorised to execute any sale of same as that permission can only be given by the GGMC, who in this case did not give any such permission.
Contesting the prosecution’s claim, defence counsel said that his client reported to the CID on no less than three occasions but was told that the officer to whom he was required to report was not there.
Amsterdam said too that at some point his client was told by the officer that he would be contacted if needed to visit the CID.
Amsterdam who passionately begged the court to consider granting his client bail informed that Layne’s wife who was present in the court room and visibly pregnant is expecting the couple’s third child on Friday.
The prosecution however objected to counsel’s bail application, arguing that the client poses a risk of flight.
Upon being told by the magistrate that he would be remanded to prison, Layne who was standing in the prisoners’ dock appeared momentarily paralyzed by shock before bursting into tears.
He wept bitterly as he was being escorted from the court room to be transported to the Camp Street Prisons where he will remain until his next court appearance on June 12.
