The mother of four boys, who were allegedly sexually molested by Muslim scholar Nezaam Ali, believes that moves are being made to undermine the case and despite her repeated efforts to reach out to those in authority she says has gotten no help.
The woman told Stabroek News that she visited the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Ministry of Legal Affairs and the Ministry of the Presidency but was never allowed to meet with any of them to air her grievances. She said that it is unacceptable that three years after Ali was committed to stand trial in the High Court, the matter is yet to start.
In an emotional interview, she said that following up on reports she had received about the delay in the start of the trial, she visited the DPP’s office on Tuesday but got no satisfaction. The DPP’s Chambers later told this newspaper that Ali has been committed to stand trial but he has not yet been indicted because the depositions have not yet been forwarded to the DPP chambers.
“I want to know is why after four [three] years it ain’t get a calling in the High Court,” the upset mother said. She added that she is hoping that by highlighting the matter, the process involving in getting the trial started is expedited so that she and her children can get justice.
She said that she made several efforts to meet the Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams about the situation but to no avail. “I went twice to see him and was given a number to make an appointment but whenever I call the number it does ring out,” she said before explaining that she got no further than the security hut when she visited his Carmichael Street office.
She said too that she also attempted to seek an audience with the Minister of State Joseph Harmon at the Ministry of Presidency but she was also unsuccessful there. “I did that the same way and I ain’t get no call yet to see Mr. Harmon…,” she said.
It is alleged that Ali, of 268 Section ‘C’ 5 South Turkeyen, during December, 2011 to January, 2012, being a teacher attached to the Turkeyen Masjid, engaged in sexual activity with the children by abusing a position of trust. He is on a total of $1,300,000 bail.
Ali, who was not been required to plead to the indictable charges, was committed to stand trial on November 25, 2013 by Magistrate Alex Moore, who found that a prima facie case was established against him. “The best place for this case to be ventilated is in the High Court…,” the magistrate had stated at the time.
The allegations of the abuse first came to light when the Child Care and Protection Agency (CC&PA) received an anonymous tip and officials there began an investigation that led them to the boys, who were then between the ages of four and ten.
The police were informed of the situation and after the boys were examined, Ali, who was employed with the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana, was arrested, released on station bail and subsequently charged. Ali was also sent on leave, pending the outcome of the matter.
The mother told Stabroek News that a case of such a nature should not take so long to come up in the High Court. She pointed out too that while she and her children continue to be the subjects of ridicule, the accused is out on bail and is going about his daily life as if he has done no wrong.
“I see other cases just like this where a man already got 25 years for sexually molesting one child …and he already get sentence,” she said angrily as she attempted to reinforce the point that there seems to be a deliberate attempt to delay the start of the trial.
The woman said that given what has transpired and what she is now hearing, she is even more convinced that “the case has nowhere to go.”
Following public concern about the role of the DPP Shalimar Ali-Hack in the matter, she withdrew herself completely from giving advice and handed it over to a senior member of her chambers.
Allegations had surfaced following Ali’s arrest that the DPP had attempted to interfere in the case. In response, the DPP denied the allegations in a press release and stressed that the police can go ahead and lay a charge in any matter without her advice.
Asked what she wants to see happen, the worried mother said “I would like to see swift movement because four (three) years already and I ain’t get no justice. It take two years at small court then it was thrown over to High Court and four years and ah still can’t get a date,” she stressed.
She said that the accuser is still living his life “very largely. His life is normal. He drives up and down.” She said that he is still doing his religious work at the very place where the alleged molestation occurred. The woman said that she had reported this to the CC&PA, since the man is still being allowed to be in the company of children. She admitted that she doesn’t know if CC&PA checked on the complaint.
She was adamant that the accused should have been asked to desist from carrying out religious work until the trial has ended and a determination is made by the court.
She said that the boys were counselled and this worked since they no longer wake up in the middle of the night screaming. She thanked CC&PA and Help and Shelter for their help in this regard.
Following the committal, Ali, through his attorney Nigel Hughes, challenged the magistrate’s decision.
Among the grounds for his challenge was the contention that there was no evidence led during the preliminary inquiry into the charge to refute his medical evidence that it was impossible for him to commit the crimes because he was impotent.
Then acting Chief Justice Ian Chang in August, 2015, upheld the decision to commit Ali.
Justice Chang ruled that Ali’s case was not one in which the evidence for the defence was “so cogent and compelling” that, even accepting all the evidence for the prosecution, “a committal was not justified.” The judge said also that the case was not one in which the evidence for the prosecution had its own inherent weaknesses which had been further weakened by the evidence of the witnesses for the defence “that a committal was not justified.”
