The mother of three of the boys allegedly raped by Muslim scholar Nezaam Ali says that while she is thankful that the preliminary inquiry will be reopened, those responsible for the disappearance of key documents must be identified and placed before the court.
She told Stabroek News on Monday that it was difficult for her to accept that those who played a hand in the delay of the trial will go scot free and called on the police to launch an investigation.
Ali, of 268 Section ‘C’, 5 South Turkeyen, was charged in 2012 with raping nine boys.
The charges alleged that between December 2011 and January 2012, Ali, being a teacher attached to the Turkeyen Masjid, engaged in sexual activity with the children. He was placed on a total of $1,300,000 bail.
Earlier this year, this newspaper reported that the children’s birth certificates and statements were found to be missing from the case file which was in the Supreme Court Registry. The matter was subsequently referred to the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). In a press release last month the chambers said that in a letter, dated February 13, 2017, DPP Shalimar Ali-Hack remitted the matter to the magistrate to re-open the paper committals. Further, it said on the same date, the DPP issued a directive to the Guyana Police Force to obtain “certified” copies of the original documents before the re-opening of the paper committals.
There is nothing to suggest that the police were instructed to conduct an investigations into the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the documents.
Contacted, Commander Calvin Brutus said that while his division was not investigating how the documents came to be missing, he was not sure if the police’s Office of Professional Responsibility was looking at the matter.
The upset mother expressed concern at the police’s apparent lack of interest in finding and holding those responsible, accountable.
“I can’t believe such important documents disappeared and no one can say how or who. I would like an inquiry into this matter,” she said. She expressed disbelief that authorities did not see it fit to launch an investigation into the disappearance.
“How they disappear is equally important as getting the case reopened…. I don’t want in two months’ time you hear again that they can’t find this and can’t find that. They should really be looking to see is who move them documents and charge them so it could be made clear that that sort of thing will not be tolerated,” she told Stabroek News.
She suggested that in high-profile matters, victims should be given copies of statements. “I think that is my right… just for safe keeping yuh know,” she said.
Meanwhile, she said she has not heard anything about the date for the reopening of the matter. “I wonder why it taking so long just to get a date,” she said.
Brutus told Stabroek News that the police had handed over the file to the Clerk of Courts some time ago and that person is now responsible for contacting Magistrate Alex Moore (who currently presides in Berbice) to set a date for the reopening of the matter at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court. “We have completed our part,” he stressed.
Two weeks ago, he had indicated to this newspaper that the file had been reconstructed and that the police and prosecutor were ready to recommence the matter. The police have no say when the court will hear the matter.
The allegations of abuse first came to light when the Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) 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 case.
He was committed to stand trial in 2014. Shortly after the committal, his lawyer, Nigel Hughes, filed an action in the High Court to have the committal overturned. However, this was rejected by the court.
It was during a visit to the Supreme Court in January this year that the mother of the three boys and an official from CCPA discovered that the birth certificates and medical reports for the boys were missing from each of the nine files.
The mother and one other parent had publicly expressed their dissatisfaction at how the matter was being handled. The mother had said that she visited the office of several government officials to seek help but was never given a hearing.
She had also said that she and her children were being intimidated as strange men were taking pictures of her boys. On Monday she told this newspaper that this has since stopped and she credited that to this newspaper’s reportage of her plight.
