The first trial of Nezaam Ali, the Muslim scholar charged with nine counts of rape, has been postponed until March 7th, 2019, following a request by defence counsel Stanley Moore for a new date.
According to a press statement issued yesterday by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the matter was brought up before Justice Navindra Singh at the High Court yesterday.
However, Ali’s lawyer requested that the trial commence on March 7th, 2019 as he needed additional time.
The statement also noted that all witnesses in the trial were present at court yesterday.
Ali, then of 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, abusing a position of trust.
Ali was committed to stand trial in 2014 by Magistrate Alex Moore.
However, it was during a visit to the Supreme Court in January, 2017, that the mother of the three boys and an official from Childcare and Protection Agency discovered that the birth certificates and medical reports for the boys were missing from each of the nine files.
The files were later reconstructed and the case reopened. In February last year, Moore recommitted Ali to stand trial in the High Court.
