Dear Editor,
Mr Anil Nandlall’s letter in the Stabroek News of November 25, 2019 `APNU+AFC gov’t made tragic mistake in abridging Rodney CoI’ has inaccuracies which need correction, at least in regard to myself. He wrote that his inquiries revealed that I was tried, convicted and sentenced in my absence and that an appeal filed on my behalf, was dismissed. It was therefore impossible (and still is) for the charge against me to be dismissed or withdrawn. In the circumstances, he advised President Ramotar to pardon me and this was done. Mr Nandlall was writing about a situation whilst he was Attorney General, around 2014.
In the first place, I was always present for my trial in Guyana which ran intermittently from June 1980 to February 1982, ending with my conviction for possession of explosives and against which I gave notice of appeal. Secondly, whilst I was living outside Guyana, 28 years later, in August 2010 a two-judge bench of the Full Court of the High Court, chaired by the then Chief Justice, called an appeal hearing and purported to throw out my appeal for non-appearance of me or a representing attorney-at-law. However I never filed an appeal with the Full Court, nor was I notified of the hearing beforehand. Hence rather than filing an appeal on my behalf, the person(s) were plainly intent on entrenching my conviction by securing a dismissal behind my back. The call for a thorough investigation into this unlawful appeal is one object of my present weekly vigil.
Mr Nandlall should take note that, additionally, on May 23, 2019 following my own action, the Court of Appeal ordered that the Full Court had no jurisdiction to hear that appeal. Presently my appeal is awaiting a date to proceed before the appellate court. Therefore when the former Attorney General writes that it is “impossible” for the charge against me to be dismissed or withdrawn, this has to be matched against the simple fact that appellate courts are available.
Finally, as regards a pardon being given to me, I have written at length on why I did not accept a pardon from the former President, Donald Ramotar (see SN August 6, 2017). In summary, had I accepted a pardon as offered I would have been permanently saddled with fictitious statements falsely attributed to me in the trial transcript. This also reflects the gist of my claim presently before the appellate court. I would therefore be much obliged, if both Mr Nandlall and Mr Ramotar desist from repeating that I have been given a pardon for that 1982 conviction. On the contrary, the other object of my vigil is to call for a reasonable hearing date for my appeal against said conviction. I have never seen the pardon signed by the former President, and if it still exists, it should be destroyed.
Yours faithfully,
Donald Rodney
