Barring a challenge, Senior Magistrate Leron Daly will preside over the trial of Detective Sergeant Dion Bascom on cyber-crime charges after initially recusing herself.
When the matters were called yesterday morning, Magistrate Daly told the court that she was inclined to recuse herself based on the “strongly” worded letter which was written by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack to the acting Chancellor of Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, seeking to have the case reassigned.
When the court was initially informed of the letter, Bascom’s attorney, Nigel Hughes, had argued that the Chancellor does not have the power to ask any magistrate to recuse herself from an ongoing matter. Hughes yesterday said that the reason given by Magistrate Daly for recusing herself was, “…that because of the language that was used and the inferences that could’ve been drawn from the letter.” As a result, she recused herself and referred the matters to the Chief Magistrate’s court.
However, when the matters were transferred back to her yesterday, the Chief Magistrate, Hughes said, indicated that she didn’t see any instructions from the Chancellor and didn’t think there was any good reason for the magistrate to recuse herself. As a result, she sent it back to Magistrate Daly.
The matter was then again before Magistrate Daly at 13:30 hrs yesterday and she said that her feelings towards the matters have not changed but she nonetheless scheduled February 20, 2023 for the commencement of trial.
In the letter, which was seen by Stabroek News, the DPP said while she notes that Magistrate Daly does not seem to have a personal interest in the matter, the case should be reassigned to another magistrate. “…I respectfully invited Your Honour to consider exercising the power invested in Your Honour by section 12 of the Summary Jurisdiction (Magistrates) Act, Chapter 3:05 to assign the matter to another magistrate to adjudicate on the matter,” Ali-Hack stated in the letter, dated September 28, 2022.
Section 12 states: “The Chancellor may direct that a particular magistrate shall not adjudicate on a particular cause or matter coming before him because of the magistrate’s personal interest in that cause or matter or for any other sufficient reason and shall in any such case assign another magistrate to adjudicate on that cause or matter.”
In her letter, Ali-Hack states, “…the conduct of the magistrate thus far, in my respectful view, constitutes sufficient reason for the exercise of Your Honour’s statutory power. Should the magistrate continue to adjudicate in this matter, there is every likelihood that the case will not be afforded a fair hearing. This may not only be a miscarriage of justice but will inevitably lead to legal proceedings in the High Court.”
Meanwhile, although Hughes asked for some leniency as it relates to the conditions which were attached to Bascom’s bail, Police Prosecutor and Legal Advisor to the Force Mandel Moore continued to object to any of the conditions being withdrawn. As a result, Bascom’s passport will not be released to him until the outcome of the matter and he is still to report to the Officer-in-Charge of the GPF Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) Deputy Superintendent Elston Baird until the conclusion of the matters.
The three cyber-crime charges were laid against Bascom after he made Facebook videos alleging that several senior officers within the GPF had taken a multi-million dollar bribe from a businessman to cover-up the murder of Ricardo Fagundes, who was riddled with bullets outside Palm Court in March of 2021.
During the live broadcast, he mentioned several senior ranks, including Superintendent Mitchell Caesar and Superintendent Chabinauth Singh. Two of the cyber-crime charges were brought against him in connection to Caesar, while the other was brought in connection to Singh. Bascom was granted bail in the sum of $300,000.
