Muslim scholar Nezaam Ali, who is presently serving a forty-five-year sentence for rape, was yesterday found not guilty on the count of raping a six-year-old boy in 2011.
Ali, also known as ‘Mufti’, was on trial before Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and a 12-member jury at the Sexual Offences Court in Georgetown.
He faced the charge that between December 2 and 31, 2011, in the county of Demerara, while being in a position of trust, he engaged in sexual activity with the boy.
However, yesterday after deliberating for over two hours, the jury returned with a not-guilty verdict of 11 – 1.
On the alternative count of rape of a child under the age of 16, Ali was also found not guilty at a count of 11 – 1.
He was represented by attorneys-at-law Dexter Todd and Dexter Smartt.
Ali, of 268 Section ‘C’ 5 South Turkeyen, was charged since 2012 with raping a total of 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.
In March 2019, following the first trial, Ali was sentenced to 45 years by Justice Navindra Singh after a jury had found him guilty of raping a child, 9, in 2011.
The allegations of 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 inform-ed 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 then subsequently charged.
