The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has recommended that assault and four other charges be laid against popular race car driver Mark Vieira, in connection with a physical altercation between him and Maurice Menezes at the qualifier of the recent Caribbean Clash of Champions at the South Dakota circuit.
This newspaper understands that Vieira had been arrested by the police but was subsequently released. To date, the police have not commented on the matter.
According to a letter from the DPP dated November 9, Vieira was to be charged over the act, which allegedly took place that same month.
The letter, sent by the Deputy Director of Prosecutions and seen by the Stabroek News, tells Crime Chief Wendell Blanum that a video seen by the DPP, “does not capture the inception of the physical altercation between Vieira and Menezes. However, all the witnesses in their statements stated that Vieira was the aggressor.”
In relation to damage to property, the DPP letter stated, “It is clear that Viera threw the shades to the ground.”
Therefore, the advice to the police was that Vieira should be charged with: malicious damage to property committed on Menezes; abusive language committed on Menezes; assault causing actual bodily harm to Menezes; giving false information committed on public justice and assault committed on Fazil Mohmed.
According to correspondence seen by Stabroek Sports, Vieira, a revered figure in the motor racing fraternity, was involved in an altercation with Menezes, who is the manager of Team Mohamed’s bikers’ on November 4. According to the correspondence, following the physical altercation, Menezes allegedly threatened to shoot Vieira. The Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) subsequently issued a ruling which stated that for the altercation and threat, Team Mohamed’s riders received the penalty of being demoted by three places on the grid.
The GMR&SC later announced that following an investigation, it deemed the lap time (1:15.798s) set by James Westmoreland, a Superstock Biker for Team Mohamed’s, invalid. The previous track record of 1:16.271s, which was set by Mark Vieira in a Radical SR3 at the International Race of Champions November 22, 2022, was officially reinstated. Westmoreland’s time was set on November 4, during the qualifying session of the ENet Caribbean ‘Clash of Champions’ meet at the South Dakota Circuit.
