AG appeals judge’s ruling on unlawful arrest
-seeks to overturn $2M awarded to former GECOM official
Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall, SC, has filed an appeal against a High Court decision that found the arrest and detention of Roxanne Myers, a former Deputy Chief Elections Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), to be unlawful.
The ruling, delivered on Friday by Demerara High Court Judge Simone Morris-Ramlall, not only declared Myers’ detention illegal but also awarded her $2 million in damages.
The Notice of Appeal, lodged with the Court of Appeal in Kingston, Georgetown shortly after the ruling, outlined that the challenge arose from Myers’ arrest in August 2020, following the declaration of the results of the March 2020 General and Regional Elections.
During this period, Myers was held at the Beterverwagting Police Station from August 6 to 9, 2020, as part of an investigation into alleged election rigging. The police had questioned her about the whereabouts of the GECOM Statements of Poll (SoPs), which are key to verifying election results.
Justice Morris-Ramlall’s decision asserted that Myers’ right to personal liberty, protected under Article 139 of the Guyana Constitution, was violated. The judge deemed the police actions illegal, ruling that there was no justifiable reason for Myers’ arrest and detention.
Displeased with the judgment, the Attorney General has presented several arguments in the appeal.
These include claims that the judge erred in finding no reasonable basis for Myers’ arrest, overlooked critical evidence, including testimony from a senior police rank, and misinterpreted Myers’ refusal to cooperate with police inquiries about the SoPs as an attempt to obstruct justice.
The Attorney General is seeking to overturn the entire ruling and is also requesting that the Court of Appeal order Myers to cover the costs of both the appeal and the High Court case.
Meanwhile, Myers is one of nine persons facing trial at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts for allegedly conspiring to defraud the electorate during the March 2020 elections.
The trial is scheduled to resume on September 17, 2024.
