Buxton man on bail for uttering forged driver’s licence

A 38-year-old man, Andrew Layne of Buxton, East Coast Demerara (ECD), has been charged with uttering a forged driver’s licence. He was released on $70,000 bail when he appeared last week before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge which alleged that on June 2 at the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Camp Street, Georgetown Head Office, with intent to defraud, he uttered to Aminata Austin, a senior clerk within the Driver’s Licence Unit, a forged Republic of Guyana driver’s licence in favour of himself, purporting to show the same was issued by GRA, knowing same to be forged.

The prosecutor told the court that Layne went to GRA’s Head Office on the day in question and handed over the driver’s licence to the clerk for it to be renewed.
But with no information on the licence found in GRA’s system, the clerk summoned the Police. Layne was told of the offence committed, cautioned, and arrested.
His case will be called again on Tuesday. While out on bail, he is required to report to the Vigilance Police Station every Friday until the hearing and determination of his trial.
Earlier this year, a 21-year-old University of Guyana student was slapped with a similar charge.
Shaquan Caesar is accused of forging a Guyana driver’s licence in the name of Anthony Jacobs as well as uttering the document to Police Constable Collins on January 25 at Brickdam, Georgetown. He was granted $200,000 bail after denying the charges.
On the day in question, the Police Constable was on motorcycle patrol when he observed Caesar driving a passenger minibus out of its designated route. As such, the rank stopped the bus and asked Caesar to produce his licence and other documents.
Upon examining the driver’s licence at the Police station, the rank observed that it bore Caesar’s photograph but not his name. Further investigations were carried out and it was revealed that Caesar uttered a licence belonging to one Anthony Jacobs. When told of the offence committed, Caesar told the Policeman that he paid someone at GRA to insert his picture on the licence. (G1)