Election fraud case: Defense continues to grill observer on Police targeting PPP agents

The ongoing trial into the election fraud cases continued on Wednesday during which the defence continued to question local observer, Rosalinda Rasul, over her statement that only People’s Progressive Party (PPP) agents were targeted by the police during the tabulation process at the 2020 elections.

On Tuesday, Rasul, who served as an observer for the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham)-Guyana at the 2020 General and Regional Elections, had revealed during cross examination by the defence attorney, Ronald Daniels, that the police were summoned at the Ashmin’s Building after chaos erupted during the tabulation process.
Rasul told the court that it appeared as though the police were targeting PPP agents alone after their loud protest over irregularities. She indicated that while other small party agents and even observers had raised objections and contributed to the chaos, the PPP agents were the loudest.
When the trial resumed on Wednesday, another defence lawyer, Darren Wade, sought to established exactly what was said by the prosecution’s witness the previous day, prompting Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty to order a replay of the previous day’s recording, confirming Rasul’s statement.
The trial will continue today at 10:00h at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, with the defence continuing cross examination of the witness.
Nine persons are before the court in this case, which pertains to the March 2020 General and Regional Elections. They include former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo; former Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield and his former Deputy, Roxanne Myers.
Also charged are former People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Chairperson Volda Lawrence; PNCR activist Carol Smith-Joseph; and GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Michelle Miller and Denise Babb-Cummings.
Together, these nine defendants confront 33 counts of election-related fraud, focused on alleged efforts to manipulate voting results.
Initially overseen by Senior Magistrate Leron Daly, the trial began in July 2024, but was paused following her extended medical leave, which has resulted in the trial being reassigned to Magistrate McGusty.
When the matter was called on December 8, 2024, the defence had pressed for a fresh start to the already delayed trial. On the other hand, the prosecution had argued that a restart of the case was completely unnecessary and that all the court needed to do was to recall the previous witnesses. Ultimately, however, McGusty had ordered a restart in the election fraud trial.