As the voir dire (a hearing within a trial to determine the competency of a witness or the admissibility of evidence) in the alleged trafficker’s case concluded on Thursday, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan deemed competent, a handwriting analyst attached to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and pronounced as admissible any evidence that he offers before the court in relation to the matter at hand.
Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Prosecutor Konyo Sandiford prosecuted the matter, while defence was led by Attorney Eusi Anderson.
Amir Mohammed began his testimony by relating that on January 30, 2017, he came to receive from Joseph Innis, an envelope containing two statements signed by the accused, Dennis Jones, and another document bearing the signature of above named accused.
Accused drug trafficker, Dennis Jones
The signatures were then examined, and the conclusion being that the general and personal features of the writings (signatures) appearing on the statements and the second mentioned document, were written by one author.
Defence counsel sought to discredit this conclusion through a series of probing questions during the cross-examination process. The accused accordingly agreed that the more specimens he saw, the more accurate the findings would be and vice versa. However, he did not agree with the submission that his professional opinion/finding in the case would be less accurate having access to only a few specimens.
Moreover, it was established that it was a part of regular procedure in his (the witness) line of work to seek the assistance of second parties. However, this was not done in relation to the Jones’ case, leading the defence to question if “special treatment” was meted out in the circumstances.
Responding to the defence’s contentions, Mohammed told the court that he did not find it necessary to request more specimen or summon the eyes of other personnel (that which was usually done where the handwriting is more technical), as Jones’ writing was quite simple and straightforward, for a professional opinion to be formed.
Dennis Jones, 63, of Caneview Avenue, South Ruimveldt, Georgetown was charged and remanded to prison in January of this year, for attempting to smuggle to Canada 10.618 kilograms of cocaine in custard/baking powder packages and Banko wine bottles, through the Guyana Post Office Corporation.
The accused was also in 2012 charged and convicted for trafficking in over 300 kilograms of cocaine to Niger in West Africa and served time in the Camp Street Prison. Moreover, Jones was deported from the United States after he was convicted of conspiracy to traffic cocaine.
