Fraud charge dismissed against “sledgehammer hero”

A popular activist against the parking meter project had a fraud charge dismissed against him by the Chief Magistrate at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Friday morning.

Guyana Times previously reported on April 1 that Mikhail Rodrigues, a businessman of Coldingen, East Coast Demerara, was hauled before the courts and slapped with a charge of fraudulent conver

sion, dating back to August 2015.

Rodrigues had initially denied the charge, which stated that he on the said date, when entrusted with a motor Canter by Raghubeer Paul in order that he may use the vehicle and return same to the Virtual Complainant, fraudulently converted same to his own use and benefit, allegedly selling the vehicle and failing to hand over the proceeds of the sale to Paul.

On Friday, the matter was dismissed, since the VC reported to the court that he did not wish to offer further evidence in the matter.

Rodrigues was ordered to pay a court cost of $8000 and the VC was issued a document in order that he may retrieve his vehicle from the Brickdam Police Station.

Based on reports reaching this newspaper, Rodrigues will soon return to court to face charges of damage to property in relation to a viral Facebook video, which saw him “Thor handling” a vehicle clamping device with a sledgehammer a few weeks ago.