Ft. Wellington Police Prosecutor dancing Abel Seetaram’s tune

Dear Editor,
In Region 5, the name Abel Seetaram is apparently synonymous with disorderly behaviour. He allegedly is a known trouble-maker who avoids prosecution because of his reputedly close friendship with Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan and Corporal Rockel Mars, Court Prosecutor attached to the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court.
Although there is no evidence of the minister’s direct involvement, the same apparently cannot be said of Police Court Prosecutor Cpl Rockel Mars.
On Saturday, June 3, 2017, the APNU+AFC Region 5 RDC Councillor Abel Seetaram was taken to the Fort Wellington Police Station on charges made against him by his neighbour, Mrs. Meenawati Jainauth, for alleged threatening behaviour and indecent exposure. Abel Seetaram allegedly got home drunk the night before, and reportedly launched a verbal assault on his neighbour, accusing her of snitching on him. He allegedly dropped his pants and exposed himself to his neighbour and her 16-year old daughter, and allegedly threatened to have them raped. Seetaram was arrested and placed on $15,000 bail. Although both Mrs. Jainauth and her young daughter gave evidence to the Fort Wellington Police to this effect, when the case was called on July 12, 2017, it was discovered that Abel Seetaram was never charged with the more serious offences of Indecent Exposure and Endangering the Welfare of a Minor. Guess who the Police Court Prosecutor was, Cpl Rockel Mars. On March 23, 2017, Guyana Times reported, “APNU/AFC officials implicated in multimillion-dollar fraud”. It is alleged that Carol Joseph, while serving as a member of the MARDS Board of Directors, fraudulently wrote cheques totalling over $6 million. She was implicated along with Abel Seetaram for allegedly taking $2,108,000 to repair a Government- owned SUV and a fence he had crashed into at Bath, West Coast Berbice on May 8, 2016 while driving drunk.He was then charged with driving in a dangerous manner; being an unlicensed driver; and breach of insurance. The money he allegedly had misappropriated was used to repair the MARDS vehicle and the businessman’s fence, which were both badly damaged.
Interestingly, the money that Seetaram claimed it cost to repair the vehicle exceeds the original value of that very vehicle when it was imported duty free. Following the crash, Abel Seetaram was fired as the Region 5 Special Representative to the Prime Minister by none other than the Hon Moses Nagamootoo. To date, this money has not been accounted for in any way, and neither Seetaram nor Carol Joseph has been prosecuted for fraud and misconduct in public office contrary to the common law. Then on January 21, 2018, Abel Seetaram’s son was involved in a physical altercation with Avikar Rabindranauth, whose father and Abel Seetaram are first cousins. Avikar’s father — Natheram Rabindranauth, commonly known as “Diamond” — was returning home after plying his plantain chips trade when he saw the two boys fighting. He stopped and allegedly told his son to go home. Abel Seetaram allegedly emerged from a nearby rum-shop, picked up a piece of wood, and lashed his cousin across the face, breaking his nose and fracturing his jaw. Diamond spent two days at the New Amsterdam Hospital while Seetaram was released on $100,000 bail.
During the trial before Her Worship Magistrate Rondel Weaver at the Ft. Wellington Magistrate’s Court, Court Prosecutor Cpl. Rockel Mars failed to produce Natheram Rabindranauth’s (Diamond’s) X-rays and medical records in court. She also failed to cross-examine a Police witness who testified under oath that Diamond had told her Abel Seetaram had cuffed him several times, when in fact Diamond told me he had never seen her before that day in court. The illegal entry she is believed to have made in the Occurrence Book was admitted as evidence, and is an attempt to have the court dismiss the more serious charges of Assault with Intent and Felonious Wounding for which Seetaram is charged.
Court Prosecutor Cpl. Rockel Mars also failed to give the court and Seetaram’s defence lawyers each a copy of Seetaram’s Police statement, which in effect prevented the newly appointed court prosecutor from cross-examining Abel Seetaram and pointing out inconsistencies in the statement he had given in the witness box against the written statement he had signed on the day he was arrested. A late application to get that statement admitted as evidence was denied by Her Worship Magistrate Rondel Weaver, who said she would not allow the prosecutor to “ambush the defence.” It is evident that the Fort Wellington Police Prosecutor is dancing to the tune of Abel Seetaram in an apparent effort to pressure Natheram Rabindranauth (Diamond) to drop the case against the Region 5 Bad Boy. This will not happen. For despite efforts by Cpl Rockel Mars to suppress evidence that would finally convict Abel Seetaram and make him accountable for his reckless behaviour, I am confident that Her Worship Magistrate Rondel Weaver will impose a sentence that is just and fair, and send a strong message to Abel Seetaram and other public officials that they are accountable for their actions in upholding the Laws of Guyana.
I again call upon AFC Leader the Hon. Rafael Trotman and Minister Ronald Bulkan to condemn the continued despicable behaviour of this Region 5 APNU+AFC Regional Councillor, who behaves like he’s above the law, and to do what the Honourable Prime Minister has already done — cut him loose!

HARRY GILL
PPP/C Member of
Parliament