Parking meter official previously jailed in US for theft

Controversial Smart City Solutions (SCS) official Ifa Kamau Cush faced jail time back in 2002, serving some four months in a US jail.

According to court documents seen by Guyana Times, Cush had pleaded guilty to grand larceny in the third degree in a county court of Nassau County, Long Island, New York, back in March 2002. He was sentenced to four months of incarceration and five years of probation, and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of US$7981.50. The document said Cush did not appeal and was released from

custody on May 5, 2002.

The same document showed that on November 20, 2006, Cush was charged with violating the terms of his probation. The County Court signed a Declaration of Delinquency and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Cush was returned on the warrant in November 2006 and released on his own recognisance the following month. He was then returned again on the warrant on August 30, 2011. The document continued that on September 13, 2011, Cush was brought to court for a pre-violation hearing conference. Although further court proceedings were scheduled for September 20, October 11, and October 24 of that year. Each of the court dates was adjourned in succession.

On November 15, 2011, the court convened the parties and scheduled a hearing on Cush’s alleged probation violation. However, on December 8, 2011 and then again on December 19, 2011, the hearing was adjourned. The court adjourned the hearing until January 6, 2012, and then adjourned it three more times, ultimately scheduling a hearing date of January 24, 2012.

Following adjournment of the January 24, 2012 hearing, Cush moved to dismiss the probation charges pending against him on February 8, 2012. A Superseding Probation

Violation Report had been filed on October 7, 2011, and Cush contended that the court failed to timely file a Declaration of Delinquency for the superseding charges pursuant to local law. The parties hotly disputed the basis for many of these and subsequent adjournments. Cush argued that proceedings were adjourned because the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) refused to produce him. The respondent contended that Cush requested several of the adjournments and others were necessary, because he refused to allow DOCCS to produce him requiring dismissal of those charges.

Cush also argued that DOCCS had on multiple occasions failed to produce him for his probation-revocation hearing, which, under local law, divested the court of jurisdiction to adjudicate the charges against him and violated his equal protection and due process rights. Cush further asserted that the charges should be dismissed because the Superseding Probation Violation Report was factually insufficient under local law in that it did not apprise him of the conditions of probation he allegedly violated. By decision dated April 13, 2012, the state court denied Cush’s motion and scheduled a final hearing for April 30, 2012. However, on April 30, 2012, the court again adjourned the hearing. On May 9, 2012, the court finally held the probation-revocation hearing, found that Cush had violated the terms of his probation, and sentenced him to one to three years’ imprisonment. Cush came under heavy criticisms last week when he made comments on social media suggesting that Guyanese have the “mentality of slaves and indentured servants”.