Peter’s Hall man charged with assaulting, forcing Venezuelans to strip

– released on $460,000 bail

Ahmad Ally of Peter’s Hall, East Bank Demerara appeared on Thursday before Senior Magistrate Sunil Scarce at the Diamond/Golden Grove Magistrates’ Courts to answer four charges.
Two of those charges were for using a computer system to publish an image of someone’s private area in violation of the Cybercrime Act of 2018. These acts were allegedly perpetrated on Luigi Hernandez and Keilysmar Astudillo, two Venezuelan migrants whom the 37-year-old Ally had allegedly forced to strip and walk down the street naked, saying they were thieves.
The other two charges were for assault committed on Astudillo and Hernandez.
Ally pleaded not guilty to all the charges, and was released on bail in the following amounts: $200,000 for each of the cybercrime offences; $40,000 for the accusation of assault causing actual bodily harm, and $20,000 for the assault charge. His entire bail is set at $460,000. The cases have been postponed until January 17, 2024.

This defendant was arrested by the Police after a video that was widely circulated on social media showed the two foreign nationals allegedly being coerced by individuals to confess to theft. Afterwards, they were told to strip and walk naked down a public road. This video has sparked outrage among the Guyanese community.
Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, during a recent press conference, strongly denounced the cruel treatment of Venezuelans in Guyana, and declared that Guyana will not tolerate xenophobia.
Referring to the video in question, Jagdeo said, “I’ve seen one video that made my stomach turn. We are not going to be part of any movement to promote xenophobia in our country. As refugees, they are entitled to the protection of the state…You have to treat people with dignity.”