“Racial” accusation towards witness by Attorney triggers courtroom disruption – 2020 election trial

As trial continued in the elections fraud case before acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty on Tuesday a heated exchange between defence attorney Nigel Hughes and prosecution witness Bibi Aneishaw Mohamed concluded the morning session, while testimony from Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony concluded during the afternoon session.
Mohamed, who was an agent for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) during the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections (GRE), had returned to court for continued cross-examination, which Hughes has been conducting since last Friday.
Disruption arose shortly after the court resumed from a break in the morning session. During questioning, Mohamed complained of Hughes’ mischaracterising her evidence and putting words in her mouth, leading to rising tension in the courtroom. Hughes accused Mohamed of being racial. Mohamed refused to remain silent on the attack of her character.
“No, you can’t call me racial. No you cannot call me racial in this court,” Mohamed exclaimed. At this point Magistrate McGusty attempted to reign in the situation.
“We don’t need to descend into that, Miss Mohamed. There is no need for yourself and counsel to be back and forth because as you can see it’s not working out,” Magistrate McGusty said.
However, neither Mohamed or Hughes were to be placated.
“It is my duty as a witness to actually point that out. Because he’s constantly doing this where he is referring to the exhibit and then changing his question and trying to bind me to something,” Mohamed said.
Despite efforts from the Magistrate to mediate, Hughes also would not let the issue go.
“I am entitled to ask the questions and refer to the document. I am entitled to do that. If she thinks I tried to confuse her, that is her problem. That is why they have two counsels as prosecutors. If they think I’m being unfair they could object. Alternatively, they have an opportunity at re-examination. But I’m not going to tolerate some witness telling me what I’m trying to do,” Hughes retorted.
The prosecutor accused Hughes of overstepping his grounds.
“Your Worship, there are clearly heated tempers on the issue. I think counsel may have said something that he ought not have said. This racial implication is uncalled for and Miss Mohamed is upset. It should not have happened, Your Worship. In any kind of case,” the prosecutor noted.
Hughes then indicated to the court that he had limited time remaining to complete his cross-examination and requested permission to leave. With tempers still flaring it was concluded that it was best to adjourn the morning session and have Mohamed return today to conclude her cross examination.

Verification process
Tuesday afternoon session saw testimony from Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, as he spoke on what he observed during the May 2020 recount process of the votes for the elections. Anthony detailed the thorough verification process that was used to verify the tabulation during the recount process.
Nine persons currently charged with conspiracy to commit electoral fraud in relation to the tabulation of votes for Region Four in the 2020 GRE.
They include former Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowefield, former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers, former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Minister Volda Lawrence, former APNU+AFC Chief Scrutineer, Carol SMith-Joseph, and former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) employees Enrique Livan, Sheffern February, Michelle Miller, and Denise Bobb-Cummings.