Television personality Ronald Waddell had his case of larceny of a bucket dismissed by acting Chief Magistrate, Juliet Holder-Allen, on Wednesday after she said that the prosecution through its witnesses failed to prove the most important part of the case, the value of the bucket.
Testifying on that day was Marketing Manager of Guyana Oil Company Limited, Alwyn Appiah. Under cross-examination by Basil Williams, one of the lawyers representing Waddell - the others were Nigel Niles and Carol Martindale-Howard - Appiah said that his portfolio involved the purchasing of Castrol lubricants and gasoline, and that a Purchasing Clerk bought the standard items for the stations in bulk. Appiah said that all inventories came under him.
The witness had to be warned on several occasions during his testimony to speak louder as the magistrate was misinterpreting was he was saying. She also threatened to jail him for perjury if she happened to record things he did not say, as he was changing his testimony all along.
Appiah who should have taken along a copy of the company's official certificate failed to do so yet again. Special prosecutor for the case, Darshan Ramdhani asked the magistrate for another week. The magistrate said that they wanted to waste her time and denied the request. Waddell was given three choices by the magistrate: to either stand and say nothing, stand and state his case and not be cross-examined by the prosecution or get into the witness box and be cross-examined.
Waddell chose the second option stating "I deny the allegation that I stole any bucket, that is all." Williams' defence was that the prosecution and its witnesses failed to prove that his client removed a bucket from the station and that all the witnesses had many discrepancies in their testimony.
The magistrate also indicated that the only person who could have attested to the value of the bucket was Appiah but he had not done so, in fact he did not even have a copy of the assets register, which would have also proved that the bucket was indeed the property of Guyoil.