Chief Election Officer testifies
Magistrate to rule on prosecution document
By Andre Haynes
Stabroek News
October 17, 2002
Magistrate Chandra Sohan will today rule on whether a document tendered as evidence by the prosecution is admissible as an exhibit in the Preliminary Inquiry into the charges of treason against Phillip Bynoe and Mark Benschop.
The magistrate reserved his decision after hearing submissions yesterday from both the Prosecution and the Defence concerning the admissibility of the document, which was tendered by the prosecution during the testimony of Chief Election Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Gocool Boodoo.
Boodoo is the tenth witness to give evidence for the state.
As the prosecution sought to tender the document in support of Boodoo’s testimony, the defence raised initial objections to what it described as improper procedure, contending that a proper foundation had not been laid to allow the document as evidence.
As the prosecution attempted to lay the foundation to allow the document, the defence further objected to the admissibility of the document, which was a reproduction, arguing that it had not been certified. Lead counsel for Benschop’s defence Basil Williams noted that while the prosecution contended that the document was a public record, it failed to produce anything to authenticate this, making it inadmissible according to Section 47 of the Evidence Act, Chapter 5:03.
The section states that “Any copy of any extract from any writing, document, or record in the custody of a public officer, required by any written law to be written or made and delivered to that officer or to be recorded, is, if it purports to be signed and certified as a true copy or extract by the officer to whose custody the original is entrusted, admissible as proof of the contents of the writing, document, or record, and as prima facie evidence of the matter or transaction therein mentioned.”
Special Prosecutor for the DPP Sanjeev Datadin, however, in reply disputed the contentions arguing that the admissibility of the document is not dependent on the usual rules of admissibility set out in Section 47 but rather on statute.
He said that the purpose of the statute is to permit any public official who is the keeper of the record to tender a copy of the record in any court.
The magistrate after hearing the submissions agreed to allow the document only for the purposes of identification and reserved his ruling on whether it will be accepted as an exhibit. In lieu of this settlement Datadin asked for an adjournment since he contended that in order for the prosecution to proceed it was essential for the evidence to be admitted.
Earlier the ninth witness for the state, Jaichand Lachman, a constable attached to the presidential guard delivered his testimony and was subject to cross-examination by attorney for the defence, Emily Dodson.