Last Updated on Saturday, 3 October 2026, 11:35 by Writer
Hours after the Coordinator of Guyana’s Border Patrol Unit (BPU), Daniel Seeram, was Friday convicted for assaulting his ex-wife, he moved to the High Court to avoid being remanded to prison pending sentencing on November 2 and has asked that bail be granted him.
“By remanding the Applicant in custody for one month pending sentencing, the Magistrate effectively imposed a period of custodial punishment before the probation report, victim impact statement and plea in mitigation had been received and considered. The remand thereby pre-judged and preempted the sentencing exercise, fettering the very discretion that the Magistrate had directed should be informed by those materials,” Mr Seeram’s lawyer Nigel Hughes said in his application for a judicial review.
Justice Joy Persaud-Singh late Friday afternoon ordered that Mr Seeram—a former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) captain and former chairman of Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) on A Partnership for National Unity’s ticket—remain on remand and be kept in police custody at the Sparendaam Police Station pending the hearing of his application on October 5 for a judicial review of the magistrate’s decision.
Mr Seeram, who endorsed the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC), wants the High Court to review Sparendaam Magistrate Abigail Gibbs’ order remanding him to custody pending sentencing following a conviction for assault causing actual bodily harm to his ex-wife, and her subsequent refusal to reconsider that remand upon the counsel’s invitation be quashed, on the stated ground that ‘none of the grounds of section 9 of the Bail Act of Guyana had been established.’
Among the grounds for Mr Seeram’s application is that they meet weekly with President Irfaan Ali and that “my continued detention disrupts the work and operations of that unit”.
In trying to convince the court to grant bail because there was no risk of interference with the proceedings, and the court’s discretion to sentence him to imprisonment was unaffected by the granting of bail and should be reserved for sentencing.
He also did not rule out appealing the magistrate’s decision.
Mr Seeram, an engineer, said he allegedly assaulted his ex-wife at Cummings Lodge on September 11, 2023. They divorced on May 11, 2022.
He said in his affidavit that after he was granted bail during the trial, he attended “every single hearing before the court and never missed a day. I complied with all conditions of bail.”
Pending Magistrate Gibbs’ sentencing on November 2, she has asked for submissions on aggravating and mitigating factors, probation report and a victim impact statement.
In his attempt to convince the High Court, Mr Seeram said in his affidavit that if bail is granted before he is sentenced, “I undertake to abide by all conditions that may be imposed” including surrendering his travel documents, reporting to the police station as directed, having no contact with his ex-wife and attending the Sparendaam Magistrates’ court on November 2 or any earlier date for sentencing.
