Azruddin Mohamed’s mother applies for son’s bail

Last Updated on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, 0:14 by Writer

Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed’s mother has applied for bail for her son, who has been remanded to prison until next month on a cybercrime charge with obtaining and giving police CCTV video that amounted to national security data breach.

She asked the High Court to quash the bail refusal and remand until November 24

“It is contended in the application filed herewith that the learned magistrate’s refusal of bail was unreasonable, failed to take into account relevant considerations, considered irrelevant considerations and was otherwise unlawful and said refusal ought to be quashed by order of certiorari,” Ms Bonita Mohamed said in an affidavit in support of the urgent bail application.

Ms Mohamed said her son had a “tried and trusted persistent faithfulness” in obeying bail conditions and appearing at his court hearings.

However, she said Sparendaam Magistrate Abigail Gibbs failed to give proper weight to Mohamed’s compliance with all of his previous awards of bail.

The woman said her son is charged with an offence that is non-violent in nature, bears no threat to society and will not and cannot interfere with any witnesses or the course of justice. “I hereby give my solemn and conscientious undertaking that I will see to it that Mohamed fully understands the duties and responsibilities attendant to a grant of bail and, especially, that he attends all of the dates fixed for his hearing,” she said.

She feared that her 39-year-old son would languish in jail for several years due to the slow pace at which indictable matters were being heard.

In Guyana, she said the fastest that indictable matters usually progress from the laying of the charge at the magistrate’s court, the resolution of committal proceedings, the director of public prosecutions-review and laying of indictment stage to the resolution of a trial before judge and jury in the High Court is generally at least two years.

Through her lawyer Siand Dhurjon, she said a review of the matters listed for trial before the assizes in the last three years show that the lists primarily comprise far more serious offences such as murder, manslaughter, rape, sexual activity with child, and no offence under the Cybercrime Act has ever been listed before the assizes.

“It is unlikely that the offence charged would benefit from any priority or fast-track treatment. Mohamed would therefore be required to spend years in custody for this relatively trivial allegation — as set out in the particulars of the offence above — effectively serving a sentence,” said Ms Mohamed.

The woman also complained about the conditions in which he is being locked up at the Lusignan Prison, East Coast Demerara.

Ms Mohamed denied that her son committed the offence of obtaining and giving electronic data in relation to national security, as charged under the Cybercrime Act, and he has never paid for any footage received.

“I am advised by my son and do verily believe that he had no intent to shoot at Mr. Narine’s house as such an intent would have been absurd especially in light of Mr. Narine’s monitoring of Mohamed and the large police presence posted outside Narine’s house,” she said.

A co-accused policeman, Ryan Greene, has admitted in a confession that Mr Mohamed paid him GY$800,000 for the video footage of what transpired outside the home of police intelligence chief, senior superintendent Prem Narine and at Sandy Babb Street and Vlissengen Road on October 12.

The woman said her son had a right to obtain public information to prove that he was wrongfully accused by the State in a criminal complaint, particularly as he had learned of plans to destroy video footage containing evidence in his favour.

This was especially in light of the fact that the footage debunked almost the totality of the Government of Guyana’s case as embodied in its press release that the car was ‘heavily tinted’, though the inside of the car can be seen even from the grainy footage; a chase then followed in contrast to the car driving at a calm and courteous speed and there was no chase but an abrupt interception as seen in the footage; ‘Mohamed was in the back seat’, although Mohamed can be seen in the front passenger seat, an unlicensed firearm was found in the car’, the footage shows that the car was searched for 10 minutes and nothing was found until a controversial search at 2:20am over two hours after.

“It was submitted that under Art.144(2)(c) of the Constitution, required Mohamed to be permitted ‘adequate facilities’ for the preparation of his defence, namely the facility of disclosure of pertinent materials which may vindicate his innocence,” the woman said,

Mr Mohamed’s mother contended that Magistrate Abigail Gibbs had a direct interest in the outcome of the proceedings because her own fiancé, deputy superintendent of police Jamine Bacon, was also instrumental in the investigation and charging in related proceedings out of which these emanated.

“I am advised by counsel that the principles of bias, automatic disqualification and presumed bias render the refusal of bail by the learned magistrate a nullity in all of the circumstances.”