Hardat Kumar, one of the accused in the July 12, 2011 $7.2 million robbery committed at businessman Malcolm Panday’s Bel Air home was yesterday fined $12,000 for using threatening language to Panday’s wife.
Magistrate Judy Latchman who presided over the matter at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court ordered that alternatively Kumar will have to spend six months in prison.
The ruling was handed down after the court found Kumar guilty of the offence at the conclusion of a trial.
The November 6, 2012 charge against the defendant stated that at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, he used threatening language to Annie Ramsood; thereby resulting in a breach of the peace.
Kumar was charged with this offence on November 15, 2012 and pleaded not guilty.
Special Prosecutor Glenn Hanoman had successfully objected to the defendant being admitted to bail at that hearing. After applying to the High Court however, Kumar was subsequently able to retain his pretrial liberty.
A trial later commenced into the matter and ended yesterday when he was found guilty.
Kumar has at least one other pending matter of a similar nature before the court directly relating to witness tampering, which emanates from the robbery charge.
On July 22, Kumar’s mother; Seuranie Rampersaud was remanded to prison by Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on a charge of obstructing justice which also emanates from the robbery matter.
Seuranie Rampersaud is the sister of Chandraradha Rampersaud; another accused in the robbery case. Chandraradha is Kumar’s aunt.
Seuranie, 56, of 692 Cummings Lodge denied making a telephone call to a sister of one of the prosecution witnesses in the robbery on October 1, 2012, and threatening to kill her and her family.
Hanoman had stated that there was a history of persons attempting to pervert the course of justice in the robbery case, both by tampering and making threats to witness and other persons involved.
He said a former prosecutor who he identified as Prosecutor Harvey, an investigating detective by the name of Odell Percival and Kumar, were all charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice in the robbery trial.
The other defendants in the robbery case are Jermaine Mitchell, Aubrey Simon and Rayon Jones.
Panday’s wife Annie Ramsood was robbed on July 12, 2011 of $7.2 million at her Bel Air home.
Chandraradha is Panday’s mother-in-law.
The allegation against Mitchell, Simon, Jones, Kumar, and Chandraradha is that on July 12 at Bel Air Gardens, being armed with a gun, they robbed Ramsood of $1.4 million and US$29,000, all totalling $7.2 million.
