–Judge dismisses application for stay
US wanted man Barry Dataram was yesterday set free after Justice Charles Ramson dismissed an application for a stay of execution of a Full Court order, filed by the state. Dataram had been remanded to prison since October.
After hearing arguments from Dataram’s defence counsel and the Attorney General (AG) last week Friday, Justice Ramson had adjourned the matter, pending a ruling.
Yesterday morning he dismissed the state’s application for a stay of execution and recalled the order of stay of execution he had issued last week that caused Dataram to be rearrested minutes after he walked out of the High Court with his lawyers.
The drug accused had been ordered released by Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang and Justice William Ramlal in the Full Court last week Wednesday after an order nisi was made absolute in his favour. However, he was rearrested shortly afterward when he made a stop at a shop at Providence, East Bank Demerara. The arrest was made after a successful application by the AG to the Court of Appeal for a stay of execution of the order made in the High Court.
Dataram’s lawyers Vic Puran and Glen Hanoman had said at the time that they would “immediately mount a challenge” to the stay of execution. As it turned out the attorneys did not file any applications but argued that the Court of Appeal could not grant a stay of execution in a criminal matter.
Dataram for whom the US has issued two provisional arrest warrants has been in custody since October 4, when he was arrested for the alleged breach of a court order made earlier this year. Since then his attorneys have filed a series of actions to secure his freedom.
Applications before Justice Roxanne George had been refused and the lawyers moved to the Full Court presided over by Justice Chang and Justice Ramlal. Among the arguments in the application was that the Home Affairs Minister had no authority to permit an extradition hearing. The AG on the other hand had argued that the High Court did not have the jurisdiction to rule in the matter.
The judges ruled in favour of Dataram and he was granted his freedom. Minutes later however, he was once more rearrested.
Meanwhile, a provisional arrest warrant was issued by Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton and an extradition hearing had already commenced in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court after permission was granted for this by Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee.
Prior to this, provisional arrest warrants were issued twice before in the Magistrate’s Court for Dataram and both times Puran had moved to the High Court to secure his release.
The latest of three Habeas Corpus applications filed by Puran culminated in Dataram’s release last December when Justice Jainarayan Singh Jnr ruled in the High Court that Dataram’s detention was not lawful.
Dataram came up on the radar after the kidnapping of his wife, Sheleza, and their three-year-old daughter last year December by two Venezuelans, one of whom was later shot dead in a confrontation with the police.
He was arrested and had been detained by police beyond the 72 hours that the law allows a person to be held in custody before being charged. His lawyers subsequently approached the court with a habeas corpus writ but police asked for an extension to conclude their investigation into the kidnapping, which they said was drug-related.
Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards had ruled in the police’s favour and Dataram’s lawyers subsequently appealed her ruling before Justice Singh and secured bail in the sum of $100,000.
However, police said that soon after bail was granted they had received the warrant from the US and Dataram was rearrested, even before he left the precincts of the Brickdam Police Station. He was taken back to the Magistrate’s Court where the second provisional warrant was issued. His lawyers then moved to the High Court again before Justice Singh, where Dataram was freed. Upon his release, he was ordered to report to the police every Monday and Friday, but failed to do, leading to his arrest in October, after which the US issued another warrant.
Meanwhile the state still has an appeal of the High Court ruling pending in the Court of Appeal. Up to press time last night Dataram remained free.
