National Chess Champion Wendell Meusa was yesterday cleared of the charge of assault with intent to rob instituted against him on June 15, after the complainant testified that he was not her assailant.
The 25-year-old told Stabroek News yesterday that Prosecutor Joel Ricknauth had indicated to Magistrate Judy Latchman that the complainant, Sheliza Mohammed, no longer wished to offer evidence in the matter.
Mohammed then made a sworn statement in which she explained that she was prompted to end the case against Meusa after she saw a photograph which suggested to her that Meusa was not the perpetrator, Meusa said.
At this point, he continued, the magistrate announced that the matter against him had been dismissed and he is a free man.
Meusa told Stabroek News that from the initial stage of his arrest, he had tried to explain to the police that they had the wrong man, but he was prevented from doing so after the police assaulted him.
He said he was appalled at the police’s failure to conduct thorough investigations before venturing
to deprive a man of his liberty.
Meusa shared that the news of the charge alarmed and saddened his family, who thankfully, did not believe he would ever involve himself in such crimes.
But what is most upsetting, Meusa said, is the fact that there is no assurance that the rest of society feels that way.
Meusa informed Stabroek News that further details about his wrongful arrest will be related in an official press release today.
It was previously reported after the matter’s first hearing in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, that Meusa, 25, of Lot 142 Guyhoc Park, was released on $150,000 bail after denying that he committed the alleged assault on Mohammed on June 15, at High Street.
He was unrepresented and made an application for bail on his own behalf.
Mohammed, the complainant, was present at the hearing with visible signs of injury to her head and elbow. But no details pertaining to the crime were related to the court by Ricknauth.
Ricknauth did not object to bail, which was granted by Magistrate Judy Latchman.
