Michael Sookraj, who admitted to trying to obtain a passport by pretending to be his brother, was yesterday sentenced to three months in jail after he told a city court that he was desperate to go back to his motherless child, who resides in Curacao.
An unemployed Sookraj, 48, yesterday admitted to the charge that on June 20th, at the Central Immigration and Passport Office, in Georgetown, he made a false declaration and signed a written declaration claiming to be Lloyd Sookraj, knowing same to be false, for the purpose of procuring a new passport.
The charge was read by Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court Five.
Police Prosecutor Seon Blackman told the court that Michael is a Guyanese, who resided in Curacao for three years before he was deported from the country for overstaying. He returned on June 6th. Blackman said on June 20th, the man went to the said location in the hopes of applying for a Guyanese passport using his brother’s birth certificate. However, he was detained after the discovery was made. After being arrested, he admitted under caution that he knowingly applied for a passport using his brother’s name and falsely signed a declaration, knowing he was using his brother’s identity.
Michael then told the court that he was desperate to go back to Curacao because his three-year-old son resides there. He explained that the child’s mother recently died and he wanted to go back to the country to take care of him. “I took a chance ’cause my child has no mother. I know that I made a mistake,” Michael added.
The magistrate subsequently told Michael that the maximum sentence for the offence was 18 months. She stated that because he chose not to waste the court’s time, he would be sentenced to three months in prison.
