Sedition charges against Waddell dismissed
Stabroek News
October 6, 2002
Former television personality Ronald Waddell has had the sedition charges pending against him since May of last year owing to a lack of prosecution by the state, discharged.
Senior Magistrate Melissa Robertson discharged Waddell after the Preliminary Inquiry into the two charges failed to get underway following numerous delays.
Further, it was also advanced that the charges were bad in law since they did not identify which laws had been breached in the commission of the offence.
Special prosecutor for the state was Darshan Ramdhani, while attorney for Waddell was James Patterson.
Waddell was indicted for the offences on May 15, 2001, and was initially released on $1M surety by then Chief Magistrate, Paul Fung-A-Fat.
It was alleged that on January 17 and April 9, 2001, he uttered and published a seditious speech to the citizens of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, the purpose of which was to promote feelings of ill will and hostility between different groups of Guyanese citizens.
Waddell was originally charged on May 15, 2001, and had initially been released on $1M surety by then Chief Magistrate, Paul Fung-A-Fat.