Although attorney-at-law Mr Vic Pooran accompanied Mr Khan, the lawyer representing the businessman in the contempt hearing is Mr. Hukumchand from Mr. McKay's Chambers.

Consequent to habeas corpus proceedings brought by Bibi Shameeza Hamid alleging that Reeaz Khan had abducted her 13-year-old daughter, Natalia, Justice Roy had ordered that the girl be produced in Court, an order, which was carried out by the businessman.

But since then the judge had issued another order, directing that the girl be placed in custody of her mother and aunt and that there should be no communication between Reeaz Khan and the girl.

Mr. Nigel Hughes, acting on behalf of the girl's mother, reported that the businessman had flouted the Court's order. Hughes subsequently filed a motion, on behalf of the applicant, requesting that Reeaz Khan be imprisoned at the Georgetown Prisons for contempt.

Among other things, the woman Bibi Shameeza Hamid, is alleging that Reeaz Khan disobeyed the judge's order delivered on May 20, 2004, by attending the home of Bibi Hamid at Canal No. 2 Polder, West Demerara, on May 21, and taking away the girl from the said address to the Prashad's Hospital, where he was seen communicating with the minor. The applicant is alleging that the businessman was also seen with the girl in the streets of Georgetown.

The applicant is also saying that the 13-year-old was, without her knowledge, taken to the children's home at Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, where, it is said, she was also seen in the company of Reeaz Khan.

Lawyer Hughes had also told the Court that the girl had since filed a petition to the Court for permission to marry Reeaz Khan, a petition which the lawyer said could not be entertained by the Court since the girl was still a minor.

Mr. Hughes noted that the girl had made certain utterances in her petition, which utterances bordered on contempt, and he asked that the matter relating to her be conducted in Chambers. That is being done.

One day, while she was still in open Court, the child who was in the company of her lawyer Ms Martindale Howard, issued copies of a prepared statement to the press. In this document, the girl claimed that the love she had for her mother was gone as a result of the ill treatment she had received at the hands of her parent. "It was my mother who took me to Reeaz Khan. Now, I would prefer to be dead than to go back with my mother," the young lady claimed in her statement issued to the media.

The child, who is now under the jurisdiction of the Court, is detained at the New Opportunity Corps (NOC), Essequibo for protection. The judge had made it clear to all that she was there not as a prisoner, nor as someone who is paying a penalty for wrongdoing.

At Bail Court yesterday, attorney-at-law Mr. Hukumchand, was granted l4 days leave within which to file an affidavit in answer to the charge of contempt of Court.

The parties will be back in Court on June 28, 2004.