Perreira, Rodrigues released on bail
…charged with attempting to pervert course of justice
Kaieteur News
April 14, 2007
Two former policemen, Gerald Perreira and Paul Rodrigues, were yesterday granted $200,000 bail each by Magistrate Nyasha Williams-Hatmin, after being charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. They will return to court on Monday.
The charge was read to the duo by Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys, who declined to proceed with the matter, citing a conflict of interest, since he had a cordial relationship with the accused.
The matter was then transferred to Magistrate Hatmin, who presides over Court Three.
Lead counsel for the accused, Glenn Hanoman, made the bail application, stating that the particulars of the charge were vague and that the men posed no flight risk.
He noted that the men were ex-police who have had constant contact with the police and would usually assist.
Hanoman also noted that the accused pose no threat to the witnesses who are police officers. He said that on the day in question the men visited a prisoner at East Ruimveldt where they asked the men to tell the police what they needed to know about some stolen diamonds.
Attorney-at-Law Vic Puran, who was included in the line-up of lawyers, noted that this statement was the basis for the men being charged. He added that the charge must state the offence and particulars.
The men were arrested last Tuesday evening outside the Georgetown Magistrates' Court.
Police sources had indicated to this newspaper that the charges emanated from reports that the men had allegedly acted as enforcers and were questioning a suspect who has been charged in connection with the recent $90M diamond heist.
The source said that the two former cops purportedly questioned the man about the whereabouts of the stolen diamonds and to whom, if anyone, he had sold them.
Both Perreira and Rodrigues became high- profile fugitives last year during a Joint Services crackdown on certain elements in the city as part of a search for the missing GDF AK-47 assault rifles.
Bulletins were issued for their arrests along with several other persons
While Perriera turned himself over to local police and was penalised with minor charges, Rodrigues fled Guyana to Suriname where he, businessman Roger Khan and two other ex-policemen were held during a raid.
Rodrigues and two others, Sean Belfield and Lloyd Roberts, spent almost six months without charge in a maximum security prison in Suriname , while Khan was taken to the US , where he is facing drug trafficking indictments.
Upon their return to Guyana , the men were charged with departing the country illegally.