DPP discontinues private criminal charge against Crime Chief over statement about Bascom
The private criminal charge filed against Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum by Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes was today discontinued by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack.
In a statement, the Guyana Police Force’s (GPF) Corporate Communications Unit (CCU) said the charge was discontinued in accordance with the powers conferred on the DPP under Article 187 (1) (C) of the Constitution of Guyana.
According to the CCU, a letter was dispatched to Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan informing her of the discontinuance.
“The lawyers for the Crime Chief contended that the charge is an abuse of the court’s process and is nothing more than an attempt to intimidate the Crime Chief Blanhum as well as senior police officers who are expected to testify in the matter against his client,” the CCU concluded.
On Thursday, attorney Hughes filed the private criminal charge against Blanhum over statements he allegedly made against his client, Police Sergeant Dion Bascom.
The charge had stated that on August 17, 2022, at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, Blanhum used a computer system to disseminate information, knowing the same to be false, subjecting Bascom to public ridicule. The Crime Chief was slated to appear in Court on September 21.
Last month, Sergeant Bascom took the spotlight hours after he was released from Police custody after being arrested in connection with a drug bust at a Norton Street, Georgetown residence.
He had claimed that there was a conspiracy to kill him and cover up the murder of Ricardo Fagundes, known as ‘Paper Shorts.’Fagundes was riddled with bullets in March 2021 as he exited the Palm Court on Main Street, Georgetown.
In fact, Bascom fingered several members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) for taking a bribe to cover up Fagundes’ murder while noting that there was a conspiracy to kill him.
In a press conference on August 17, the Crime Chief and Commissioner of Police (ag) Clifton Hicken rebuffed the Sergeant’s claims.
The Crime Chief deemed Bacom as “not being honest” while noting that he is “manufacturing false and concocted information out of malice against members of the Guyana Police Force, and it all stemmed from his arrest and detention by CANU investigations.”
