Photographer accused of being Mudwata: Ruling deferred on whether case can proceed
On November 1, 2022, Magistrate Sunil Scarce will rule whether the cybercrime charge against photographer Keron Bruce can proceed.
When the matter was called on Tuesday in the Diamond/Golden Grove Magistrates’ Court, the prosecution made late submissions on the legal issues Bruce’s lawyer Bernard Da Silva had raised.
The lawyer had raised the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations deals with the maximum amount of time that parties involved in a dispute have to initiate legal proceedings from the date of an alleged offense, whether civil or criminal.
However, Prosecutor Neville Jeffers submitted today that the cybercrime charge against the photographer should be heard. Notwithstanding, Magistrate Scarce will make his ruling on November 1, 2022.
Bruce, 35, of Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara (EBD), was first arraigned before Magistrate Scarce in the Diamond/Grove Magistrate’s Court, where he denied the charge and was released on $100,00 bail.
The charge alleged that on January 25, 2021, at Soesdyke, EBD, he used a computer system to disseminate information about Leroy Smith knowing the same to be false, to cause public ridicule, contempt, and hatred, or embarrassment.
In January, Bruce was arrested three days after Smith, through his online publication “Big Smith News Watch,” made a public reward of one million dollars for information leading to the identity of the players behind the “Mudwata” and the “Guyana Uncut” characters.
Smith made this offer after a video was posted by “Mudwata” casting aspersions on his character. At the time of Bruce’s arrest, the Police had said several pieces of electronic equipment were seized from his’ DD Eccles, EBD home.
