The trio charged with the capital offence of treason appeared in Court One of the Georgetown
Major Bruce Monroe
Magistrates’ Courts at the new location at 92 Middle Street, Georgetown on Tuesday under heavy security and in shackles and cuffs.
The preliminary inquiry which was started on February 15 continued before acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry with testimony from former Guyana Defence Force Lieutenant Quincy Critchlow.
The charge against Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Major Bruce Munroe, his wife Carol Ann Munroe and ex-soldier Leonard Wharton stated that, between December 1, 2009 and December 16, 2010, at the Soesdyke/Linden Highway, they intended to levy war within Guyana to force the president out of his office in order to compel the government of Guyana to change its measure.
The trio was not required to plead, since the charge is indictable. Treason is a capital offence which is not bailable. The three accused are being represented by a team of legal counsels comprising Nigel Hughes, Gregory Gaskin and Tanya Warren, while the prosecution is being led by Sonia Joseph and Director of Public Prosecutions, Shalimar Ali Hack.
Carol Ann Monroe
On previous court appearances, Critchlow, of Soesdyke, EBD, reflected on the various meetings that he had with the Munroes at their Soesdyke residence.
Attorney Hughes had previously objected to second-hand evidence given by the witness, and had advised that Critchlow must give direct testimony or it would be considered as “hearsay”.
In a written response to the defence team’s application with respect to the disclosure of visual and audio evidence, the director of public prosecutions had previously disclosed that there were no forms of visual or audio evidence, as was reported by the prosecution at the initial stage of the court battle.
It was also reported that police picked up the three accused based on an informant’s tape that was made of conversations, but taking into account the non-existence of audio and visual evidence, this act was questioned by the defence team.
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