When the election fraud trial continued on Wednesday, Police Inspector Junior Blair of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters testified about his handling of a video recording linked to the investigation.
He detailed how he reviewed, copied and secured the footage relating to alleged attempts to manipulate the results of Guyana’s March 2020 General and Regional Elections.
Testifying before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, Blair said he received a disc containing a folder labelled “GECOM Flash Drive” on October 7, 2020.
He said he received the disc after being contacted by then Assistant Superintendent Mitchell Caesar, head of the Major Crimes Investigation Unit, who gave him instructions.
Blair subsequently contacted Assistant Superintendent David Reddy, who was attached to CID. He said the disc contained a video lasting one minute and 52 seconds and measuring 9.86 megabytes.
After reviewing the recording, Blair marked the disc with the date, made a copy and handed it to Caesar. He said he later lodged the original disc with the police property room for safekeeping.
Blair testified that while the disc was in his possession, he kept it in a locked desk drawer to which no one else had access. He also compared the original recording with the copy and found them to be identical.
However, during cross-examination, defence counsel Nigel Hughes questioned whether Blair could establish the video’s original source and authenticate its contents.
Asked whether he knew where the recording had come from, Blair replied: “I can’t speak to where the content was obtained, sir.”
He acknowledged that he did not know where the person who handed him the disc had originally obtained the material.
However, Blair maintained that he had personally reviewed the video and taken steps to secure it, rejecting the suggestion that he had merely received and transported the disc.
The defence also objected to the use of the disc in relation to its contents, after which the recording was addressed as material for identification.
The trial continues on Friday, October 23.
The trial centres on allegations that the tabulation of votes in Region Four, Guyana’s largest electoral district, was manipulated following the March 2020 elections.
The nine defendants charged over alleged attempts to manipulate the results of Guyana’s March 2020 General and Regional Elections include former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, former Deputy Chief Elections Officer Roxanne Myers, and former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo.
The other defendants are Volda Lawrence, a former Minister of Public Health and APNU+AFC government minister; Carol Smith-Joseph, a former APNU+AFC chief scrutineer; and former GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Michelle Miller and Denise Babb-Cummings.
All nine accused have pleaded not guilty and have been released on cash bail. The prosecution alleges that they conspired to manipulate the tabulation process and produce an inaccurate declaration of the Region Four results.
The electoral impasse was eventually resolved through a national recount, paving the way for the declaration of results and the swearing-in of PPP/C presidential candidate Dr Irfaan Ali as President on August 2, 2020.
The criminal trial began in July 2024.
