The trial into the March 2020 General and Regional Elections continued on Wednesday with testimony from Inspector Junior Blair of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters.
He appeared before Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court as proceedings enter their third year.
In sworn testimony, Inspector Blair told the court that on August 24 he was on duty when he was contacted by one of his superiors, who introduced him to Bibi Aneishaw Mohamed — a People’s Progressive Party (PPP) agent during the elections.
He said Mohamed handed over her Samsung mobile phone and directed him to 16 video files related to events that occurred mainly during the tabulation process and the false declaration of votes.
Blair said he connected the phone to his laptop and accessed its storage, where he located the 16 videos.
Using standard forensic procedures, he told the court he extracted the recordings and conducted a comparative analysis to verify that the videos were complete and unaltered.
He then copied and organised the files, labelled them, and carried out a final physical comparison to ensure all data remained intact before returning the device to Mohamed.
The inspector testified that he performed the same procedure for another PPP agent, Sasenarine Singh, who also submitted similar videos.
Blair later transferred all recordings to a disc, which was formally tendered into evidence.
Magistrate McGusty noted that defence attorneys, except Ronald Daniels who was present, may raise objections about the disc at a later date if they wish.
The magistrate also stressed that she does not intend for the case “to continue for the rest of her life,” given the years already elapsed.
Nine individuals are currently before the court charged with conspiring to manipulate the election results in favour of APNU+AFC, thereby seeking to deny victory to the PPP.
Those charged include former government minister Volda Lawrence, former Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, and former Deputy Chief Elections Officer Roxanne Myers, among others.
The controversy surrounding the March 2020 elections delayed the results for five months until PPP candidate Irfaan Ali was sworn in as President on 2 August 2020.
The trial continues on Thursday, 27 November.
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