Conspiracy, fraud accused Euclid DaSilva walks free

Jun 01, 2014 News

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After being tried on charges of illegal entry to Guyana, conspiracy to commit a felony and uttering a forged document, a city Magistrate recently moved to dismiss all charges against embattled businessman Euclid Da Silva almost two years after the allegations were made.
DaSilva was in 2012 hauled before the courts to face the three charges but it was after 21 months of a fruitless trial that Magistrate Fabayo Azore chose to free him on grounds of the prosecution failing to provide sufficient evidence to support their case against him.

Back in August 2010, the man, who operated a business in Hadfield Street, Georgetown, was arrested and handed over to Brazilian authorities by the local police. It was claimed that he was wanted by the Brazilian authorities for unlawfully escaping from custody while serving a lengthy prison sentence.
Previous reports are that Da Silva was arrested by local police on suspicion that he was a Brazilian who was in possession of false Guyana documents.
He was wanted in Brazil after escaping from lawful custody there almost nine years ago while serving an 11-year sentence.
But despite efforts to prove that he is indeed a Guyanese, the local lawmen whisked him away to the border although a court order was obtained to block his expulsion.
Local police had claimed that Da Silva was already handed over to their Brazilian counterparts before the order was actually served.
Following the closures by the Prosecution and Defence, Azore dismissed all the charges against DaSilva saying that there was not enough evidence against the businessman who was reportedly arrested by local police that year on suspicion that he was a Brazilian who was in possession of false Guyana documents.
August 2012, DaSilva was hauled before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and indicted on charges of illegal entry to Guyana, conspiracy to commit a felony and uttering a forged document.
At his first court hearing before then Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton, he was granted bail totaling $3,085,000 on the four charges.
The first charge stated that Da Silva had entered Guyana illegally on August 10, 2012, and failed to present himself to an immigration officer. To that charge, the accused had pleaded not guilty and was granted $85,000 bail.
He was accused too of conspiring with other(s) to commit a felony in 2007, by obtaining a forged Guyana birth certificate.
It was also alleged that during the same year he uttered a forged birth certificate to obtain a Guyana passport.
Those charges were at first laid indictably but Da Silva later denied the claims. A fourth charge read that he obtained a Guyana passport using a forged document. For the last three charges, Da Silva was granted bail to the tune of $1M each.
The matter which was first called before Octive-Hamilton was subsequently transferred to Magistrate Azore where for the past while it had engaged her attention.
DaSilva who was represented by Defence Attorneys Latchmie Rahamat and Onassis Granville was being prosecuted by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Prosecutor, Inspector Stephen Telford.
In making her no case submission, Rahamat contended that the Prosecution had failed to prove the elements of the offences charged.
The lawyer maintained that in order for a conviction to be secured on a charge of conspiracy to commit a felony, the Prosecution must prove that there was an agreement between two or more persons to do an unlawful act.
“Furthermore, there must be proof that an agreement and attempt was actually made to commit the act.”
“Your worship, no evidence was presented to show that there was an agreement to carry out any unlawful act. Without the proof of an agreement, the Prosecution fails to prove a very essential element of the offence for which my client was charged.”
She contended too that the document with which the Prosecution was seeking to rely on as ‘forged’ document could not properly be identified by the Immigration Officer during the course of the trial.
Rahamat reminded the court that the officer in her statement had stated that the documents were signed with her signature but whilst in the witness stand she did not see her signature there.
The attorney argued that the nexus had been broken and the Prosecution could not rely on that piece of evidence since the signature the officer mentioned was missing.
At the end of the trial, the Prosecution had closed its case but was informed that it had failed to establish a case any of the cases against the Hadfield businessman.
Magistrate Azore stated that given the evidence before her and the closure of the Prosecution’s case, she found that insufficient evidence was led by the Prosecution to prove the elements of the offence.
Azore indicated that as a result, the court would uphold the no case submission made by the Defence Attorneys Rahamat and Peter Granville and accordingly dismiss the case against DaSilva.

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