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I know of no deal with Simone De Nobrega – DPP

Mar 18, 2015 News

– Murder trial star witness not in prison serving five-year sentence

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack has dismissed reports that she struck a deal with convicted fraudster Simone De Nobrega in exchange for her testimony in the Neesa Gopaul murder trial.
De Nobrega surrendered to police about a month ago after being on the run for more than a year to avoid serving a five-year sentence for fraud-related charges. She subsequently testified as the star witness in the high profile murder trial, which saw the two accused being sentenced to 202 years in total.
It was De Nobrega’s testimony about a confession made by one of the accused, Bibi Gopaul, while they were both in the East La Penitence lock-ups, that swayed the case decisively in the prosecution’s favour.
There is widespread speculation that De Nobrega turned herself in after striking a deal to testify in the murder trial in exchange for her freedom.
The speculation comes in the light of confirmation that instead of being taken to the New Amsterdam prison to serve her sentence, De Nobrega is presently being housed at the Beterverwagting Police Station lock-ups.
When asked about the arrangement, the DPP declared “I don’t know about any deal! I do not deal with prisoners, I only deal with prosecutions.”
Director of Prisons Welton Trotz told Kaieteur News yesterday that although De Nobrega was sentenced to a term of imprisonment, she was never handed over to him.
“She has not been handed over to me…no warrant was served on me,” Trotz stated.
When contacted on Monday, Divisional Commander of the Police’s East Coast Demerara division Christopher Griffith told this newspaper that his division was merely housing De Nobrega at their Beterverwagting facility at the behest of the authorities at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters at Eve Leary. He did promise to look into the matter.
A source at the CID Headquarters told this newspaper that it is possible that the delay in handing over De Nobrega to the prison authorities for her to commence her sentence has to do with threats she claimed she had been receiving.
According to the source, De Nobrega did tell the High Court that she felt threatened by one of the convicted persons in the Neesa Gopaul trial. He suggested that maybe that is why the police are reluctant to hand her over to the prison authorities, where she will be placed in the same location with one of the convicted murderers.
The New Amsterdam Prison is the only female prison facility in Guyana.
“Maybe the police believe that the lock-up is a safer place for her,” the source said.
But a top police official disagreed with that suggestion, pointing out that that should have been a responsibility for prison authorities.
“It should be the prison authorities’ responsibility to protect prisoners in their care, not the police. They have a responsibility to check her food and anything that is going in to her. And besides the prison is a safe place. Who says that the lock-up is safer than the prison? For all you know, the lock-ups can be compromised more than the prison, because there is lesser intensity in terms of supervision of prisoners,” the official stated.
Sources at the Beterverwagting Police Station have indicated that De Nobrega appears to be quite comfortable spending her time there, since she is mostly alone, though not isolated.
Exactly why the police are keeping her from prison is the big question.

SERVER WEDNESDAY: Simone De Nobrega

Caption: Simone De Nobrega

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