Former court clerk acquitted of fraud charge

May 27, 2017 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

Tiffany Peters, a 26-year-old former cashier attached to the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, who was granted presidential pardon in 2016, on Thursday had a matter of fraudulent conversion against her, dismissed by Chief Magistrate

Tiffany Peters

Ann McLennan.
The allegation read that between January 12, 2012 and August 7, 2012, while being employed at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, Peters fraudulently embezzled the sum of $1.1 M, property of the Court Registrar.
The magistrate on Thursday told the court that according to Guyana’s laws, persons cannot be convicted for the same offence within one year of their presidential pardon and it was on that ground the matter had to be dismissed.
The magistrate further told the court that a person cannot be tried for the same offence a second time, which he or she was pardoned for.
Peters was represented by Attorney Latchmie Rahamat, who had at all times argued that her client could not be charged for the same offence twice. The Attorney had told the court that since her client was pardoned, she was part of the USAID Skills and Knowledge for Youth Employment (SKYE) Guyana, where she benefited and is now the owner of a poultry farm.
Peters was granted a presidential pardon in 2016 after she was sentenced to 60 months imprisonment by City Magistrate Judy Latchman having been found guilty of stealing over $3M while being employed as a clerk or servant of the court.
In January, Peters was once again placed before the court to answer to another charge which her Attorney Rahamat argued, stemmed from the first charge.