Freedom House staffer jailed for throwing faeces on Freddie Kissoon

Dec 12, 2017 News

Jailed: Jason Abdulla

Principal Magistrate, Judy Latchman, yesterday sentenced Freedom House operative, Jason Abdulla, to six months’ imprisonment for throwing faeces on newspaper columnist and social activist Frederick Kissoon after founding him guilty of the charge.

Kwame McCoy, former Liaison Officer to the President, during the tenure of the People Progressive Party (PPP), and self-confessed death squad member, Sean Hinds, had the matter against them dismissed after the Magistrate found them not guilty of committing the offence.

The Magistrate took a while to outline to the court all the reasons for finding Abdulla guilty.

Kwame McCoy, Jason Abdulla and Shawn Hinds were accused of assaulting Kissoon on Monday, May 24, 2010, at Georgetown.

The Magistrate told Abdulla that she is of the opinion that Kwame McCoy gave him directives to throw faeces on Kissoon and to record the incident.

She added that in Abdulla’s statement to the police, he outlined that after the assault took place, McCoy give him $100,000 for a job well done.

The Magistrate stated that she found both the oral and written statement given by Abdulla were done freely and voluntarily.

She stressed that in his statement he implicated himself.

Magistrate Latchman told the court, “I disbelieved when Abdulla said that he had no altercation with Kissoon. I disbelieve that Abdulla was given a few pieces of paper to sign without reading, and I disbelieve that Abdulla have a very poor recollection of his activities on the day of the assault.”

She said that the court finds that Abdulla had knowledge of the assault which he watched and then reported to McCoy that the crime was successful.

The Magistrate told the court that Kwame McCoy and Sean Hinds did not implicate themselves when they were arrested. They remained silent when they were arrested and it was Abdulla who implicated them both, she said.

Attorney-at-Law Glen Hanoman who represented Abdulla throughout the trial told the court that common assault is one of the lowest crimes in the laws of Guyana.

He added that Abdulla is a first time offender and at the time of the assault he was only 29.

He went on to tell the court that his client spent six days in custody and in his caution statement he appeared to play a minor role. Hanoman told the court that his client was simply following the direction of his employer, Kwame McCoy, who pays his bills.

He told the court that if his client had refused to commit the offence he would have lost his job.

The Magistrate before sentencing the accused told the court that she considered the fact that faeces was thrown on the victim and it’s an incident that will forever be embedded in Kissoon’s mind. She also emphasised the need to prevent persons from committing similar offences.

The matter was prosecuted by Police Prosecutor Shawn Gonsalves.

The men allegedly threw faecal matter into Kissoon’s face when he emerged from Nigel’s Supermarket, at Robb Street, Georgetown.
It was reported that an individual walked up to the columnist’s vehicle and threw the substance on him.
After the attack, Kissoon reportedly drove behind the perpetrator who ran north along Light Street then onto North Road, before jumping into a waiting car.
Attorney Latchmie Rahamat represented McCoy; Attorney George Thomas represented Sean Hinds.

Last year when Kissoon was called to testify in court, he recalled that on the day in question, he had left Nigel’s Supermarket on Robb Street, Georgetown and entered his vehicle which was parked nearby.

He said that he had wound down his vehicle’s window when a man walked up and threw a substance on him.
The witness recounted that after the substance was thrown on him; a man of African descent walked away, jogged across North Road, proceeded down Merriman Mall and entered a motorcar.

He also went on to describe his attacker’s height and body structure

Kissoon said that he discarded the shirt he was wearing at the time of the attack, because he had no reason for wanting to keep a nasty piece of material.

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