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Court denies bail for convicted Muslim Scholar
Chief Justice Roxane George refused to grant an application for bail, pending appeal, made by Attorney Glenn Hanoman on behalf of Muslim Scholar Neezam Ali, who was convicted earlier this year for raping a nine-year-old boy and was sentenced to 45 years’ imprisonment.
Neezam Ali
During a bail hearing yesterday, Hanoman advanced that his client has certain medical conditions and jail was not the most suitable place for him to be. Justice George, however, held that this was insufficient ground and refused the application.
In March, Justice Navindra Singh sentenced Ali to 45 years behind bars after a 12-member mixed jury convicted him of the offence with a unanimous guilty verdict delivered at the High Court in Demerara. The court heard that Ali, between December 5, 2011, and December 31, 2011, engaged in sexual penetration with a child under the age of 16 by abusing his position of trust while being an Imam at the Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown Masjid.
That aside, Ali has appealed the conviction and sentence at the Court of Appeal where he argues among other things that the conviction cannot stand, taking into account that which was adduced at his trial. The convict also argues that the sentence was excessive in all the circumstances.
“The learned trial judge utilised a mathematical formula in passing the sentence of 45 years that is without legal basis, and failed to take into account established sentencing guidelines, and passed a sentence that was inconsistent with the current sentencing practice,” Ali contends in a Notice of Appeal.
Eight other boys have alleged that Ali had penetrative anal intercourse with them while they were minors. The incidents allegedly took place when the boys were attending classes at an East Coast Demerara Masjid.
The allegations of abuse first came to light when the Child Care and Protection Agency received an anonymous tip and officials there began an investigation that led them to the boys, who were then between the ages of four and ten.
Ali is still to be tried for eight more counts of child rape at the Demerara Criminal Assizes.
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