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Man who threatened GECOM Chair apologizes – says letter a condition for charge to be dropped
Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission, Justice (r’td.) Claudette Singh.
Kaieteur News – The man charged for making a post via Facebook threatening to kill the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission, Justice (r’td.) Claudette Singh and her family, has been tasked with making a public formal apology in order for the charge to be dropped against him.
The accused, Ryan Williams, 41, of 27 Silver City, Wismar Linden, was charged on July 20, 2020, for using a computer system under the name “Raheem Raahman” to threaten the GECOM Chair and her family between July 13, 2020 and July 14, 2020, at Wismar Linden.
According to the report, under the fictitious name, Williams made a post stating, “If you Claudette Singh think you will declare fraudulent votes so that the PPP will win, well think again bcuz you and everybody in ur house will f@#$ing dead.”
Ryan Williams letter of apology to GECOM Chair
He had initially denied the charge and was released on $500,000, bail.However, as a condition for the charge to be dropped against him as requested by the Justice Singh, Williams has written a letter titled “RE: Formal Apology for Unacceptable Post Made on Facebook.”
In the letter he stated, “The Facebook account under the name ‘Raheem Raahman’ was created and exclusively controlled by me. The threats to your life were reckless and irresponsible… I take complete responsibility for my posts and wish to convey my sincerest apology to you and your family for the pain and any harm the threats would have caused.”
During a phone call with this publication, Williams said that earlier this month, he wrote a letter of apology to the GECOM Chair with his phone number attached. He added that a few weeks ago Singh had contacted the investigators at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters informing them about the conditions under which she would drop the charge against Williams. However, the investigators failed to contact Williams and Singh reached out to Williams herself and told him that she will drop the charge against him if he makes a public formal apology in the four daily newspapers and a public formal apology on online media websites.
Williams said that after the apology is made public, he hopes the next step is that the charge is dropped against him.
According to reports, Williams is the first person to be charged under the Cyber Crime Act, Section 2, Chapter 19:1(b), “using a computer system to coerce, harass, intimidate or humiliate a person”. The nature of the charge alleged that, with intent to compel the GECOM Chair to do an act, which she is not legally bound to or to abstain from doing the act which she has a legal right to do, Williams allegedly threatened her and her family by using a computer system to publish or transmit computer data.
The post was circulated on Facebook and the police launched an investigation. Eventually, the police were able to make an arrest and the suspect allegedly confessed to issuing the threat and claimed that he is a supporter of the A Partnership for National Unity / Alliance For Change (AFC+APNU) party and that he is unhappy with the current situation.
(See full letter in today’s letter column.)
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