Georgetown: Sherod Duncan who was terminated for mismanaging the finances of the Guyana Chronicle newspaper while he held the position of General was on Monday slapped with a cyberbullying charge following a police investigation into a complaint made by a staff of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
The 42 year-old A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Parliamentarian of Good Hope, East Coast Demerara, was arraigned before Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Diamond/Grove Magistrate’s Court and was granted $200, 000 bail.
The father of three pleaded not guilty to the charge which alleged that on January 11, 2022, at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, without legal or lawful justification or excuse, he used a computer system to publish electronic data about GECOM’s Information Technology Manager, Aneal Giddings, with the intent to humiliate, embarrass and to cause emotional distress.
He was represented by attorneys Khemraj Ramjattan, Nigel Hughes, Narissa Leander and Amanza Walton-Desir.
Leander made an application for reasonable bail, citing that her client has no prior brushes with the law and does not pose a flight risk.
The magistrate then announced bail for Duncan in the sum of $275,000, but this was met with objections from Hughes. Hughes pleaded with the magistrate to reduce the bail, since Duncan was already out on $100,000 station bail.
With no objection raised by the court prosecutor, Magistrate Latchman reduced the bail to $200,000 and adjourned the case until February 10, 2022.
According to a police statement, it is alleged that on the day in question around 20:00hrs, during an airing of his “In the Ring” Facebook programme, Duncan made derogatory statements against Giddings and referred to him by a number of “disrespectful” names.
The GECOM staff, in his police report, said that Duncan’s actions caused him significant emotional stress and humiliation.
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