Accused gang leader Rajaee Ali has won his appeal over being convicted of having an illegal electricity connection in 2018.
In upholding Ali’s appeal yesterday morning, Appellate judges Prakash Moosai and Gillian Lucky approved all three grounds over the fairness of his trial before a magistrate raised by his lawyer Roshan Tota-Maharaj.
Ali was arrested and charged in May 2013 after police officers raided a house at Rose Avenue, Carapo, Arima, where he was found.
He was accused of stealing approximately $600 worth of electricity from October 2012 to the date of his arrest.
Almost exactly seven years later, Ali was convicted and sentenced to three months in prison.
In deciding the appeal, Justice Lucky noted that Ali was not present in court for almost half the hearings of his case.
Justice Lucky pointed out that Ali was forced to cross-examine key witnesses in his case after his attorney missed a hearing and the magistrate refused to grant an adjournment.
Justice Lucky also noted that before the case was concluded, Ali hired a new lawyer, who was not given time to research the case and provide written closing arguments.
Justice Lucky suggested that the issues would have been avoided if video conference hearings were available when the trial was ongoing.
“Unfortunately, that was not the case and the appellant was deprived of a fair hearing,” the judge added.
The appeal panel also agreed with Tota-Maharaj over issues with the magistrate’s handling of the evidence.
Justice Lucky stated that the T&T Electricity Commission (T&TEC) official, who inspected the property, never traced the illegal wiring from the utility pole to the house Ali was found in as he claimed that there were illegal connections to several houses in the area.
Tota-Maharaj also took issue with how the value of the electricity allegedly stolen was approximated based on the appliances found in the house.
Justice Lucky noted that no photographs of the appliances were submitted.
“That lack of specificity should not have been glossed over,” the judge said.
Justice Lucky also stated that the magistrate failed to consider Ali’s admission that he installed an extension cord from a neighbour’s house to plug in a fan, which would have served as bad character evidence against him.
The judge also said that no evidence was presented over the legal ownership of the property.
While the Appellate judges upheld the appeal, they ruled that Ali should not face a retrial as the offence allegedly occurred over a decade ago and only involved a small sum.
Assistant DPP Danille Thompson represented the State.
In November 2022, the Appeal Court reversed a magistrate’s decision to free Ali from a charge of driving a car without a valid certificate of insurance in 2014.
Based on the evidence, the court found him guilty of the offence and fined him $300.
In April, Appellate Judges Alice Yorke-Soo Hon and Malcolm Holdip upheld an appeal from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions over a magistrate’s decision to dismiss a charge against Ali for possession of the carcass of a protected animal outside of the hunting season.
The judges ruled that the magistrate was wrong to uphold a no-case submission and dismiss the charge in 2019.
They ordered a retrial for Ali, which is yet to commence.
The outcomes of the appeals are arguably inconsequential for Ali, who is awaiting trial with nine members of his alleged gang for murdering Independent Senator Dana Seetahal, SC, on May 4, 2014.
With the tenth anniversary of her death being commemorated, this year, there was a discourse between the DPP Roger Gaspard, SC, and Chief Justice Ivor Archie over delays in filing indictments against the men for their case to be listed for trial.
Ali and four others have also been committed to stand trial for conspiring to murder Slam 100.5 announcer Kevaughn “Lurbz” Savory on November 27, 2014.