The ongoing 2020 election fraud trial continued on Monday before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty, where prosecution witness Anieshaw Mohamed admitted under cross-examination that she was not present at GECOM when the verification process for Statements of Poll (SOPs) was conducted.
Mohamed’s cross-examination was completed by defence attorneys Dexter Todd, Eusi Anderson and Darren Wade during the morning session.
During questioning by Todd, the witness agreed that it is GECOM’s lawful function to verify or authenticate SOPs. However, when asked whether she was present during the verification process at GECOM, Mohamed told the court she was not.
It was then put to the witness that she observed PPP officials verifying their own documents, to which she agreed.
Todd also questioned Mohamed about whether she was trained to examine features on SOPs using a black light. The witness stated that she received training at Freedom House and not from GECOM.
When asked whether recount numbers changed for all parties, Mohamed said she could not say.
The witness further told the court that her report on the tabulation process was reduced to a spreadsheet which she prepared and later submitted to the General Secretary of the PPP.
Meanwhile, repeated questioning over whether the SOPs were written in “original ink” later dominated proceedings during cross-examination by Anderson.
When asked whether she knew if the 2,339 SOPs she received had been altered or edited during transit, Mohamed explained to the court, “An SOP comes from the polling place in a specific manner and all of the data recorded in the SOPs is signed off by parties present, the presiding officers and any other GECOM official present.”
The witness further stated, “SOPs are written in pen so if it was edited or altered there would be a scratch on it and a new number inserted, so I can verify that there were no scratches on it or new numbers inserted from every one that I saw.”
Anderson again asked the witness whether the SOPs in her possession were written in pen ink, to which she responded yes. He repeated the question a third time, prompting the prosecution to interject.
The magistrate then stepped in and stated that defence counsel’s question was clear and she was unsure why the prosecution was intervening. Anderson was then allowed to repeat the question.
Mohamed was subsequently asked whether the 2,339 SOPs she had in her possession were in original ink form, to which she responded, “They were written in pen, original ink, we got copies of the SOPs.”
When asked to clarify what she meant by copies and original ink, the witness explained, “SOPs are written in ink and what we received was a copy of the SOP, so for me to determine whether that is red, black or blue would be impossible, but what I can say is that what I received was written in pen and not pencil that could be erased or altered.”
During questioning by Wade, Mohamed also stated that she had no evidence that former PNCR Chairperson Volda Lawrence was ever in possession of GECOM Statements of Poll or altered any Statements of Poll.
During the afternoon session, Mohamed returned to the witness box for re-examination by the prosecution, bringing her testimony to a close.
The matter was adjourned to Wednesday when Registrar Sueanna Lovell is expected to take the stand.
Several individuals remain before the court in connection with the March 2020 General and Regional Elections, including former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, former Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, and former Deputy Chief Elections Officer Roxanne Myers.
Also charged are Lawrence, PNCR activist Carol Smith-Joseph, along with GECOM staff members Enrique Livan, Michelle Miller, Sheffern February and Denise Babb-Cummings.
