DPP | Stay of Execution withdrawn: Sergeant Jayesh Gungadin finally released

Yet another turn of events regarding Sergeant Jayesh Gungadin. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) withdrew, yesterday, the Stay of Execution... which he had lodged on Thursday against the decision of the District Court of Port-Louis to release the accused on conditional release.

Following this decision by the DPP, Jayesh Gungadin paid the bails that the court had imposed on him, and returned home.

In a statement to Le Mauricien, his lawyer, Me Steeven Sauhoboa criticizes the fact that after the DPP had lodged his Stay of Execution, his client had to spend an additional night in a police cell, before being released this Friday, with all the inconveniences "The Bail Act 1999 grants too many discretionary powers to the Police Commissioner and the DPP," the lawyer explains. "It is high time that the Attorney General reviews this aspect of the law and makes reforms."

Sergeant Jayesh Gungadin, an element of the Divisional Crime Intelligence Unit (DCIU) of Port-Louis, was arrested on July 1 and is the subject of a provisional charge of “perverting the course of justice”, in violation of section 298 of the Penal Code, in a case drug importation.

He was initially released on parole by the Port-Louis District Court on two bonds of Rs 100,000 on Thursday July 16, despite objections from the police. However, on the same day, the DPP's office issued a Stay of Execution under Section 4 of the Bail Act 1999, which quashed with immediate effect the Court's decision to release Sergeant Gungadin. The latter was then returned to police detention, before being released yesterday, after having paid the bails imposed by the court.

What motivated his arrest by the ADSU: certain telephone messages between him and one of the suspects who had been arrested in the wake of the seizure of 62.5 kilos of cannabis at SSR airport on June 4, drugs valued at Rs 94 million.