A man who told the court he attempted to obtain a Guyana passport using his brother’s identity in order to travel and take care of his toddler son was today sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for the offence.
Forty-eight-year-old Michael Sookraj of Lot 6 Public Road, Friendship, East Bank Demerara, appeared before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Sookraj pleaded guilty with explanation to the charge which stated that on June 20, 2019, at Central Immigration and Passport Office, Georgetown, for the purpose of procuring a new passport, he made a false declaration by signing a statement claiming to be Lloyd Sookraj, knowing same to be false.
Sookraj, in his explanation, stated, “I was deported from Curaçao because I overstayed my time. My child mother recently passed away and I wanted to go back for my three-year-old son so that I can take care of him.”
Facts presented by Police Prosecutor Seon Blackman stated that Sookraj, who is a Guyanese, was residing in Curaçao for three years and was voluntarily deported on June 6, 2019.
However, on June 20, Sookraj went to the Central Immigration and Passport Office where he applied for a passport but it was discovered that he was trying to use his brother’s birth certificate to obtain the passport.
He was then arrested and taken to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) where he was charged with the offence.
The magistrate, after listening to the facts, sentenced Sookraj to three months’ imprisonment on the grounds that he did not waste the court’s time and was truthful.
