Handwriting expert confirms Carol Joseph signature on March 13 fraudulent declaration, Lowenfield’s signature on reports with falsified votes submitted to GECOM

The prosecution in the 2020 election fraud trial on Tuesday turned to forensic handwriting evidence, with Detective Inspector Ameer Mohamed testifying that signatures attributed to former Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield and APNU+AFC chief scrutineer Carol Smith-Joseph were written by the same persons who signed comparison documents.

Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty accepted Mohamed, of the Guyana Police Force’s Fingerprint and Handwriting Analysis Unit, as an expert in handwriting analysis. His evidence-in-chief remains unfinished and is expected to continue on Wednesday.

Lead Prosecutor Latchmie Rahamat said Mohamed conducted a microscopic comparison of the disputed and known signatures. In Lowenfield’s case, she said the expert compared signatures appearing on a passport replacement application and affidavit of lost passport with signatures on three election-related reports.

“He found similarities, and he said his opinion was that those signatures were authored by the same person,” Rahamat said.

The second analysis concerned the March 13, 2020 Region Four declaration, which was published on GECOM’s website and carried what appeared to be the signatures of former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo and Smith-Joseph.

Rahamat said Mohamed compared the signature bearing Smith-Joseph’s name on that declaration with signatures on a passport application form and a police-station diary entry.

“Again, on the microscopic comparison that he did, he found that the signatures ‘Carol Smith Joseph’ were authored by the same person,” Rahamat said.

Rahamat said Mohamed prepared two analytical reports and tendered two comparison charts to the court. The charts, she said, enlarged the signatures and itemised the similarities he identified.

“It should also be noted that the expert has also presented to the court … two charts,” Rahamat said. “On the charts which he presented to the court, we could see him itemising the similarities that he observed in the signatures.”

Mohamed told the court that his analysis considered multiple individual writing characteristics, including letter formation, stroke direction, slant, spacing, proportions, line quality, writing speed, pen lifts, stops, and hesitations. This was the technical basis on which he reached his opinions on the common authorship of the signatures.

The nine accused are former GECOM Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield; former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo; former Deputy Chief Elections Officer Roxanne Myers; former Health Minister Volda Lawrence; APNU+AFC chief scrutineer Carol Smith-Joseph; and former GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Michelle Miller and Denise Babb-Cummings. They have pleaded not guilty.

Wednesday’s proceedings are expected to include the continuation of Mohamed’s evidence, the return of witness Earl Cornelius, who dealt with the movement of documents sent for analysis, and the completion of evidence by an immigration official. Cross-examination of former Public Security Minister Robeson Benn is also expected.

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