Trini fugitive to be extradited to US

A TRINIDADIAN man who fled the US after he was convicted and sentenced in New York some 18 years ago for assaulting a store owner, will be extradited.

Justice Robin Mohammed cleared the way for Kim Maharaj’s extradition as he dismissed a writ of habeas corpus which sought to prevent him from being returned to New York to serve his sentence.

Maharaj was charged, tried and convicted at the Supreme Court in Queens for assaulting a store owner by punching him in the face while two other people held the victim down. The incident took place on September 7, 1998, and Maharaj was sentenced to 12 years’ with five years mandatory post-release supervision for second degree assault and seven years’ for second degree gang-assault. The sentences were to run concurrently.

He did not appear in court during the jury’s deliberations when they convicted him on September 28, 2000, or when he was sentenced on January 12, 2001 but said he returned to Trinidad one month later in February.

In his writ of habeas corpus he said he was not in hiding but just “pretended like it (his conviction and sentence) never happened.”

Maharaj moved to Aranjuez where he lived with extended family and opened his own automotive suspension business – Suspension Kings. He got married in 2007 and has a son.

He was arrested and charged for driving under the influence on February 15, 2016, and it was then that TT’s Interpol unit contacted their counterparts in Washington for a foreign criminal record trace for Maharaj.

Interpol in Washington confirmed using fingerprints that Maharaj was wanted in the US and extradition was to be pursued for him.

On June 27, 2018, the Attorney General issued an authority to proceed with the US’ request for extradition and on October 31, 2018, Chief Magistrate Maria Busby Earle-Caddle committed him for extradition.

In seeking to avoid extradition, Maharaj, who was represented by attorneys Mario Merritt and Karunaa Bisramsingh, argued it would be oppressive to send him back to the US because of the passage of time.

He asked the court to consider his rights to private and family rights, the rights of his child and the effects it would have on him and his health.

Maharaj admitted he panicked at the thought of the verdict and decided not to attend the rest of the trial, but that he was not in hiding but “just pretended it never happened.”

He said he lived with his parents at their home at Ozone Park, Queens, for a month after he was sentenced and the US police never came looking for him nor did they make any attempt, at the time, to have him serve the sentence.

Maharaj said he used the opportunity to build his life, open a business, get married and start a family.

He said it was of his belief if the TT police didn’t make a request to Interpol, the US were not going to make any attempt to find him.

Maharaj complained that his wife was ill and he was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, an auto-immune disease which affects his spinal cord.

He said he is sometimes in severe pain, walks with a limp and has problems with his bladder and bowel movements. Since he has been incarcerated while he challenges his extradition, his wife’s health has deteriorated and his son’s schoolwork has been affected.

In his decision, Mohammed said Maharaj could not involve the passage of time, though it was lengthy, because he was guilty of deliberately fleeing from the US.

“The fugitive cannot pray in aid what would not have happened but for the additional passage of time for which he himself is culpable,” he said, as he also dismissed a complaint that the length of time it took for the extradition request to be heard was inordinate.

“This is not a case where the fugitive is being sought to face a trial, where the longer the delay the more likely it will affect the fairness of the trial,” Mohammed said.

On addressing his plea to consider his child, Mohammed said when looking at Maharaj’s criminal record while in TT – he was charged on ten occasions for drunk driving, marijuana possession, possession of an offensive weapon, resisting arrest, using obscene language and playing noisy instruments in a public place – it was clear that after he absconded the US, “he continued to demonstrate his propensity towards criminal conduct.

“The applicant’s conduct, in the mind of any right-thinking person in society, cannot be of any positive influence in the child’s upbringing. In fact, it is widely acknowledged that, in most instances, young children follow the footsteps and behaviour of their parents, more particularly their father,” the judge said.

He also added that Maharaj did not provide evidence of any charitable or community commitments or even of any ties to a church or religion.

“Piety has not become a feature of his life. Instead, his breaches of the law continued unabated,” Mohammed said, adding that there were support systems for Maharaj’s wife and child as well as several governmental social welfare programmes for her and her son until he returns from serving his sentence.

Mohammed did grant Maharaj leave to appeal his order and stayed it for 14 days.

The State was represented by attorneys Ravi Rajcoomar, Graeme McClean and Varuna Chattoo.