Man who forced Venezuelans to strip naked slapped with several charges

Ahmad Ally, a 37-year-old Joiner of Peters Hall, East Bank Demerara, was arrested earlier this month following the circulation of a video on social media of two Venezuelan nationals being coerced to say they were thieves and then instructed to strip naked and walk down the road.

Ally was charged on Thursday with the following offences:

• two counts of using a computer system to publish the image of a private area of a person, contrary to Section 16(2) (a) of the Cybercrime Act 2018, committed on Luigi Hernandez and Keilysmar Astudillo, respectively
• Assault Causing Actual Bodily Harm, Contrary to Section 49 of the Criminal Law Offences Act, Chapter 8:01, committed on Keilysmar Astudillo
• Assault, Contrary to Section 43 of the Criminal Law Offences Act, Chapter 8:01, committed on Luigi Hernandez.

Ally appeared at the Diamond/Golden Grove Magistrate’s Court before Senior Magistrate Sunil Scarce, where the charges were read to him, and he pleaded not guilty.

He was released on $200,000 bail each for the cybercrime offences, $40,000 bail for assault causing actual bodily harm and $20,000 for assault. The cases were adjourned to January 17, 2024.

Ally is accused of threatening the two victims with a cutlass, ordering them to take off their clothing and walk naked on the street in Peters Hall, while saying that they are thieves. The victims complied and Ally is accused of video recording them and uploading it to social media.