National Border Patrol Director Daniel Seeram will remain in custody pending his sentencing after the High Court today dismissed his application for judicial review of a magistrate’s decision to remand him to prison following his conviction for assault causing actual bodily harm.
Justice Joy Persaud-Singh handed down the ruling this morning finding that Seeram’s application did not meet the criteria for judicial review.
The judge said the court was guided by the test outlined by then Chief Justice Ian Chang in the application by Sherwin Sampson, namely that the issue was not whether the High Court agreed with the magistrate’s decision, but whether the decision was so plainly irrational that no properly directed reasonable judge could have reached it.
Justice Persaud-Singh said there was no indication that Magistrate Abigail Gibbs had acted unlawfully, irrationally or outside of her jurisdiction.
Accordingly, she dismissed the application for judicial review and upheld the magistrate’s decision to refuse bail.
Seeram’s legal team is now moving to the Court of Appeal in a further bid to secure his release pending sentencing on November 2nd.
Seeram had approached the High Court on Saturday after Magistrate Gibbs ordered him remanded to prison following his conviction on Friday.
His attorney, Nigel Hughes, had argued that the magistrate effectively predetermined a prison sentence by remanding Seeram before receiving the probation report, victim impact statement, mitigating submissions and aggravating factors that were to be considered before sentencing.
Hughes also challenged the magistrate’s reliance on Section 9 of the Bail Act, arguing that the provision concerns bail pending an appeal and that Seeram had not appealed his conviction.
He further argued that none of the circumstances outlined under Section 7 of the Bail Act for refusing bail had been established.
Deputy Solicitor General, Shoshana Lall, appearing for the respondents, agreed that Section 9 was not engaged because the matter was not an appeal against conviction or sentence.
Lall also argued that the offence for which Seeram was convicted did not carry a mandatory term of imprisonment, pointing to the distinction between being “liable to imprisonment” and being required to serve a prison sentence.
She argued that the magistrate had therefore erred by effectively predetermining a custodial sentence before the sentencing process was completed.
Lall also maintained that there was no new evidence showing that Seeram had become a flight risk or that circumstances had changed since he had previously been granted bail.
Both lawyers had asked the High Court to release Seeram on bail, subject to conditions the court considered appropriate.
That application has now been dismissed.
Seeram was found guilty by Magistrate Gibbs of assaulting his former wife, Farzana Hamid, during an incident at their Cummings Lodge apartment on September 11, 2023.
Hamid testified that Seeram assaulted her after she was awakened by a sharp pain to her head. She said she began recording the incident on her phone, which Seeram allegedly snatched, threw against a wall and later into a toilet.
The court heard that Hamid sustained injuries to several parts of her body, including her left thigh, left upper arm and right breast. Her left eye, wrist and upper left arm were also swollen, while her phone was shattered and the apartment was reportedly damaged.
Seeram denied assaulting Hamid and maintained that he merely pushed her while attempting to leave the apartment. He also claimed that she had become upset after seeing him speaking with female foreign nationals at an entertainment bar the previous day.
Magistrate Gibbs rejected his account, finding that his evidence was problematic on several material issues and that the explanation offered for Hamid’s injuries was inconsistent.
The magistrate accepted Hamid as a credible witness and found that her injuries were consistent with the assault she described.
Seeram is scheduled to return to the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court on November 2, 2026, at 10:30 a.m. for sentencing by Magistrate Gibbs.
He remains in custody pending that hearing.
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