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, has again lost his challenge against his extradition.
This comes as an Appeal Court judge dismissed an appeal filed by Kim Maharaj who asked for additional time to appeal a ruling of the High Court in 2020 which initially paved the way for his return to New York to serve his sentence.
Maharaj had applied for relief from sanctions on September 8, 2021, claiming that the delay in filing his appeal was due to the covid19 pandemic.
He wanted to appeal the habeas corpus ruling of Justice Robin Mohammed delivered in February 2020.
The State had argued for the dismissal of Maharaj’s application and appeal. Attorneys Ravi Rajcoomar. SC, Graeme McClean, head of the Central Authority of the Attorney General’s office and Tiffany Ali had argued the State had international obligations under both a treaty and a statute.
Rajcoomar argued that the fact Maharaj would be extradited and may have to serve a sentence was a consequence of criminal conduct.
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 of 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 his 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 with 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 also said it was his belief if the TT police didn’t request 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 spin
