Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton yesterday remanded to prison four men who appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate's Court to answer to separate charges of robbery under arms. Bradley Obermuller, 18, of Lot 33 Garnett Street, Kitty, is accused of robbing Elvis Alleyne, at gunpoint, of two gold chains valued at $153, 000, on Sunday. He was not required to plead to the indictable charge.

Attorney-at-law William Sampson entered an appearance for him and requested bail. In the bail application, the defence counsel said Obermuller had never before been involved in any criminal offence and as such he requested bail at a reasonable sum.

Prosecutor Lloyd Thomas, in his submissions, asked for bail to be refused due to the prevalence and seriousness of the offence and the fact that the accused could tamper with the complainant since they are known to each other. Sampson later indicated to the court that his client suffers from malaria. The magistrate remanded Obermuller and instructed him to alert the authorities at the prison about his condition so that he can access treatment.

In the state's case against 24-year-old Paul Dexter Thompson, of 58 Russell Street, Charlestown, he was not required to plead to the indictable charge of robbery under arms. Thompson is accused of stealing $285,000 and 31 pennyweights of raw gold valued at $182, 900, from Francis Da Silva on Saturday.

The prosecutor again asked for bail to be refused because of the seriousness of the offence. He told the court that the virtual complainant (VC) went to Thompson's shop to conduct business and was invited into the stall where he was held at gunpoint and robbed. "The VC put his trust in him," Thomas told the court. Thompson was unrepresented in court.

Jermaine Burnette and Romeo Richards later appeared before the court on two counts of robbery under arms. It is alleged that the duo on Saturday being armed with a knife robbed Trevor James of $8000 cash and a wallet valued $1000. Additionally, it is alleged that on the same day, armed with a knife, they robbed Kevin Porter of one cellular phone and $20, 000, a total value of $71, 000.

The duo was unrepresented in court. Thomas asked for bail to be refused. He told the court that Burnette is known to the VC. The four defendants were ordered to appear at court on September 4 when their respective cases will be called. (Stabroek News)

A businessman was fatally shot after a large gang of heavily armed bandits invaded his Cove & John, East Coast Demerara home last evening and also wounded his brother-in-law. The attackers escaped into the backlands with an undisclosed amount of cash and jewellery.

Fifty-one-year-old mango trader Kumar Singh of Lot 51 Craig Milne, Cove & John, died while undergoing emergency surgery at the Georgetown Public Hospital about an hour after the ordeal. He was shot at least three times in his chest.

His brother-law whose name was given as John Jessica, a Brazilian, sustained gunshot wounds to his waist and knee and was admitted to the same institution last evening in a stable condition. Jessica's wife and niece were also gun butted by the men and received medical attention before being sent home.

Reports reaching this newspaper are that Jessica and his wife arrived in the country from Suriname around 7 pm and shortly after the heavily armed bandits struck. Four entered the home while three more stood guard outside the yard.

The men terrorized and shot at the family members who numbered about nine during the 15-minute ordeal before escaping on foot towards the back dam. The area where the house is situated is dark. Relatives stated that the men toted "small guns and big guns" and some carried more than one gun and fired these indiscriminately while they were in the house.

This newspaper received information from residents that shots were heard coming from all directions suggesting that others were standing guard nearby. This would be in keeping with the modus operandi in recent large-scale bandit attacks.

The Singhs' residence is located a short distance from away from the Cove and John Police Station but ranks arrived about 20 minutes after the men fled although they received numerous calls. This has been a recurring problem during attacks like these. Residents in neighbouring communities said that they too were hearing the gunshots clearly and it was as though an army of gunmen were in the area.

Singh's daughter Latchmini, told Stabroek News at the hospital that she was packing up at the DVD club in front of the home at about 8:30 pm when four bandits, two of whom wore masks, ran into the yard and at gunpoint choked her and slapped her and demanded money. Her parents along with other relatives including John and his family were downstairs chatting and the bandits ran up to them and held them at gunpoint.

Latchmini said that she was carried upstairs and taken to her mother's room and the bandit demanded to know where the money was. She said that he threatened to rape her and she went down on her knees and begged him not to do so. She recounted that she told them that she would call her mother and ran downstairs. She stated that when she came downstairs she saw her father bleeding on the ground and "he tell we leh we run and hide, save we life because he done dead". She then ran into the garden and hid and discovered her mother crouching there also.

Meantime the bandits had ransacked the home and Latchmini said that while they crouched outside they heard the gunmen demanding money and heard them saying that an aunt had $7M and her father had $10M and demanded this and also reportedly demanded a gun. Latchmini said that her aunt handed over a large amount of jewellery and when the bandits came downstairs they shot at her father two more times.

By this time the bandits' accomplices were calling to "come come leh we go" and they left and again fired their guns. She said that upon realizing that the bandits had left the family immediately began screaming for help. The police were summoned and they transported her father to the hospital.

During the ordeal Jessica's eight-year-old and five-year-old daughters were beaten by the bandits as well as the older relatives. At the hospital this newspaper observed the small girls' clothing was stained with blood and there was some on their faces as well while other relatives' faces' bore cuts. The girls were constantly calling out for their mother.

At the hospital last night, scores of relatives anxiously waited as the men were treated with concern visible all over their faces. Loud wailing broke out when the news was broken that Singh had succumbed and the hospital's emergency room was a scene of frenzied action as relatives cried loudly in disbelief forcing others to hold and attempt to comfort them.

As his body was being carried away hospital employees were forced to contend with relatives who held on to the stretcher at one point making it fall to the ground. In light of this murderous assault residents are calling for street lights, a regular police patrol and a revamping of the community policing group. Last evening many residents who were still in fear turned up at the home to lend their support to the family who were unable to hold back tears as they sat near the spot where Singh was shot.

The country is in the throes of a surge in violent crime and the police have come under heavy pressure to produce results. (Stabroek News/Zoisa Fraser and Gaulbert Sutherland)

A father of six was murdered on Wednesday night a short distance away from his home. Dead is 41-year-old Ian Adonis, of Lot 30 Edward Street, Rosignol. According to his wife of 18 years, Karen Adonis, Ian left home on Wednesday morning for work at sea but returned later saying that the arrangement had not worked out.

She said that he returned back home at about 6.30 am and related to her that he was going out on the road to "hustle". He returned at about 9.30 am with $800 and give it her. He went out again and returned around 3 pm saying that he did not have anything much. He later went out again.

After finishing her chores as a sweeper/cleaner at the Rosignol Secondary School, Karen later that evening left to go and look for her husband whom she found drinking with some friends. He was asked to come home but he refused saying that he would go home later. He also gave her a drink.

Karen said that after she left to go home she had a hard time sleeping. Around midnight she got a call saying, "Karen, Karen, wake up, wake up, you husband get stab up. He dead, he bleed out he blood".

Karen and her 15-year-old daughter then rushed out in search of 'Saffo', as he is called. They went first to his sister, Sharon, who runs a snackette at the Rosignol Stelling. They then searched the street and found him with his face down with "blood all over he." He leaves six children to mourn. Three persons are in police custody. (Stabroek News/Adrian Smith)

Body of baby found in shallow grave

Two held

The naked body of a baby boy was yesterday discovered buried in a shallow grave in a yard at Enterprise, East Coast Demerara and two persons are in custody assisting with investigations. A police press release issued late last evening stated the baby is suspected to be still-born and the discovery was made around 12:45 pm.

Following the discovery, a man and a woman were arrested and they are in police custody assisting with the investigations. A hospital source told Stabroek News that the baby boy arrived at the Georgetown Public Hospital with the police at 12:40 and he was pronounced dead on arrival. The baby, the source said was fully developed.

According to information received by this newspaper, a resident of the area saw a woman digging a hole in her backyard, into which she later placed an object. This was reported to ranks at the Vigilance Police Station who visited the scene and found the child buried in a shallow grave.

The woman who this newspaper was told is the mother of the child was arrested shortly after the discovery was made. The body of the baby boy is presently lying at the Georgetown Hospital mortuary. (Stabroek News)

Miner held in murder conspiracy probe

Police arrested a gold miner after an unlicensed gun and ammunition were found in a vehicle that he was in at McDoom, East Bank Demerara yesterday. A press statement from the police said that while conducting investigations into a report of conspiracy to commit murder, a search was conducted on the vehicle of the miner at McDoom Access Road.

An unlicensed Smith and Wesson Magnum revolver along with 19 matching rounds were found in a gun case in the vehicle and the man was arrested and is in police custody assisting with investigations, police said. (Stabroek News)

Cop cited in letter to be charged - Police

A police rank who allegedly obstructed traffic is to be charged with that offence after the matter was investigated by the Police Office of Professional Responsibility, a release from the Force's Public Relations Office says.

The incident which was made public in a letter in yesterday's Stabroek News by PNCR Member of Parliament, Mervyn Williams detailed how the rank reportedly blocked traffic at the Demerara Harbour Bridge and also verbally abused the parliamentarian.

The police statement said that the rank will be charged with causing obstruction under the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act as well as departmentally for other breaches. The release stated that the Force's Administration also wishes to thank Williams for bringing the matter to their attention. (Stabroek News)

Five still at large…

Second fugitive from Saturday’s jailbreak to surrender

Another one of the Saturday escapees from New Amsterdam Prison has been caught and returned behind bars. Andre La Rose, who is facing a murder charge, surrendered at 08:45 h at Number 51 Police Station, Corentyne yesterday morning. He was accompanied by his lawyer, attorney-at-law Mr. Rodwell Jagmohan.

He was the second of the fugitives to have turned himself in, following Sherwin Hope, of Race Course, Corriverton, who went to Springlands Police Station, another part of Corentyne, also in Berbice, at 08:45 h on Monday.

Still at large are, murder accused, Troy Benn of Lot 624 East Ruimveldt, Georgetown, Jaipersaud Naipaul, of Letter Kenny and Anthony Campbell, of Lot 45 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam; robbery accused Reuben David, of Sandvoort,West Canje, alleged rapist Alvin Bhola, of Line Path, Skeldon.

They were among the 18 prisoners on remand who staged the daring breakout around 13:30 h by sawing through iron bars in the recreational facility and jumping over a 15-feet fence at the back of the penitentiary, using a makeshift ladder. Of that gang, Nawaz Ally, Safraz Khan and Deon Mingo were the first to be recaptured in New Amsterdam the same afternoon.

Subsequently, Danny Busjit, of Bush Lot Squatting Area and Vinod Gopaul, of Yakusari North, Black Bush Polder, who are also charged with the capital offence; Paul Kirton, of Smythfield, New Amsterdam, on a robbery charge; Navin Busjit, of Mibicuri South, Black Bush Polder on a drug charge and Jermaine Brown, of Queenstown, Corriverton, accused of robbery, as well, were recaptured.

A Police report said, about 05:50 h, members of the Joint Services cordoned off an abandoned house at Heathburn, East Bank Berbice in which were Deonarine, King, Williams and Brown. As the ranks closed in on the quartet, they came under fire and responded, wounding the four.

Deonarine, King and Williams succumbed to their wounds while Brown is a patient under guard at the New Amsterdam Hospital. An unlicenced .32 pistol and four matching rounds were recovered at the scene of that shooting.

Further information led to the recapture of Navin Busjit, of Mibicuri South, Black Bush Police, also on a narcotic charge; Paul Kirton, of Smythfield, New Amsterdam, charged with robbery and Gopaul. (Wendella Davidson)

Still no trace of missing nine-year-old girl

There is still no trace of the the missing nine-year-old girl, Radika Persaud, after seven days of searching. The mother of the child, Vidjantie Manroop, told this newspaper that a report about a body being found at Rosignol 14 miles east of where the child disappeared had proven to be a false alarm.

A machine which had been made available by the Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA) was pulled off the search yesterday after all the possible areas had been explored. The nine-year-old girl who had been reported missing from her Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice home since last Thursday is feared drowned.

Relatives of Radika Persaud, of Lot 148 Section ‘A’, Bush Lot, said she was last seen around 15:00 h last week Thursday when she left to go to an uninhabited area north of the village in company with two siblings, Elijah and Kenrick Gravesande, six and three years old, respectively.

Ms. Manroop, 39, said the three children ventured out when she was asleep and their father was at work. Elijah and Kenrick subsequently returned without their sister and, when questioned about Radika, they said she had fallen into the main drainage trench between Bush Lot and Golden Grove and was not seen since.

Manroop said her husband and scores of villagers searched the drainage trench for hours Thursday afternoon but found no trace of the girl. The search which started since last week has continued daily since then but had up to yesterday yielded no trace of the missing child.

The mother, was loud in praise for fellow villagers including members of the religious community who she said have been participating in the search in large numbers. The parents said that they intend to continue the search today. “We fear by now that she may be dead but we don’t want to give up. Even it is a skeleton we find at least we will know for sure what had happened to her,” the mother said. (Clifford Stanley)

In the wake of the New Amsterdam jail-break, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee yesterday announced that a major shake-up at the leadership level of the Prison Service will be in place by September 10, likely signalling the end of the troubled tenure of prisons head, Dale Erskine.

Rohee, at a press conference yesterday, said the break-out by 18 prisoners on Saturday was unacceptable and unforgivable and that conventional methods, in this case, were not enough and that Guyanese deserved more.

"I am of the view that two major security breaches at two key prison locations within a matter of six months is inexcusable and unpardonable," the minister told the media at his Brickdam office. Prefacing his remarks with a recount of the recent break-outs from prisons, Rohee said Director of Prisons Erskine was informed of his proposals which will be effected by September 10 but he did not say which officers will be replaced.

Rohee said he made the decision after considering the circumstances that led to the jail-break along with a preliminary report from Erskine. He said he is convinced that there is no need to go the conventional route and establish a board of enquiry into the circumstances which led to the escape of the eighteen prisoners, six of whom are still on the run.

After Rohee's announcement, Stabroek News contacted Erskine, under whose tenure the prison system has suffered a number of jail-breaks, for comment but he declined. Erskine was holding a meeting with all the junior prison officers when the men escaped. Meanwhile, the joint services are continuing their efforts in Berbice to recapture Troy Benn, Andre LaRose, Reuben David, Alvin Bhola, Jaipersaud Naipaul and Anthony Campbell.

One of the minister's plans entails the appointment of a new management team at the prison from September 12, and consideration, at the ministerial level, of the issues raised by the junior ranks. Rohee also hopes to review the Prisoner Occupational Programmes including those for remand prisoners, at all locations. In this regard, he said Assistant Superintendent of Prisons, Faye Clarke, from September 10, will assume full responsibility for this area and will report directly to him and present, within one month, practical recommendations for all locations.

An immediate review of the prisons' draft 2008 capital budget already submitted to the finance ministry also features on the minister's agenda. The review is intended to ensure that the draft reflects the priorities of the Home Affairs Ministry for all prison locations.

Rohee said he was hopeful that long before the measures are implemented, the joint services would have captured the other escapees.

Meanwhile, recounting the day of the jail-break, the minister confirmed that no prison officer was in the prison yard or at the back of the dinning hall at the time when the inmates cut through a one-inch thick steel rod and forced their way through reinforced mesh. The men then scaled a 20-foot-high concrete fence using a wooden plank, and ran to their freedom.

There is also no watchtower at that section of the prison compound. He said the Officer-in-Charge (OC) exercised bad judgement when he dispatched all the junior officers, save for three ranks, to meet with Erskine, thereby compromising security at the prison.

Further, the minister said, it was only last Thursday during his usual weekly meeting with Erskine that he pointed out his growing concerns about the management, security and personnel arrangements at the New Amsterdam (NA) prison.

"This preoccupation and concern arose from a trend I discerned that was emerging from reports sent to me about events that had occurred over the past two months at the prison," Rohee said. The minister said an unusual restlessness was detected among prisoners on remand, along with incidents of physical and violent confrontation among prisoners, the persistent discovery of cell phones on prisoners, lapses, at the management level, of the prison and poor leadership skills.

The minister said he had raised concerns with Erskine over the decision to transfer the OC of the same prison to the Lusignan facility, solely on the grounds that he was nearing the age of retirement and that a replacement for him needed to be found months before he was due to retire. Rohee said this was not his only concern about the transfer, adding that he had also made known his unease about the quality of the officer who was sent to replace that officer.

According to the minister, Erskine noted these concerns and in turn shared information revealing disgruntlement among the junior ranks serving at the prisons and the leadership style of the new OC and a number of other issues.

He said the director had then agreed that they would visit the prisons to assess the situation on the ground, since he [Rohee] was also scheduled to meet with members of the Upper Corentyne Chamber of Commerce and with fishermen at Albion. The minister said they had also agreed that Erskine would meet with the junior ranks prior to his arrival and that he [Erskine] would brief him when he got there.

Rohee said that it was soon after his arrival at NA that he learnt of the jailbreak. Three of the escapees were shot dead and six have since been recaptured. Three others were recaptured mere minutes after they escaped. There have been conflicting reports on how the three men were shot dead and questions as to why the police were unable to apprehend them alive. (Stabroek News)

Escapee killed by Police was previously refused bail

Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, at New Amsterdam High Court, had rejected a bail petition from Neville Williams, the day before he was killed in a confrontation with Police at Heathburn, East Bank Berbice.

Williams was one of the 18 remanded prisoners who escaped from New Amsterdam Prison during the jailbreak last Saturday.

On Friday, through his attorney-at-law Mr. Motie Singh, he had petitioned the judge for pre-trial liberty but did not secure the grant. In an affidavit in answer to the petitioner, Police Corporal Peters, who was involved in the investigations of a robbery committed on Richmond Bisram, said Williams was positively identified as the robber who relieved the victim of property valued $1M.

It was alleged that, last January 4, at Bush Lot foreshore, West Coast Berbice, Williams was with others when Bisram was robbed, at gunpoint, of an outboard engine, groceries, clothing, a flashlight, four drums of gasoline, two bottles of cooking gas and a stove.

Peters said the booty was stolen when a heavily armed gang attacked a fishing crew on the high seas. Williams, 23, of Lot 139 Annandale, East Coast Demerara, said he is a fisherman on whose financial contribution five younger school age siblings depended. (Guyana Cronicle/photo: webred.)

Major prison shake-up at the leadership level imminent

A major shake-up at the leadership level of the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) is among several changes due to take place within the Service next month, and the appointment of a new management team at the New Amsterdam Prison is currently under the spotlight following the escape of 18 prisoners on Saturday last.

The proposed changes in the leadership level are to be effected by September 10 and the new management team is due to take up duties from September 12.

The announcement, among others, by Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee yesterday at a press conference he hosted at his Brickdam Office, comes just 13 days after a shake-up at the top level of the Guyana Defence Force and the promotion/appointment of a new four-man management team- Commodore Gary Best, who is the new Army Chief-of-Staff, Deputy Chief-of-Staff, Andrew Pompey; Colonel General Staff, Bruce Lovell who takes over the operations of the GDF and Colonel Mark Phillips, responsible for Administration and Quartering.

Rohee, however, did not disclose who will be affected, other than emphasising that it will be in the high echelon of the Prison Service. Reading from a prepared statement, Rohee said, the proposed changes have been prompted by two major security breaches within six months - a breakout at the Mazaruni Prison on January 12, 2007 by nine prisoners, all of whom were subsequently recaptured and the other which occurred last Saturday at New Amsterdam.

Of the 18 who bolted out of prison by sawing away at iron bars in a recreational facility and then scaling a 15 feet-high fence using a makeshift ladder while officers with the exception of three were at a meeting with Director of Prisons, Dale Erskine at the said facility, three are now dead, nine recaptured and six remain at large.

The 18 escapees were remanded to prison for committing offences such as murder, drug trafficking, robbery under arms, larceny, possession of firearms, carnal knowledge and armed robbery. Thirteen hail from Corentyne and New Amsterdam, Berbice; three from West Coast Berbice, and one each from East Coast Demerara and Georgetown.

The Minister who was also in Berbice at the time of the jailbreak, said in his statement that having considered the circumstances that led to the jailbreak and a preliminary report by Erskine, he concluded that there is no need to go the “conventional route” by establishing a Board of Enquiry, to determine the circumstances that led to the escape of the prisoners.

“We need to go beyond such conventional approaches. The Citizens of Guyana expect more. The security deficiencies at the New Amsterdam Prison are both human and institutional in nature. The deficiencies have contributed to the conditions that facilitated the recent jail break…,” he added. The New Amsterdam jail facility has a population of 421 inmates of which 328 are males and 93 females.

Other administrative changes

The other changes involve, Reverend Faye Clarke, Assistant Superintendent of Prisons and Staff Welfare Officer, as of September 10, next, will have full responsibility for a full review of the Prison Occupational Programmes including those for remanded prisoners at all locations. According to the minister, Reverend Clarke will report directly to him and present within one month, “practical and implementable” recommendations for all locations.

There will also be consideration at the ministerial level of the issues raised by junior ranks at the New Amsterdam facility, as well as an immediate review of the draft 2008 Capital Budget of the Prison Service which was submitted to the Ministry of Finance, with a view to ensuring that it reflects the priorities of the Ministry of Home Affairs for all prison locations.

Recalling the events of the jailbreak, the Home Affairs Minister noted it occurred when “there was no Prison Officer in the Dining Hall… moreover, there was no Prison Officer in the Prison yard at the back of the Dining Hall … there is no watch tower at that section of the prison compound.

“Finally, bad judgment prevailed on the part of the Officer-in-Charge who dispatched all the junior officers to a meeting with the Director of Prisons, save only three ranks who remained in the prison yard thus compromising the security of the prison.”

Unusual restlessness

Rohee said too, at an August 23 meeting with Erskine, he drew to the DOP’s attention his “concern and increasing pre-occupation about the management, security and personnel arrangements at the New Amsterdam Prison, a situation, according to Rohee, arose from a trend he discerned that was emerging from reports sent to him about events occurring over the past two months at the facility.

They include the unusual restlessness among prisoners on remand; incidents of physical and violent confrontation among prisoners; the persistent discovery of cell phones possessed by prisoners; contradictory events concerning incidents of theft at the Administrative building of the prison; lapses at the management level and poor leadership skills.

Rohee disclosed that another concern which he shared with Erskine was the decision to transfer the Officer-in-Charge of the New Amsterdam Prisons to the Lusignan facility “solely on the ground that he was nearing the age of retirement and therefore the need to replace him before he was due for retirement.” The minister said in addition, he was also uncomfortable with the quality of the officer who was sent to replace the one that was transferred and noted these concerns as well to the DOP.

Rohee also indicated that information which Erskine shared with him revealed disgruntlement among the junior ranks attached to the New Amsterdam facility as a result of the leadership style of the replacement officer, along with an increasing disillusionment by the junior ranks with their superior concerning several matters of direct interest to them.

The last jailbreak at the New Amsterdam Prison took place in 1992 with the escape of four prisoners, all of whom were recaptured. On March 19 this year, three prisoners escaped from police custody while being transported from the Whim Magistrate Court, Corentyne. Two have been recaptured.

Prior to this year’s jailbreak, there were several others including the infamous February 2002 breakout at the Camp Street penitentiary in Georgetown which resulted in the death of a male prison officer and a female colleague permanently maimed and in November 2005 at the Mazaruni Prisons.

The prisoners who escaped that Mash Day in 2003 unleashed terror throughout the country, before they were all killed at different times and under different circumstances. Contacted last evening, Director of Prisons, Dale Erskine acknowledged that he was privy to the proposed new developments in the Prison Service, but declined to comment any further. (Guyana Cronicle)

Search on for missing nine-year-old schoolgirl

A nine-year-old schoolgirl has been reported missing from her Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice home, for the past six days. Relatives, neighbours, friends and other members of the community searching for Radika Persaud, of Lot 148 Section ‘A’, Bush Lot, are hoping she is still alive.

She was last seen around 15:00h last week Thursday when she left to go to an uninhabited area north of the village in company with two siblings, Elijah and Kenrick Gravesande, six and three years old, respectively.

Her mother, Vidjante Manroop, 39, said the three children ventured out when she was asleep and their father was at work. It was the first time they had ever gone so far but Elijah and Kenrick returned without their sister and, when questioned about Radika, they said she had fallen into the main drainage trench between Bush Lot and Golden Grove and was not seen since.

Manroop said her husband and scores of villagers searched the drainage trench for hours Thursday afternoon but found no trace of the girl. The search continued on Friday and Saturday through yesterday but without success.

The Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA) yesterday made an excavator available to help the searchers remove clumps of aquatic weeds in the waterways but, up to press time, the efforts remained futile. Police are also investigating the girl’s disappearance. (Stab roek News)

Three of the 18 men who stormed out of the New Amsterdam prison on Saturday were shot dead yesterday in what the police said were armed confrontations and another six recaptured, leaving six still on the run.

Another three had been recaptured hours after the break-out occurred on Saturday. Dead are Arvendra Deonarine, Carlos King and Neville Williams. Deonarine was being held for murder while King and Williams were remanded on charges of robbery.

Police say acting on information received, joint services ranks cordoned off an abandoned house in the area where the trio along with another escapee Jermaine Brown were hiding.

As ranks closed in police said they came under fire from the building and fired back, injuring the four escapees. The three men were later pronounced dead. Brown is currently under guard at the New Amsterdam Hospital. He, too, is facing a robbery charge.

This was the house that the four escapees were in during the shoot-out. (Adrian Smith photo)

Police said that an unlicensed .32 pistol and four matching rounds were recovered by ranks at the scene.

Further information led to the recapture of Danny Busjit in some bushes at Rosehall; Paul Kirton in a house at Smythfield, New Amsterdam and Vinod Gopaul in Gay Park, East Bank Berbice.

Sherwin Hope turned himself in to police at the Springlands police station early yesterday morning. Meanwhile, at about 6:30 pm yesterday, Navin Busjit was cornered by law enforcement officers in Glasgow.

Gopaul and Danny Busjit are murder accused, Kirton was charged with robbery and Sherwin Hope was remanded on a narcotics charge.

Some residents in the Heathburn area had different versions about the incident during which the three escapees were shot. In response to this, acting Commissioner of Police Henry Greene told Stabroek News last evening that those persons should give their statements to the police. He later said that the police have dispatched their own team to investigate the break-out and the circumstances of the shooting yesterday.

Prisons Head Dale Erskine, speaking with this newspaper yesterday, said that the recaptured men were back in their cells but noted that the joint services were resolute in their search for the other six men: Troy Benn, Andre LaRose, Reuben David, Alvin Bhola, Jaipersaud Naipaul and Anthony Campbell.

Benn and Naipaul were remanded on murder charges, La Rose for narcotics, David for robbery and Bhola for rape. Erskine, who was at the prison at the time of the escape and has come under renewed pressure over the mass break-out, said that ranks were working with leads but added that the co-operation of residents was also important.

This incident has further unnerved Berbicians who have suffered a series of high-profile robberies and killings recently. The escape occurred moments after Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee had touched down in the Berbi-cian capital to hold consultations with fishermen and the business community who later battered him over the escalating crime situation in the Corentyne.

On Saturday, just hours after the outbreak, Erskine told this newspaper that about 150 prisoners had been in the lunch room with no officers present when the jail-break occurred at about 1.15 pm. The eighteen who broke out had used a hacksaw to cut through iron bars, and then had jumped over the eastern fence of the prison.

Erskine coincidently was at the facility at the time of the break, holding a meeting with senior officers. It was during this meeting he said that he heard someone shout, "Some men jumping over the fence." The siren had been immediately activated, and the Berbice law enforcement contingent alerted.

Asked about the provenance of the hacksaw used in the escape bid, Erskine told Stabroek News that it had been found at the back of the prison, but he could not confirm whether it belonged to the facility and had been stolen by the escapees.

This is not the first time that prisoners have been found with prohibited implements in their possession, and when Erskine was questioned about how this could go undetected by officers he responded, "Smart and experienced officers should be able to pick up things like that, but these prisoners come up with different and innovative ways to conceal things. You won't believe the things they do to conceal these things and they go undetected because the prisoners are crafty." (Heppilena Ferguson/Stabroek News)

Three prison escapees shot dead

...during confrontation with Joint Forces

Three of the prisoners who escaped from the New Amsterdam prisons were shot dead yesterday in a confrontation with members of the Joint Services at Heathburn, while six others who were also caught yesterday and are now back behind bars. This leaves six of the escapees remaining at large.

Dead are Neville Williams of Annandale, East Coast Demerara who was in prison for robbery under arms; Carlos King, Queenstown Corrivertown , -robbery and Avendra Deonarine of Yakusari North, Black Bush Polder on a charge of murder.

Back behind bars are Danny Busjit, Bush Lot Squatting Area, Corentyne who is facing a murder charge; Herwin Hope, Race Course, Corriverton-Narcotics; Vinod Gopaul, Yakusari North, Black Bush Polder- Murder; Paul Kirton, Smythfield, New Amsterdam – Robbery; Navin Busjit, Mibicuri South, Black Bush Polder- Narcotics and Jermaine Browne of Queenstown , Corriverton. Browne who was shot in the hip been warded at the New Amsterdam hospital and is being guarded.

Nawaz Ally, Safraz Khan and Deon Mingo had their bid for freedom shortlived as they were recaptured in Tucber last Saturday afternoon. The 18 men who had scaled a 15-feet high fence at the Berbice penitentiary were cornered in a house at Heathburn, following a tip-off. The escappees were among a group of 150 prisoners in a lunchroom facility and used hacksaw blades to cut away iron bars.

Drector of Prisons, Dale Erskine, who was at the facility New Amsterdam facility having just concluded a meeting with some of the staff, yesterday told the Guyana Chronicle he has every confidence in the competence of the Joint Services to pursue all leads and recapture the prisoners who remain at large.

Expressing gratitude to the community for their co-operation so far, Erskine urged that they continue to lend support to the Joint Services team as they continue to hunt down the remaining six men who are at large. Meanwhile, all of the prison locations, Camp Street, Georgetown; Lusignan, Mazaruni and New Amsterdam continue to be on “red alert”, meaning security has been beefed up, Erskine added.

He implored of his staff to at all times be reminded of their role and responsibility, approach the job with dynamism and strive to put their best foot forward, while reminding them that buildings don’t hold people, it is professionalism that counts and their integrity in ensuring that prisoners are safe at all times.

On January 13, last, nine prisoners made a run from the Mazaruni jail sometime around 16:15 hours, during a routine feeding exercise, but theyy were all recaptured within 10 days, but two prisoner officers were subsequently placed before the court, while a number of others faced internal disciplinary charges.

A six-member team was subsequently appointed to conduct an official inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the jail-break after which a Report was submitted to the Home Affairs Minister. The recommendations contained in the Report were centered on administrative issues, security, disciplinary measures and prisoners’ welfare. (Wendella Davidson/Guyana Cronicle)

Members of the Guyana Defence Force in the Tucber, New Amsterdam area yesterday as the search continued for 15 of 18 prisoners who escaped from the New Amsterdam Jail on Saturday afternoon.

Up to press time last night a Joint Services team was scouring the backlands of Canje and along the Berbice River in a desperate bid to recapture 15 remand prisoners who broke out of the New Amsterdam penitentiary Sat-urday afternoon, unnerving Berbicians racked by incessant attacks over the past weeks.

Eighteen inmates escaped shortly after 1 pm Saturday but three were later recaptured. Director of Prisons Dale Erskine told Stabroek News last night that members of the Joint Services were in the area conducting searches but there had been no success. He said that they had received a report that four of the men were sighted in Canje but checks there have yielded little.

Eighteen prisoners on various charges ranging from murder to rape, cut their way out of prison just after having lunch on Saturday. They used a makeshift ladder to climb over a concrete fence, jumped into a farm and escaped. Eyewitnesses said that the men seized bicycles once they got out, while some scaled fences and cleared trenches as they disappeared from the police and soldiers.

In a statement yesterday the Joint Services said that following the escape of the prisoners the Joint Operations Centre (JOC) at Police Headquarters was activated and a back-up team of police ranks from Georgetown and army ranks from their base at Benab, No.63 Village, Corentyne was dispatched to assist other Joint Services personnel in the search for the prisoners.

Meanwhile under pressure after another jail-break while he is in charge, Erskine said that he was not nervous about his tenure as the Prison Chief even in the face of another disaster. Asked on Saturday night whether he was now nervous about his position as the Prison Director, Erskine smiled, laughed and then said "I am never nervous about my future."

Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee would not be drawn into saying what could be the fate of Erskine when asked about the leadership of the prison, saying that investigations would have to be carried out. 'Dem done gone long already'

Speaking with this newspaper yesterday a source in the Prison Service said that the jail-break occurred while security personnel there were involved in a meeting. During the meeting, the inmates were left unattended, and as such they used the opportunity to rip through iron mesh and other impediments on the windows.

The prisoners were long gone when the meeting finally came to an end, the source told this newspaper adding that a prison officer after realising that cells which should have been occupied were empty enquired from an inmate who usually helps out in the kitchen, but probably chose not to go, only to be told, "dem done gone long already", the source quoted the inmate as saying.

Erskine told reporters in front of the New Amsterdam jail house on Saturday night that four officers were in the compound at the time of the break-out. He said the officers have not been interdicted from duties but an investigation will be launched. Asked whether there was any sign of collusion, Erskine replied in the negative, "There is no sign of internal collusion but we will investigate that," the Prison Chief said.

A security official in New Amsterdam in conversation with this newspaper said that once the escaped prisoners are given that much time they are unlikely to stick around in New Amsterdam. "They will most likely, since they are all Berbicians, cross the Canje River and disappear," the security official said. The official also suggested that the escapees might be heading towards Black Bush Polder on their way to the open border at Skeldon/Corriverton.

Meanwhile, yesterday morning there were heavy military and police patrols in the East Bank Berbice area and also in New Amsterdam. Ranks were also seen in the Canje and upper and central Corentyne areas as well. Residents in and around New Amsterdam are of the view that the escapees are harmless, although they were on remand for such crimes as murder, robbery and rape.

They are also of the view that there were no notorious criminal gangs in the area making it difficult for the escapees to solicit shelter from anyone. Erskine told Stabroek News that police have already made contact with the relatives of the escapees, and their homes will be monitored to ensure that the prisoners do not seek refuge there. The Prison Chief called on citizens to provide any information on the men's whereabouts, arguing that the men were dangerous, pointing to the crimes they were being held for.

Among the escapees are: Troy Benn, Andre La Rose, Danny Busjit, Avendra Deonarine, Vinood Gopaul and Anthony Campbell, all of whom are facing murder charges; Paul Kirton, Reuben David, Carlos King, Jermaine Brown and Neville Williams, who were being held on charges of robbery and robbery under arms; Navin Busjit and Shawn Hope who are on narcotics possession charges; and Alvin Bhola who is accused of rape.

Nawaz Ally, Safraz Khan and Deon Mingo were recaptured minutes after the escape just behind the prison. This newspaper was told that they had probably been the last to scale the fence and had not had time to get fully clear of the jail. Ally and Khan were remanded on charges of robbery under arms while Mingo is on a charge of larceny.

Erskine had told this newspaper on Saturday that about 150 prisoners had been in the lunch room with no officers present when the jail-break occurred at about 1.15 pm. The eighteen who broke out had used a hacksaw to cut through iron bars, and then had jumped over the eastern fence of the prison. Erskine coincidently was at the facility at the time of the break-out, holding a meeting with senior officers. It was during this meeting, he said, that he heard someone shout,

"Some men jumping over the fence." The siren had been immediately activated, and the Berbice law enforcement contingent alerted. The director further stated that after lunch the prisoners were usually kept in the dining hall and so all 150 of them currently incarcerated there were together before the escape. Asked about the presence of officers during this time, he stated that the officers were not around since it was customary to leave the men there as they played games and watched television.

Over recent years there have been numerous prison and station breaks raising concerns about security at these facilities. Back in January this year 12 prisoners escaped from the high security Mazaruni Prison and a joint services team was sent out to recapture them. In November 2005, five prisoners escaped from the same Mazaruni facility after ripping out wooden bars on their cell doors and cutting the chain link fence of the compound. They had no weapons, and within days, all of them were recaptured.

Saturday's escape has also recalled the February 2002 Camp Street jail-break, which saw Dale Moore, Troy Dick, Andrew Douglas, Mark Fraser and Shawn Brown break out of the prison after killing one prison officer and seriously wounding another. Their escape ushered in an unprecedented crime wave in the country which resulted in over two dozen police deaths in addition to civilian deaths and a spate of robberies and kidnappings. (Stabroek News/Nigel Williams and Adrian Smith/Denis Chabrol photo)

Gunmen in a car on Saturday night opened fire on a policeman at Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice, wounding him on his right thigh. The officer managed to return fire at the men, but they fled, a statement by the police yesterday said.

According to the police statement ranks in Berbice are investigating a report that about 11:45 on Saturday night a policeman was injured when shots were discharged at him from a passing motor car while walking along a street at Cotton Tree, WCB.

The policeman and his father-in-law were walking along the street when a car with several men inside drove past and shots were discharged. The policeman was treated at the Fort Wellington Hospital and sent away. (Stabroek News)

Massive manhunt for escaped prisoners continues

Preliminary investigations does not indicate internal collusion-Erskine

A massive manhunt launched by a Joint Services team has expanded to the Corentyne Coast to recapture the 15 prisoners on remand still on the run after escaping from the New Amsterdam Prisons on Saturday.

Director of Prisons Dale Erskine, contacted late yesterday afternoon in New Amsterdam, said the recapture team had made no further breakthough in nabbing the men but had widened its dragnet to Corentyne, scouring even rivers and creeks.

In addition, roadblocks which are being set up and communities at large are asked to be vigilant.

On the run are Troy Benn, Andre La Rose, Dany Busjit, Avendra Deonarine, Vinood Gopaul and Anthony Campbell all on remand for murder charges; Paul Kirton, Reuben David, Carlos King, Jermaine Brown and Neville Williams for robbery and robbery under arms; Shawn Hope and Navin Busjit on narotics possession charges; and Alvin Bhola, accused of rape.

Initially, 18 prisoners escaped by using hacksaw blades to saw off the iron bars in the cells and then jump the fence that separates the penitentiary from the community. However, three of them, Nawaz Ally, Safraz Khan and Deon Mingo, had their bid for freedom shortlived.

The runaway men were with others, making an overall total of 150, in a lunch room facility where prisoners are also allowed to play games and watch television, and Erskine, who ironically was at the penitentiary at the time of the incident, was just about wrapping up a meeting he had with his senior officers.

The men on making a successful run out of the community headed for the sprawling GUYSUCO canefields, while the joint services team cordoned off possible exit routes. It is however, not known yet if the escaped prisoners are still there, or if any of them have breached the cordon.

Meanwhile, a GINA reported Erskine as saying preliminary investigations have disclosed that there was no internal conspiracy and assured that intensive investigations have begun into the incident. “There is no sense of internal collusion but we will investigate that and investigations are now in progress,” Erskine said.

The report said too, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee who Saturday night held a lengthy meeting with prison officals, expressed regret over the incident. “I am very disappointed about this like with any other prison break because a prison break constitutes a threat to internal security of the country. Obviously, this matter will have to be thoroughly investigated,” Rohee assured.

The minister was asked whether this might be the time for change in the leadership of the prisons, given the frequent breakouts, and responded that : “I am not sure that this is the right way to go at this time... We have to get to the bottom of this; what led to the break before we arrive at that stage”.

The Police, meanwhile, have asked that anyone who may know of the whereabouts of the escaped prisoners or may have information that may lead to their recapture, to make contact with police or prison officials on the following telephone numbers.

The Police numbers are: 225-6411, 226-1326, 225-3650, 226-6978, 225-8196, 333-3876, 333-2151 to 2154, 333-2191 or 911. The Prisons can be contacted on 225-6003, 226-8301, 333-2704 or 333-3658.

The recent jail-break bring stark reminder of January 13, this year, when nine prisoners made a run from the Mazaruni jail sometime around 16:15h, during a routine feeding They were all however recaptured within 10 days, but two prisoner officers were subsequently placed before the court, while a number of others faced internal disciplinary charges.

Police hunt 15 escapees from New Amsterdam Prisons

After capturing three

Eighteen remand prisoners escaped from the New Amsterdam prisons just after midday yesterday, after sawing off iron bars in their cells and jumping over the eastern fence of the facility.

Three of the prison escapees were recaptured by Prison Officials in the Tucberg, New Amsterdam, area. They are Nawaz Ally, Safraz Khan and Deon Mingo. Ally and Khan are on remand on charges of robbery under arms, while Mingo is on a charge of larceny.

Ranks of the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force are hunting the remaining fifteen escapees and roadblocks have been thrown up at a number of locations.

A statement from the Police is requesting that anyone who may know of the whereabouts of the escaped prisoners or may have information that may lead to their recapture is asked to make contact with police or prison officials on the following telephone numbers. All information will be treated with strict confidence.

The Police numbers are 225-6411, 226-1326, 225-3650, 226-6978, 225-8196, 333-3876, 333-2151 to 2154, 333-2191 or 911. The Prisons numbers are 225-6003, 226-8301, 333-2704 or 333-3658.

The names of the escaped prisoners still at large are as follows:

Sherwin Hope	Race Course, Corriverton	Narcotics
Paul Kirton	Smythfield, New Amsterdam	Robbery
Troy Benn	624 East Ruimveldt, G’town	Murder
Andre La Rose		Murder
Navin Busjit	Mibicuri South, Black Bush Polder	Narcotics
Danny Busjit	Bush Lot Squatting Area, Corentyne	Murder
Reuben David	Sandvoort, West Canje	Robbery
Alvin Bhola	Line Path, Skeldon	Rape
Jaipersaud Naipaul	Letterkenny, Corentyne	Murder
Avendra Deonarine	Yakusari North, Black Bush Polder	Murder
Vinod Gopaul	Yakusari North, BBP	Murder
Carlos King	Quenstown, Corriverton	Robbery
Anthony Campbell	45 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam	Murder
Jermaine Brown	Queenstown, Corriverton	Robbery
Neville Williams	Annandale, ECD	Robbery under arms

(Guyana Cronicle)

The quiet East Coast Demerara village of Better Hope was plunged into deep shock and mourning after a resident was shot and killed during a robbery there on Tuesday night.

Presidential Guard Nazir Alli, 47, of Lot 46 Sukhai Street, Better Hope Scheme, died from gunshot wounds he suffered during an attack on his business place and home.

At the time, he was entertaining two overseas based relatives and a friend, his grieving wife, Gaitri Alli, 49, said yesterday.

She said she was inside attending their shop while her husband and others who had returned from a trip to Berbice were outside the premises chatting. The widow said a man arrived on a bicycle and asked for insulation tape but left after being told there was none in stock.

Mrs Alli when she returned home from the police station yesterday being comforted by relatives as she was overcome by grief.

The woman said she stooped under the counter and fled upstairs to alert her son who was resting but, on returning downstairs, she saw her husband lying near the gate in a pool of blood. She said the men escaped in different directions prior to the arrival of Police.

Navidra Alli, 25, said, from upstairs, he heard about five gunshots and rushed downstairs where he saw his father on the ground. His son said the wounded man asked him to be put in a taxi and taken to hospital.

Police said Alli, who was attached to the Presidential Guard as driver to former President of Guyana, Mrs. Janet Jagan, was murdered about 20:55 h and the shooters escaped with $9,000 cash and jewellery.

Reports said the gunmen were leaving the scene when Alli, who is a licensed firearm holder, attempted to confront them but was overpowered during a scuffle over his .32 pistol which they also took. Police subsequently recovered four .32 spent shells and a warhead at the scene. (Guyana Cronicle)

A gunman early yesterday morning terrorized and robbed a La Jalousie family of jewellery worth more than half a million dollars before calmly walking away.

During the five-minute ordeal, the man fired a shot though it did not strike anyone and he also attempted to grab a four-month-old baby while demanding money and jewellery but the baby's mother held on to him and handed over her jewellery worth at least $600,000.

In the wake of the robbery, disappointment was expressed at the long time it took for the police to respond though it was admitted that the police were called after some time had elapsed.

The robbery occurred just about 2:50 am yesterday at the La Jalousie, West Demerara home of Pulmattie Puran. Recounting the incident yesterday, the still shaken woman told Stabroek News that at just about 2:50 she woke up to find a man kneeling at the side of her bed, with what appeared to be a handkerchief concealing the lower part of his face.

She stated that he appeared to be looking and feeling under the bed to see if anything was there but he did not find anything. The wardrobe also appeared to have been rifled through but nothing was taken and she said that she had slept through that. The woman said that upon realizing that a strange man was in her room she immediately moved to one side of the bed and began to scream and the bandit quietly walked out of the room and went into the living room. She said that she kept screaming loudly.

It was unclear as to whether there was more than one bandit as Puran said that the bandit used a black handkerchief to cover the lower part of his face, while her daughter, Kamlawattie said that the man she saw used a blue handkerchief to conceal the lower part of his face.

Similar descriptions were given of the man and none of them saw more than one man. The bandit had apparently gained entry by jumping from the step onto the verandah and then entered through the verandah door. Prints made by the bandit were still visible yesterday and police were carrying out investigations when this newspaper visited.

Meanwhile, after leaving the elder Puran's room the bandit entered Kamlawattie's room where her husband and the baby were also sleeping and at gunpoint demanded jewellery. Using expletives the bandit demanded that Kamlawattie's husband, Latchman "lay down on yo belly, turn yuh face, don't look at me". Kamlawattie said that she told the bandit that she didn't have any money but the bandit kept repeating his demands and ransacked the wardrobe.

He then left and re-entered her mother's room and began demanding money and jewellery from her. "Me sey, ow pickney, me nah gat no money and jewels," the woman recounted.

Apparently hearing movement in Kamlawattie's room the bandit again went to her room but before entering fired a shot which penetrated the bedroom wall but did not hit anyone. This time he attempted to grab the baby as he kept demanding jewellery but Kamlawattie said that she held on to her baby and placed him on the bed and handed over her jewellery which she had in a bag and which she had recently refashioned, but hardly wore. Apparently satisfied, the bandit left.

By this time the constant screaming had alerted the neighbours but in the meantime her mother had gone silent and Kamlawattie said that she was still unsure whether the bandit had really gone. She noted that she then opened the window and watched as the bandit calmly walked out the road and in the direction of Windsor Forest and then rushed over to her mother to find out if she was okay. Her three other children in another room had awakened by this time.

Meanwhile disappointment was expressed at the police response as Pulmattie said that they did not turn up until daybreak even though she had called the Den Amstel police about three times. It was admitted though that the police were not called until sometime after the incident as Pulmattie said that she was so scared that she could not speak.

She said that after 3 am she first called the Leonora CID as she had their phone number and asked for the telephone number for the nearby Den Amstel Police. When this was obtained she called that station and informed them of the incident. She said that she called a second time when they did not turn up and then a third time.

She said that the police there then "call back to ask how me deh, if me okay". She declared that it was not until the intervention of someone, who is a police officer and who called the Vreed-en-Hoop police station that ranks belonging to the quick response squad turned up at daybreak. The bullet was yesterday recovered by the police and according to reports is one used by a 9 mm gun.

Yesterday, the elder Puran said that she was still scared and it was believed that the robbery could have been committed by someone from the area. Kamlawattie noted that her sister had been robbed in a similar fashion last year. (Gaulbert Sutherland/Stabroek News)

Donald Headley (left) receiving an award from Managing Director Dougal Kirkpatrick this year. (photo courtesy of PGS)

A Professional Guard Service driver succumbed to his injuries yesterday bringing the death toll to two after a heavily armed gang numbering around four men mounted a calculated attack on an armed escort vehicle attached to the service at Agricola early yesterday morning.

Sworn Supernumerary First Lieutenant, PGS Security Guard Service, Donald Headley died at the Woodlands Hospital during emergency surgery shortly after he was rushed there. He was shot in the face and the right side of his neck, and reportedly suffered massive internal injuries.

The other victim who was killed, Dexter Barry, was making his way to the city following an event at the Harbour Bridge when he was shot in a car that was passing at the time of the attack. The 22-year-old who was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital was a former local hockey player, according to reports.

PGS Chief Administration Officer Joseph Bobb was also wounded in the attack. A bullet was removed from his shoulder yesterday and he is in a stable condition at Woodlands Hospital. Bobb was the senior officer on the operation and was seated alongside the driver in the cab of the armoured van when the men opened fire at around 1 am.

"These men did their homework and were obviously tracking the van prior to this tragic incident. They were waiting for my men and since there is only one road leading in that direction they knew they were coming," Managing Director of PGS, Dougal Kirkpatrick observed yesterday.

The security service does nightly cash pick-ups from the various KFC outlets, but the timing is usually different every night and the PGS men always use an armoured vehicle and are under instructions to wear bullet-proof vests. Yesterday morning none of the men on the operation was wearing protection.

Stabroek News was told that they had just collected money from the KFC outlet at Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara and were heading back to Georgetown when the gunmen launched the attack in the vicinity of Agricola by firing directly at the driver which resulted in the vehicle coming to a halt.

A barrage of bullets was then fired at the vehicle, particularly in the rear where three other security officers and the cash were. Though police were spotted patrolling the area shortly before the attack they were nowhere around at this time, but the PGS Headquarters was alerted and they were calling in all units to provide adequate back-up.

When the gunfire ended the PGS officers in the rear of the vehicle heard a knock on the door and decided to open it, believing the men had left. As soon as they did so they came face-to-face with an armed gunman who immediately opened fire and they returned fire.

A police press release yesterday said the security officers sought cover a little distance away from the vehicle and upon their return to the vehicle they found that the cash they had been escorting had been removed and the two other security guards were lying on the roadway.

The police said two mobile police patrols one of which was north and the other south of the area, responded promptly upon receiving the report of the armed robbery, but the bandits had already escaped.

According to the police, three men carried out the attack and during this process motor car PEE 5657 driven by Ryan Gonsalves of Ogle, ECD, with five other occupants including Barry, of Liliendaal, and Lottia Primo was passing through the area and also came under fire. Barry was shot in his head while Primo received cuts to her head from glass from the shattered windscreen; she was treated at the public hospital and sent away.

Kirkpatrick who was visibly distressed over the incident, told this newspaper that his men had the necessary protective gear but no one chose to wear it. He said if a PGS vehicle comes under attack protocol states that those targeted must escape fire but they are allowed to return fire if possible. After the head office is alerted, he said, saving one's life is priority so officers are told to guard their lives.

Additionally, he said protocol stipulates that no officer is supposed to leave a vehicle under attack until back-up arrives. But perhaps running on nerves and worried about their colleagues in the front of the van which is not protected by armour, the men in the back opened the door after the gunfire ceased.

"They had intended to murder my people. When I saw that van and the number of bullets that were pumped into it I made that conclusion. But the rear is armoured so not a single bullet penetrated," Kirkpatrick said.

The Managing Director said some of his best men were on that operation but it just so happens they were ambushed and outnumbered. He said no matter what time they make the pick-up at Bagotstown there is only one road to get there, so if danger is lurking they will walk into it.

He pointed out that the money grabbed was insured so the fast food outlet is covered. Though Headley's family will benefit from a $2.5 M insurance policy the company set up for him, Kirkpatrick noted that the pain of losing Headley is tremendous. He said Headley was one of the best drivers on the staff.

"You could not ask for two better men than Headley and Bobb whom I could have entrusted with anything. Now we have lost Headley, and Bobb is recovering in hospital, it is sad, just sad," he said.

According to Kirkpatrick, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee had previously helped in the past by allowing him to import bullet-proof vests that could withstand the assault of an AK-47 rifle, however he said the minister was still to respond to his request for helmets of the same quality.

Yesterday Neisa Lovell, Headley's reputed wife tearfully recounted the blessed life they had shared over the past seven years. She said he was a good man who loved his job and worked hard to be successful at it. Recently he received an award for being the most outstanding driver attached to the service for the first quarter of the year.

The woman said she often quarrelled with Headley about whether his job was more important than his family, but he would always say that they were two separate things. He loved his family and he worked hard at his job. She said he leaves to mourn two young children, one of whom is hers.

Over at Barry's family home in East Ruimvedlt relatives were still in shock. His aunt, Carol Yansen said he was a vibrant young man who loved life and had many friends. She said he played hockey for Guyana and would travel out of the country from time to time.

Last year his mother and younger brother migrated leaving Barry behind in the country since he was too old to accompany them. He lived alone at First Street, Liliendaal and often visited his relatives. His mother is expected in the country today.

Yesterday morning's attack reinforced concerns about security at Agricola which had become the central point for heavily armed attacks on the East Bank Demerara and had been the scene of several murders in the past.

Eight persons were gunned down in an attack in February 2006, then 12-year-old Kevin Browne was killed in his home and five Kaieteur News pressmen were murdered at the newspaper's printery in Eccles in August last year. (Iana Seales/Stabroek News)

Britain's High Commissioner to Guyana Fraser Wheeler says the local police force does not have the capacity to deal with the threat of organized crime with its accompanying drugs and arms trafficking, but he said that the ?3M UK-funded security sector action plan would change this.

Britain and the Govern-ment of Guyana two Fridays ago inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to implement the action plan over a four-year period.

The plan seeks to build the operational capacity of the police force in terms of a uniformed response to serious crime, as well as augment forensics, crime intelligence and traffic policing capabilities. The plan will also strengthen policy-making across the security sector to make it more transparent, effective and better coordinated.

Bringing financial management in the security sector under the umbrella of public sector financial management reform; creating substantial parliamentary and other oversight of the security sector and building greater public participation and inclusiveness on security sector issues are the other components of the plan.

In an exclusive interview with Stabroek News last Tuesday, Wheeler agreed that the Guyana Police Force had a real capacity problem. "I don't think the security here has the capacity to deal with the threat of organised crime, and that is why we are happy to be helping in this regard," Wheeler said.

Numerous high-profile murders and robberies have gone unsolved for decades in Guyana and the security agencies have been criticized for their lack of success both by citizens and the administration in the past. Earlier this year while addressing patrons at a Rotary dinner, the UK high commissioner had said that organized crime was probably the greatest threat facing the country. He said then that the threat was not only affecting Guyana, but also the Caribbean and the rest of the world.

Wheeler said that the smuggling of narcotic drugs was a particular problem which not only stifled legitimate business, damaged the local economy and undermined governance, but also contributed to the proliferation of small arms on the streets of Georgetown. "Guyana requires a comprehensive solution to deal with crime and security and I hope the British will be able to make a significant contribution to this effort," Wheeler said back in March.

Asked on Tuesday to elaborate on the threat that organized crime posed, the UK high commissioner said that Guyana had a small population and extensive terrain, and it was well known that there were attempts to ship Colombian cocaine to this country. Wheeler said the Guyana government was aware of this, but with its limited resources it was difficult for the authorities to stem the tide. He said what the UK was seeking to do through the action plan was to provide some basis for the country to respond better to these threats.

Questioned about the extent to which the kind of crimes in evidence today were connected to the drugs trade and corruption within the security agencies, Wheeler said he could not make a judgment on this, noting that he had not seen any specific evidence of corruption. He said that there was a definite connection between the trade in narcotics and rampant crime. "It is a reasonable assumption to make that when drugs are brought in it comes with a proliferation of small armsâ€¦ and when you are in that situation you will see a general rise in crimes," he observed.

Asked to give his assessment of the performance of the security forces, Wheeler noted that certainly before the just concluded Cricket World Cup the police had had many successes. They had managed to contain certain crimes and had been more effective in stopping criminals. He did not elaborate further and only acknowledged that the security agencies needed a comprehensive boost to perform effectively.

Touching on the action plan, Wheeler told this newspaper that it had originated from a letter from President Bharrat Jagdeo to his predecessor, Steven Hiscock over a year ago. He said in that letter Jagdeo had asked for comprehensive assistance in the security sector, with solutions to arrest the deteriorating crime and security situation. According to Wheeler, this led to a meeting between former UK Minister Valerie Amos and Jagdeo and from their engagement Britain had agreed to assist.

The two countries had next agreed on the principles by which the process would be taken forward. These principles had been agreed between Jagdeo and Leader of the Opposition Robert Corbin before last year's general elections. Following those agreements, in October last year the UK brought down a team of security reform experts from Ghana, South Africa, India and Sierra Leone who came with the express purpose of drawing up ideas for security-sector reform in Guyana.

The high commissioner said before the experts came they read reports on security reforms in Guyana and engaged everyone involved in security as well. He said they had also had meetings with all the parliamentary political parties at the time. It was after these interventions that the plan had been crafted and an MOU on how it would be developed had been signed last week.

"The important thing about this plan is that it is not just another security plan. We did not want to produce just another strategy; Guyana has a lot of strategies [and] what we needed was an action plan that would be implemented," Wheeler said of the $1.05B security project.

The plan caters for building operational capacity in the police force, and when asked what this entailed Wheeler said the immediate action would be to develop an anti-crime unit and strengthen crime intelligence. He said the objective was to support the capability of a rapid response to serious crime, which would require training, developing protocols, providing training on technical aspects of anti-crime operations and the provision of equipment and resources, including vehicles.

Further, the UK envoy said in this area sustaining the capability of uniformed rapid response to serious crime, planning for new recruitment, internet connectivity and access to training information were paramount. On the intelligence front, Wheeler said the recruitment of personnel to work in the anti-crime unit was important. "Getting the right people to do the job is critical," Wheeler said, noting that all previous UK activities in the area of training were being taken into account.

Britain a few years ago had provided some training to the Guyana Police Force to help establish a SWAT team, but authorities in the force had expressed concern that some of the men who had been earmarked for the squad were corrupt. The team was never formed.

Wheele stressed that special focus would be placed on intelligence-led investigation and in this regard the plan sought to strengthen the ability of police in relation to crime intelligence, by developing operational protocols. He also said that there had to be legislative reform, the establishment of a crime information system and the sharing of information among agencies. To make this sustainable, the plan aimed at reviewing legislation and providing training.

Another key component of the plan is parliamentary oversight, but given the history of squabbling between the two major parliamentary parties about previous security reform projects it is felt in some quarters that the UK's plan could be stymied by a lack of political will and consensus. Asked whether this was an area the UK was also concerned about, Wheeler responded that there was shared thinking in parliament on the need for security reforms.

He said too that the UK wanted policy-making across the security sector to be more effective and transparent, and in parliament there would be far more opportunities for oversight with the select committees. He added that the security agencies would be obligated under the agreements reached to submit reports, and the government had also agreed to respond to committees' recommendations.

"This is one obligation the government has agreed to," Wheeler said, adding that a permanent standing committee would have to be set up in parliament to provide oversight on the implementation of the plan. The high commissioner said that the UK was aware of the limitations of the Guyana parliament, and it recognized the need to build its capacity so that it would be able to provide the required oversight for the action plan.

Wheeler told Stabroek News that the security team that came to draft the plan had met with the parliamentary parties and had taken their needs into account. "I think that many in the National Assembly recognized that we need to build capacity in the parliament to undertake the work in terms of the committee, and that is what we are prepared to do."

He added that the UK was already working with the parliament closely in an effort to meet its needs, noting that Britain would be working through the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association CPA to build capacity in the various committees to help them better perform their roles. Before the plan was implemented parliament was also expected to complete reviewing the DFC report, which was currently before a select committee. Wheeler said this was an absolute requirement.

On whether there needed to be changes at the top of the police force in an effort to facilitate the smooth implementation of the plan, Wheeler said this was not a matter for the UK government but rather the Govern-ment of Guyana.

However, he said in the plan they intended to strengthen policy-making across the security sector to make it more transparent and inclusive and at the same time strengthen oversight of the sector mainly through parliamentary oversight.

"But we will also want to strengthen other bodies like the Police Complaints Authority. Changes at the top of the force are for the Guyana government to decide. Our interest is to ensure that our assistance works and as we strengthen the police force there is effective overview of the changes we are going to implement."

Asked specifically whe-ther the UK was concerned about the top leadership of police force, Wheeler answered in the negative. Since last year, Henry Greene has been acting as the Police Commissioner. While government has not taken steps to appoint him as the substantive police chief it has expressed satisfaction in the way he has been managing the force.

The US government had revoked both Greene's visitor and diplomatic visas because it said he had benefited from the drugs trade. The Acting Commissioner responded by denying this claim and asked for the evidence to be provided.

Wheeler made it clear that as part of the plan no foreign officer would be recruited to work in the Guyana Police Force, however he said that the National Police Improve-ment Agency, formerly Centrex would be coming in September to begin work on the anti-crime unit and the crime intelligence plan. Part of the team that came last October to draw up the plan would be returning to revalidate some of the work and also to draw up details on how the plan would be implemented.

Wheeler said in the meantime, the UK's Depart-ment of International Deve-lopment had begun the internal process of releasing money to implement the plan.

On whether there were agreements on the foreign experts recruited to implement the plan, Wheeler said it had been a lengthy process to come up with the plan. He said the experts, having taken full account of the security threat facing Guyana, had thought it necessary to bring in overseas expertise. The high commissioner said that the Guyana government had agreed on each stage of the plan.

He said that the National Police Improvement Agency had worked in Georgetown previously doing extensive work for government in the security sector. He noted that the agency would be working on a citizens' project, and as such it was clear that the country had thought highly of the group.

"The fact that government has agreed to the action plan reflects the fact that the team that came here did a pretty good job and what they recommended is what Guyana needs," Wheeler declared. He told Stabroek News that the wide-ranging ap-proach of the plan was deliberate in that it had been specifically designed to build on and complement other security projects such as the Citizen Security and Justice programmes.

Britain was optimistic that the full implementation of the plan would provide substantial additional security to the people of Guyana and by so doing it would increase the confidence of foreign and domestic business to invest in the country and through strengthened transparency and accountability open governance would be enhanced. (Nigel Williams/Stabroek News)

A young woman who allegedly helped her reputed husband rape a friend at their home by tying her up was yesterday remanded to prison by Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys who also issued an arrest warrant for her co-accused. Both the woman and her reputed husband were charged with the rape.

Retesha Singh was not required to plead to rape when she appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate's Court. Her reputed husband Winston Bannister who is also her co-accused was absent from court. It was disclosed that when the police went to arrest him he ran away.

It is alleged that on August 12 at Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, Singh along with Bannister had unlawful carnal knowledge of a female without her consent. Singh is accused of knowing that Bannister had carnal knowledge of the woman on the same day, and relieved, comforted and assisted him.

Singh is accused of helping to strip her friend who was invited to the home and tied her up while her husband raped the 21-year-old woman. After the charge was read to Singh and she was told that she was remanded to prison, she broke down in tears. She will return to court on September 24. (Stabroek News)

A Brazilian miner who allegedly offered to pay a man $100,000 to kill another miner was yesterday charged with incitement to commit murder and was granted substantial bail by Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys.

Paulo Guida Coutinho Palhano, 44, a Brazilian miner working in Guyana was not required to plead to the indictable charge when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate's court. It is alleged that on August 11 at Georgetown, Palhano attempted to procure Mark Yaw to commit murder.

Police prosecutor Robert Tyndall objected to bail saying that Palhano was a flight risk since he was not from this country. He added that the file has to go for urgent advice from the Director of Public prosecution (DPP). The prosecutor stated also that Palhano met Yaw and offered him $100,000 to kill another man. The other man is said to be a miner too.

Attorney at law Mohamed Khan represented Palhano and requested bail for his client. The attorney said that the allegation came about because of a plot by the men to enrich themselves at his client's expense. He added that he understands that the one witness who claimed his client procured him to commit murder did not report the matter immediately but waited two days to do so.

After he went to the police, the attorney said, he then told the officers that Palhano had threatened to kill him as well. The attorney stated further that his client has substantial investment in the interior and that he has machinery and other equipment which has been left exposed to vagrants and thieves in the community.

Additionally, Khan said he was present at the station during the confrontation between his client and Yaw and that nothing was mentioned that his client paid Yaw any money. Khan further said that Palhano has been living in this country for six years and that the records at the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission will show that he has been doing mining here. Palhano, he said has been in custody since Monday.

Khan presented Palhano's passport and work permit to the court in the hope that his client would be granted bail. He was told by the Magistrate that he was not satisfied with what was told to him and refused bail. However later in the afternoon the attorney returned and produced documents to show that his client had significant investments in Guyana and he was granted bail. Palhano will return to court on August 23. (Stabroek News)

Three Bolivian men who allegedly had over three kilos of cocaine concealed in false bottoms of their suitcases at the McKenzie Police Station were yesterday remanded to prison by Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton.

Ramon Barazante also known as Jesus Freddy Viveras, Luis Alcides De La Rosa also known as Oscar Valez Canido and Victor Gerardo Contreas Mora also known as Manuel Savitera Soovedia all pleaded not guilty through an interpreter to possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.

It is alleged that on August 12 at the McKenzie Police Station compound, Linden the trio had in their possession 3 kgs, 404 grammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. In a police press release it was stated that the men were Venezuelans but it was later revealed that they were Bolivians.

The cocaine was said to have been discovered in their baggage during a routine search on passengers travelling from Lethem to Georgetown. Police had also said that one of the men had attempted to escape but a chase by ranks resulted in his capture.

According to the police statement at about 12:45 on Sunday afternoon the men were among passengers travelling from Lethem to Georgetown aboard a minibus which had to stop for security checks at the Mc Kenzie Station. During this check, 29 packets with the suspected cocaine were found concealed in the false bottoms of suitcases belonging to the men.

The magistrate remanded the men and transferred their case to the Christianburg Magistrate's Court for August 21. (Stabroek News)

A police officer who allegedly had a seized .38 Rossi revolver in his possession at Cummings Lodge and failed to report the seizure of the weapon to a superior rank was yesterday remanded to prison by Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton.

Romel Samuels, a serving member of the police force, yesterday pleaded not guilty to two unlawful possession charges and was not required to plead to attempting to obstruct the course of justice when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate's Court.

It is alleged that on July 27 at Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara, Samuels had one .38 Rossi revolver without being the holder of a firearm licence. He is also accused of attempting to obstruct the course of justice by failing to report the seizure of a firearm to a superior rank. Samuels also allegedly had in his possession a DPL number plate and a radio set reasonably suspected to have been stolen or unlawfully obtained.

Police prosecutor Robert Tyndall indicated to the court that Samuels was a serving member of the police force. Samuels in his plea to the court for bail told the magistrate that he is a policeman and if he was to be remanded it would be "rough" on him. He was still refused bail and will return to court on August 17. (Stabroek News)

Mark Amos, the Linden carpenter who was found guilty of manslaughter three weeks ago, was yesterday sentenced to eleven years in prison by Justice of Appeal Claudette Singh. This is Amos' second trial in the High Court for stabbing Clairmont Godfrey Niles to death at Linden, after stealing his bicycle back in 2004.

His first trial in the High Court just over a year ago ended in a hung jury. On July 27, the jury however found the 43-year-old Silvertown, Wismar resident not guilty of murder but guilty on the lesser count of manslaughter in the proportion of eleven to one in favour of a conviction.

A probation report read just before the sentence was handed down said that Amos lived with his mother-in-law and his wife who later migrated to Canada. Amos, however, was evicted from the home by his mother-in-law and later lived in a room at his brother's hotel. The report added that Amos was charged with sacrilege (stole some items from a church) and was released one week before the stabbing was committed.

Amos was also a habitual user of narcotics, the report said. He was a quiet person but his drug addition may have caused a change in him. The report also stated that Amos continues to maintain that he knows nothing about the stabbing.

Following the report, his lawyer Hukumchand in his address reminded the court that the probation report stated that the accused was a product of a home that was ruptured early in his life and the officers at the prison described him as a model prisoner. He said that he thinks that Amos could do well if he is given a chance to do so.

Hukumchand later said "we must love the sinner, not the sin because the sinner is one of us and he might have gone astray." He asked the court to let the sentence which would be handed down to his client reflect one's concern for society and the individual. Amos who was dressed in a burgundy shirt, tie and a dark coloured pair of jeans stood in the court dock as Justice Singh addressed him.

The judge before addressing the accused commended Hukumchand for his attitude towards his cases. She said that the defence counsel always tried his best regardless of how people took it. She said that Hukumchand delivered a strong plea of mitigation on his client's behalf but the jury believed that he was the person who committed the offence. Justice Singh told the accused that the jury believed the three eyewitnesses who testified in the matter.

"You will have to live with your conscience for the rest of your life. You will be called upon to give account of your life. It will not be by twelve persons but the one witness - the man above," she said. Amos was commended by the judge for his determination to turn his life around. She told him to sit and pass all his examinations so that at the end of his prison term, he could be a model citizen.

"This is not a court of sympathy but a court of justice so I have a duty to perform.¦ A man was killed because of your folly - that was a foolish act," she said minutes before handing down the sentence. The judge said that she had considered the four years he had already been in prison; otherwise she would have handed down a 15-year sentence. Amos stood silently in the dock after hearing the sentence and showed no emotion.

During this recent trial the prosecution called witnesses to the stand who testified that Amos had stolen Niles' bicycle and was riding off with it when someone saw him and raised an alarm.

One of the witnesses recalled that Niles pursued Amos and after catching up with him a fight occurred. Another person intervened and the three were involved in a scuffle. Niles was then heard saying that he had been stabbed. After the men were separated the accused fled the scene and it was then discovered that Niles had been stabbed.

He was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Amos was picked out of an identification parade and during the trial Hukumchand questioned the process saying it was a case of mistaken identity. Attorney-at-law Faith Mc Gusty represented the state at yesterday's hearing. (Stabroek News)

The High Court trial of Donald Marks called "Dano" who is accused of hacking his girlfriend to death in 2004, continued yesterday and a witness testified that she told the police in a statement that the two had an argument before they left in the direction of the backdam.

Carol Peters, Marks' cousin was the last of three witnesses to give evidence yesterday before Justice of Appeal Ian Chung. So far eight of the prosecution's seventeen witnesses have testified in this matter. The prosecution's case against Marks is that sometime between December 7 and 9 he murdered Shelly Hartman.

Peters led in evidence by state prosecutor Judy Latchman, told the court that she knew Marks about six years before December 7, 2004 when her mother introduced her to him as her cousin. She said that she knew Hartman, the deceased, for about three months before December, 2004 through Marks, who introduced her as his girlfriend.

Peters testified that she, her brothers and children were at home when Marks came with three bags from an easterly direction through a short cut leading from Golden Grove. He asked for her mother who was not at home and Peters said one of her brothers later went to get her.

She said that Marks later told her that he wanted to go into the backdam and that he would get "Fowl Cock" (whom he knew from his boyhood days) to take him. She then left with her daughter for the clinic while Marks waited at the house for her mother. When she arrived home around midday, Peters said that she saw Hartman and Marks sitting on the steps and after greeting them she went inside.

She said that she came back outside to pick up some clothes that were on a line at the side of the house when she heard Marks asking Hartman "who was the guy that I saw you on the bus with?" Hartman replied that she did not know the guy and Marks asked again "who is the fu....g guy?"

According to Peters, a little while after that Marks said he wanted to go into the backdam and asked her mother for a cutlass. After he got the cutlass, Marks sent Hartman for her shoulder bag and the two of them left heading in the direction of the backdam. Peters told the court that Marks had the cutlass in his hand when they left.

Peters said that she went out and when she returned around 9 that night Marks, her mother and the children were asleep in the hall of the house. She went to bed and got up around 1:05 the next morning to use the washroom and after asking the time Marks told her to wake him up at 1:30. However, Peters said, he got up on his own, dressed, spoke to her mother and then left.

She recalled that on December 11 that police came to her home and took her to the Cove & John Police Station where she gave a statement in which she said that Marks and Hartman had an argument on the steps. Peters said that during a confrontation Marks said that everything that she said was a lie. Under cross-examination by defence counsel Hukumchand, Peters stated that she can't remember if she said that the two left going east, when she testified in the Magistrate's Court.

After being shown the magistrate's notes which she had signed, she said that if it is recorded she cannot deny that she had said so. Prior to Peters' testimony, the court heard evidence from Suresh Mohanlall who is attached to Guysuco and Sergeant Clensford Burnett who is attached to the photographic Department of the Criminal Investigation De-partment (CID), Eve Leary.

First on the stand was Mohanlall. He told the court that his duty is to ensure that the grass canals and middle walks are cleaned. He testified that around 6 am on December 8, he was at Foulis Drainage Pump when he gave orders and dispatched the members of the T One gang to various locations in the Enmore Estate Backdam.

Some of the members of the gang, he said, included Ramkissoon, David (the person who first saw the head and the body of the murdered woman), Makesh, Derrick and Chan. He said that the following day he gave similar orders to members of the gang and sent them out to their respective locations.

He said that just before David left for his Haslington backdam location he told him something and he left and went to the field office to meet his boss. Mohanlall said that he told his boss something and he was instructed to go to the Haslington location and wait for his boss.

Mohanlall testified that when he reached the location he saw David and Ramkissoon coming out from the canal and David told him something. Later he saw police vehicles and after answering a few questions he gave a written statement and left for another location in the backdam.

Mohanhall said under cross-examination that on December 8, no one reported anything unusual to him. He said that sometimes one or two persons would clean the same canal but for safety reasons two persons would do it.

Sergeant Burnett then testified that around 9:30 am on December 9, 2004 he visited the scene in the company of a party of policemen. On arrival he took photographic exposures of a head that was floating in a canal north of the cane field. He then took a photographic exposure of a body of a female which had no head, palm or fingers and insteps and toes, which was lying in the cane field.

The following day, he recalled that he visited a house at Haslington Housing Scheme were he took a photograph of a burnt heap which was pointed out to him. He said that on September 16, 2005 he went to the photographic branch at Eve Leary where he processed the film in negatives and printed photographs.

Burnett stated that he kept the negatives and photographs in his possession and at no time did he or anyone else touch or tamper with the negatives or the photographs. After he identified the six photographs and the negatives, the prosecutor asked for them to be tendered as exhibits for the trial. The defence counsel however objected and after hearing arguments from both sides the judge ruled that they will be tendered.

Burnett under cross-examination said that the head was about 200 yards away from the body. He said that the body was not in a state of decomposition nor was it bloated. He said that the head was in the water and there appeared to be some decomposition.

Burnett told the court that he saw no blood spots in the area where the body was found. He said that he looked for blood stains but found none.

Hartman's nude and mutilated body was discovered in an area behind Haslington on December 9. Her hands were severed at the wrist and her feet and head chopped off. Police had initially arrested Marks, his cousin and his cousin's wife shortly after the discovery.

Marks was later charged and at the conclusion of his preliminary inquiry at the Cove and John Magistrate's Court, ECD last year Magistrate Brassington Reynolds found that there was enough evidence for him to stand trial in the High Court. (Zoisa Fraser/Stabroek News)

The value (in $US millions) of avoided deforestation credits to HFLD countries. Estimated by da Fonseca et al (2007) assuming a reference emission rate of one-half of the global average deforestation rate (-0.11%/year) for HFLD countries and a carbon price of US$10 per ton of CO2)

The authors say that "high forest cover with low rates of deforestation" (HFLD) nations "could become the most vulnerable targets for deforestation if the Kyoto Protocol and upcoming negotiations on carbon trading fail to include intact standing forest."

Carbon emissions from deforestation are one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases, accounting for around one fifth of total annual emissions from anthropogenic activities. Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation are expected to increase the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration by 29 to 129 ppm within 100 years. Concentrations presently stand around 380 ppm.

To slow emissions from deforestation and other forms of land use change, scientists and policy makers have proposed an "avoided deforestation" initiative whereby tropical countries would be compensated by reducing their deforestation rates (RED). Compensation would come through carbon credits which companies in industrialized countries could use to offset their emissions.

As currently proposed, compensation would be tied to historical deforestation rates, a link that sets up a troubling paradox: tropical countries will be presented with significant financial incentives to ramp up forest clearing until the framework takes effect in order capture the highest value from reducing deforestation from their historical baseline.

The new PLoS paper argues that “preventive credits" could help avoid this temptation, while at the same time rewarding countries that have effectively protected their forest cover.

"Since current proposals would award carbon credits to countries based on their reductions of emissions from a recent historical reference rate, HFLD countries could be left with little potential for RED credits. Nor would they have the potential for reforestation credits under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism," wrote the authors.

"Without the opportunity to sell carbon credits, HFLD countries would be deprived of a major incentive to maintain low deforestation rates. Since drivers of deforestation are mobile, deforestation reduced elsewhere could shift to HFLD countries, constituting a significant setback to stabilizing global concentrations of greenhouse gases at the lowest possible levels."

“The minute that you exclude those countries, their forests lose economic value in the global carbon market, leaving governments with little reason to protect them,” said study lead author Gustavo Fonseca, a scientist at Conservation International (CI) and Brazil’s Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.

HFLD countries -- consisting of Panama, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Peru, Belize, Gabon, Guyana, Suriname, Bhutan and Zambia, along with French Guiana -- contain 20 percent of Earth’s remaining tropical forest and 18 percent of tropical forest carbon.

"Given the very large – and likely still underestimated – role of tropical deforestation in causing climate change, these forest-rich countries should be at the forefront of worldwide efforts to sequester carbon, rather than being left out entirely,” said co-author and CI President Russell A. Mittermeier.

The study estimates that at $10 per ton of CO2, preventative credits could be worth US$365 million to $1.8 billion annually to HFLD countries, depending on how compensation is calculated. While the authors are hopeful for preventative credits, they caution that policymakers would need to proceed carefully.

"Introducing an additional source of carbon credits could lower the price of carbon, weakening the incentive to reduce deforestation in countries where rates are high," they wrote. "However, preventive credits should be evaluated in light of their net effect in reducing global CO2 emissions. The volume of preventive credits necessary to create an advance incentive against deforestation in HFLD countries would be 10–49 million tons of carbon annually, depending on which reference rate is selected.

This is equivalent to just 1.3%–6.5% of developing countries' emissions from deforestation. The greater the global demand for carbon credits, the less impact this increase in supply would have on carbon price. In return, preventive credits would extend substantial protection to nearly one-fifth of tropical forest carbon."

CITATION: Gustavo A. B. da Fonseca, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Guy Midgley, Jonah Busch, Lee Hannah, Russell A. Mittermeier (2007). No Forest Left Behind. PLoS Biol 5(8): e216 doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050216 (mongabay.com)

Too late: While this detective with blue shirt (background) was dusting the motorcar of St Clair Mohabir, the official of Pure Diamond who was robbed of $10M yesterday morning by four armed bandits, these other ranks were discussing the attack.

Four days after two diamond dealers were robbed of some $13M while conducting business at Pure Diamond on East Street, Georgetown four gunmen struck again yesterday morning at the same establishment shooting a Calibre security guard and escaping with some $10M in cash.

The robbery came in the wake of a rash of similar attacks which occurred over the weekend and the police said that they are concerned that the business place is being targeted since it was only on Thursday evening it was raided.

Up to press time last night Frederick Whyte, 53, of Charlestown, George-town the security guard was nursing gun wounds in the region of his groin. He underwent an x-ray and doctors removed one of the bullets from his leg. Stabroek News was unable to get a detailed comment from the proprietor of the business place, since when St Clair Mohabir was about to speak to the media Assistant Superintendent of Police, Budhram called him away.

When Mohabir later returned he told members of the media that Budhram had instructed him not to speak to the press. Police in a statement last evening said that at about 10:45 yesterday morning Mohabir, 63, was attacked by four men, all armed with firearms, and robbed of $10 million in cash. According to the police, Mohabir had just returned to the office at East Street from a city bank with the cash.

While still in the motor vehicle, the four armed men drove up behind him in a beige coloured Toyota AT 190 motor car bearing a false registration number. He was held at gunpoint by one of the men who smashed the left side front window and grabbed the bag with the cash which was on the front seat.

At the same time another bandit shot security guard Whyte in his groin as he was in the process of opening the gate to the business. The bandits then escaped in their motor vehicle, the police statement added. "The police are very concerned at the fact that the Pure Diamond Company appears to be targeted, in view of this being the second armed robbery on the firm within a matter of daysâ€¦" the police statement said.

When Stabroek News arrived on the scene yesterday policemen were scouring the area looking for the bandits who by this time had already vanished. Police are said to have boosted their patrols in the city, but this has so far failed to beat back criminals who have committed numerous robberies over recent weeks with guns and escaped.

Before Mohabir was instructed by Budhram not to speak to the media he told reporters that he went to Citizen's Bank on Camp Street yesterday morning to withdraw cash. The man said it was not the first time he did this, but noted that he had no fixed mode of operation.

Accord-ing to Mohabir when he left the bank he saw no suspicious looking vehicle trailing him, but as soon as he arrived in front of the establishment and was about to disembark his car the bandits' vehicle pulled up. He believes that someone might have been watching his movements on the streets and directed the bandits how to attack.

Around 8 pm last Thursday Nazim Khan and Vickram Khan of Rampoor Settlement, Corriverton, Corentyne were attacked and robbed of $13M as they were about to conduct business at Pure Diamond by two armed men who got away in the men's car.

The two men had travelled to Georgetown in their motorcar to conduct business at the diamond establishment, when another vehicle drove up and the men stepped out and struck them with a handgun.

The Berbicians were then ordered to lie on the ground while the bandits jumped into their vehicle and made off with the money. Police the next day recovered the car at Savage Street, North East La Penitence. Gunmen on Friday afternoon also robbed King Solomon Enterprise on Main Street of $1M and US$6,500.

Around 5 pm on Friday the bandits entered the business place, accosted the workers and escaped with the cash. Then on Saturday gunmen stormed the Lamaha Gardens residence of Boyo Ramsaroop, holding his household at gunpoint and carting off a quantity of jewellery and cash.

The proliferation of gun crimes has alarmed many members of the public and again raised the issue of the trafficking in weapons across Guyana's borders. (Stabroek News)

Going home to visit relatives, a 37-year-old pork-knocker was fatally shot in the head after an argument at 14 Miles, Issano on Sunday.

Dead is John King called 'Ragga' of Supply, Mahaica. His sister, Stacy Boyce told Stabroek News yesterday that after being urged, her older brother was going home to see some relatives when the incident occurred.

She said that the argument arose after her brother, who owns a pump requested payment from the person who allegedly shot him. She noted that he had come home one month previously and had left the pump with the suspect.

She said that her brother returned to the interior but left the pump for the suspect to use and when he asked for payment for the use of the pump, the suspect reportedly stated that the pump had broken down and so he wasn't going to give him any money.

Boyce said that the pump was then handed over minus the hose, which her brother demanded. However, this was not done and the argument ensued ending in the fatal shot. Following the shooting, King's companions transported him to the Bartica Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

A police press release however stated that investigations revealed that King allegedly owed a sum of money to the suspect, who operates a shop at Issano. The shooter approached King for the money and an argument ensued during which King was shot in the head, the statement said, adding that the suspect, who is known, is being sought. King leaves to mourn his parents, seven siblings and other relatives. (Stabroek News)

Deonarine Lakhpal found hanging from ceiling of home in Reliance Abandon, Eat Canje

The dead man’s widow, Indrawattie Narine said she had moved away from him and was staying with a sister following his threats to her life. Narine, who is employed at Little Rock Suites, New Amsterdam, also in berbice, said, last week Monday, Lakhpal insisted that the eldest of his three children return home from spending vacation with a relative.

The boy did not comply with his father’s edict and, later the same day, the cane harvester instructed his two other children to telephone their close relatives and bid them goodbye, their mother said. Narine said, after they did as instructed, their father took a length of rope from a hammock, divided it in three equal pieces and made separate nooses.

According to Narine, Lakhpal put the second child, Satesh, 10, to stand on a chair and placed a noose around his neck while holding his only daughter, Parbattie, 7, in his arms. But he did not get to remove the chair from under the boy as the telephone rang and he went to answer the call.

Narine said the boy seized the opportunity to remove the loop from around his neck and neighbours and relatives, aware of the threats and alerted by the cries of the children, gained entry into the two-storey house by kicking a back door open and rescued the siblings who darted out to freedom. Lakhpal was arrested and taken into custody but was released on $20,000 station bail Thursday.

The widow said cops told her that the suspect was set free because there was insufficient evidence on which to lay charges. She said, on instructions from Senior Superintendent Stephen Jarvis, ranks had promised to re-arrest Lakhpal and charge him after the children gave statements.

Narine said, on Friday night, Lakhpal telephoned her pleading for them to be reconciled but she advised him that he was in need of help. She received the news about his death about midday yesterday. (Guyana Cronicle)

Government committed to enhancing Police Force

Government has shown its commitment to the enhancement of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) through several interventions. According to the Report from the Auditor General on the Public Accounts of Guyana for the fiscal year ending 2005, there were approximately 19 Police Stations refurbished and $105M in equipment purchased to boost the capacity of the Force.

The Vigilance, Madhia, Mabaruma, Charity, Suddie, Providence and Ruimveldt Police Stations were among those reconstructed.

Since 2005 four modern Police Stations have been established. These were at Bartica at a cost of $37M, Diamond/Grove $30.5M, Turkeyen/Sophia $42M and Fort Wellington. The Public Accounts Report stated that $105M was approved for the purchase of equipment for the Police Force which included communications, fingerprint, photographic, ballistic, forensic, traffic, security, musical equipment, arms and ammunitions and horses.

In June, Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon announced that the Force’s forensic laboratory will benefit from $32.3M worth of equipment that includes replacements as well as acquisition of new gear.

Among the equipment to be bought are a $21M mass spectrometer, evidence location kit, field and laboratory disaster kit and laboratory fuming chamber. The budgetary allocation of the GPF has steadily increased since 1992, and a record $9.3B has been allocated to the security and defence sectors for 2007.

Meanwhile, the work of Community Policing Groups (CPGs) has been expanding. According to the Public Accounts Report a total of $15M was approved for training, vehicles and equipment for CPGs. The establishment of CPGs countrywide is high on government’s agenda and the Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee has been calling for law-abiding citizens to form such groups to assist in the fight against crime in their respective communities.

There are 178 CPGs, established on a voluntary basis with support from the government in the form of vehicles and boats. On July 4 Minister Rohee handed over a $3.6M vehicle to CPG ‘A’ Division and earlier in the year five motor-cycles and three boats were also handed over to CPGs.

As part of the administration’s determination to further modernise, equip and build the capacity of the Force, on August 10 an Interim Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a Security Sector Reform Action Plan (SSRAP) was signed between the governments of Guyana and the United Kingdom.

The four-year bilateral agreement to fund activities at a cost of ?3M, will cater for building operational capacity of the Force in terms of a uniformed response to serious crime, forensics, intelligence and traffic policing.

Implementation of the Citizens’ Security Programme (CSP) is well underway since the signing of the US$22M on January 31. Minister Rohee indicated that preparation of the document for the implementation of the programme which is funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is in its final stage. The programme is geared to further aid in the reduction and prevention of criminal activities, and to boost the capabilities of law enforcement agencies by establishing a better relationship with citizens.

Government will be responsible for the establishment of a training centre for the Police Force, building a forensic laboratory, establishing and refurbishing approximately 72 police stations and emphasising community action which will entail working with stakeholders of the respective communities to bring them closer to the reform process. (GINA/Guyana Cronicle)

National committee for suicide prevention launched

Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy (centre) speaks at the convening of the national committee for the prevention of suicide. At left is Mr Prakash Gossai and at right is Dr. Bhiro Harry.

Speaking at a meeting convening the committee yesterday, Minister of Health Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said the establishment of the committee is part of an aggressive programme to reduce incidences of suicide and attempted suicide. He said fundamental issues surrounding suicide occurrences must be addressed, such as access to drugs, since it has been found that most people commit suicide by drinking poisonous substances.

According to Ramsammy, suicide is not a mere social problem, but it is a mental health issue. Dr Ramsammy said depression is one of the main reasons why people commit suicide in Guyana, and he and disclosed that the health system does not have enough psychiatrists. Overall, he said the health system has just four psychiatrists, but indicated that one of the ways his Ministry plans to address this situation is to have foreign psychiatrists visit Guyana and carry out “outreach” activities to various communities, much the same as other medical professionals visit for other “medical outreaches”.

According to the Ministry of Health, suicide is especially prevalent among males, 75 percent of whom are East Indian. More than half of all suicides occur in Berbice, with Region 2 Pomeroon/Supenaam) following, a study has found. The study shows, that in the majority of cases those who killed themselves were below the age of 35.

Dr. Ramsammy said the religious community stands to play a pivotal role in helping to prevent suicides, and hence the community has a strong church influence. Co-chairing the committee with Dr. Ramsammy is Hindu religious leader Prakash Gossai.

The committee includes also Pastor Kwame Gilbert; Swami Akshrananda; Aleema Nasir of the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana; Head of the Psychiatric Department of the Georgetown Hospital, Dr. Dhiro Harry; Head of the National Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Mayda Grajales; and representatives of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs.

Apart from developing a strategy for suicide prevention and control, the committee is also tasked with conducting seminars on mental health with a focus on suicidal behaviour and how to recognize it. The committee will be assisted by mental health expert Dr Sonia Chehil, a consultant of the Pan American Health Organisation in Guyana.

In addition, the committee will organise workshops on stress management, substance abuse and other suicide related issues. Public education and awareness programme using the media would also be organised to increase knowledge about symptoms of depression and the warning signs of suicidal thinking and behaviour.

The committee is also tasked with providing training to social and community workers, establishing hotlines and other points of contact for easy reach, and establishing mechanisms to provide counselling to those who have attempted suicide and their families as well.

A Guyanese man, who was charged with a drug related offence in New York in 2005 and jumped bail, has been spotted here according to reports.

Robindranauth Ramsarup also known as 'Robin' and 'Blacks' is charged with knowingly attempting to distribute and possess with intent to distribute, 500 grammes and more of mixtures and substances containing a detectable amount of cocaine in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 812, 841(a) (1), and 841 (b) (1) (b).

He was placed on US$200,000 bail which was put up by four persons but the bail was subsequently forfeited after the man stopped attending court in June of last year. Reports are that the persons who put up the bail are now facing financial difficulties resulting in some of them even losing their homes. After he failed to turn up in court Magistrate Judge Frank Mass issued an arrest warrant for him and checks at his home revealed that neither his girlfriend nor his mother knew where he was hence the bail was forfeited.

Ramsarup allegedly committed the act in 2005 when he placed a call to an individual who was located in Manhattan and expressed a desire to purchase a quantity of cocaine. Reports say he has been spotted here and the authorities have been alerted. (Stabroek News)

Perception reports unfair

President Bharrat Jagdeo has reaffirmed his government’s support for investigations into corruption allegations against state institutions but is concerned about studies and reports on corruption that utilise perception indicators to arrive at conclusions.

“I don’t have a problem with those factual, specific types of protests and investigations because if there is a case of corruption and it is made known, it could be investigated and the results made known to the public. My problem though, is when people come in ( to Guyana) and make blanket statements and have a corruption perception index. If I were to manage this country on perception, people would say it is bad governance,” President Jagdeo said.

The President made this observation while speaking with reporters operatives at the conclusion of the visit to Guyana by President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Alberto Moreno. His comments came in reply to a question on whether or not the IDB was concerned over the allegations by Transparency International Perception Index specifically related to Guyana.

“We do look at these things seriously but part of the problem is how many of these assessments are done, since many are not done on facts rather perception. The President (Jagdeo) raised the issue that he would like us to work with his government to meet many different organisations to precisely show Guyana’s side of the story,” Mr. Moreno said.

The IDB has several systems in place to ensure clarity in its lending programmes which include the evaluation of loans and independent audit. “We don’t have to wait on Transparency International or any institution. We have a number of mechanisms that ensure transparency in the programmes we fund. There are processed independent investigations inside our institution and groups working at the civil society level,” the IDB President said.

Guyana is a signatory to the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption (IACAC) which highlights its commitment to promote and strengthen the development of mechanisms needed to prevent, detect, and eradicate corruption.

Guyana readily accepts responsibility to facilitate and cooperate with other parties to ensure the effectiveness of measures and actions to prevent, detect, punish and eradicate corruption in the performance of public functions and acts of corruption specifically related to such performance.

Over the years IDB loans to Guyana have been used to enhance the social sector: mainly, infrastructure, electrification, housing, and to execute programmes through the Basic Education Access and Management Support (BEAMS).

The Guyana/IDB engagements have intensified over the years, importantly without any substantiated act of corruption in any of these projects. President Jagdeo said he hopes that the issue where developing countries are not afforded the opportunity to receive fair studies will be corrected.

“What happens is that the developed countries always score higher because when we look at the number of studies and report they use to rank these countries, they are ten times more than what they use for the developing world. So some (reports) are anecdotal and some factually inaccurate and therefore, we need to correct it,” President Jagdeo said.

Only recently, in March this year, the US State Department Drug Report stated that there is no evidence that Government of Guyana officials encourage or facilitate the illicit production, processing, shipment or distribution of narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other controlled substances, or the laundering of proceeds from illegal drug transactions.

President Jagdeo was lauded by IDB President Moreno for his exemplary leadership of the country. His tireless efforts on the international and local fronts have not gone unnoticed in the creation of economically stable and modern Guyana. (Guyana Cronicle)

Taxi driver and wife in murder, suicide drama

A taxi driver and his wife of 18 years died within hours of each other following a murder/suicide which shook the community of Vryheid, West Canje, Berbice, late Friday.

Dead is Aubrey Paddy, 45, and Michelle, 34, a supernumerary constable attached to Magistrate Geeta Chandan.

Reports reveal that the killings, witnessed by two of their three children, stemmed from long periods of physical abuse. According to Michon Guillaume, 18, her step-father was expected to work the night shift at the ‘Triple S’ Taxi Service at Philadelphia Street in New Amsterdam ,which is about three hundred meters from their home.

However, he returned home between 9 and 10 pm ,whilst she was watching her favourite television programme ‘Top Ten’. According to the teenager, on opening the door, Paddy told her to place a bowl to catch the water from the leaking roof as it was raining.

In addition, he ordered her to place a chair behind the front door. Having done so, the eldest child resumed viewing the programme. Her father went into the bedroom where her mother was and then she heard her mother saying, “ Don’t do this to me’.

Her mother ran from the room, naked, and ran outside, where she slipped in the mud, her husband pursuing her with a knife. He stabbed her several times, Guillaume said, as her 10-year-old brother Seon attempted to take the knife away from his father. She remembered screaming, as her mother repeated weakly, “Don’t kill me.”

Michelle Paddy was pronounced dead on arrival at the New Amsterdam Hospital. Guillaume spent the night at a neighbour’s house, and returning home yesterday morning, found a note written by her father on the dining table, saying that if he could not have her mother, then nobody else would.

Then she heard that the Police had found the body of her father in a yard at Rose Hall Corentyne, some 20 miles from the murder scene, and it is believed that he had committed suicide. In addition to Guillaume, the couple leaves behind three other children Aubrey, 13, Seon, 10 and Allison, 7. (Guyana Cronicle)

Berbice police on Friday apprehended Ramdan Samaroo whom they wanted in connection with robbery under arms committed on William Bahadur late last month. During the course of a police pursuit, Samaroo, of Angoy's Avenue, New Amsterdam, was shot and injured, a police press release stated.

The statement said that at about 1 pm, in response to information received, the police dispatched a patrol to the Angoy's Avenue area in search of Samaroo. On seeing the police Samaroo began to run and was followed by ranks on foot. The statement went on to say that he attacked one of the ranks with a cutlass and was shot in his right hand and the right side of his head.

Samaroo was admitted as a patient to the New Amster-dam Hospital and is currently under guard. Police say that David Williams is also facing the charge of robbery under arms committed on Bahadur. (Stabroek News)

Security chat? Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, Lawrence Paul (centre) is engrossed in this conversation between Police Commissioner Henry Greene (right) and Deputy Commissioner Edward Wills. They had gathered yesterday at the Office of the President

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to operationalise a 3M Pounds Sterling ($1.05B) four-year security action plan, which includes initiatives such as building the capacity of the police to respond to serious crimes via forensics, was yesterday signed between the UK and Guyana.

The plan will be implemented over four years and its next stages are for the Government to table in the National Assembly by October 31 this year the summary of the security sector reform action plan and motions to set up special select committees on the Disciplined Forces Commission report and to review the implementation of the action plan.

Speaking at the signing ceremony at the Office of the President, UK High Commissioner to Guyana, Fraser Wheeler said that the plan comprises five elements. These include: building the operational capacity of the Guyana Police Force, from the provision of a uniformed response to serious crime, to forensics and traffic policing. Further, the plan will help strengthen policy-making across the security sector to make it more transparent, effective and better coordinated.

Mainstreaming financial management in the security sector into public sector financial management reform, creating substantial parliamentary and other oversight of the security sector and building greater public participation and inclusiveness on security sector issues are also components of the action plan. "The UK Government will now identify and deploy technical expertise here to start strengthening the crime intelligence capability of the Guyana Police Force and build a uniformed rapid response to serious crime", Wheeler declared.

He added that the UK will be bringing experts to do some further detailed work on how the plan will be implemented and funded. The British High Commissioner also said that he had no doubt that the full implementation of the plan will deliver very significant positive change to Guyana.

He added that the plan will provide substantial additional security to the people of Guyana and by so doing it will increase the confidence of foreign and domestic business to invest in the economy and through strengthened transparency and accountability it will enhance open governance. "Perhaps above all, the combination of these effects will contribute to reversing the brain-drain from this country and would therefore help to allow Guyana to develop to its full potential," the British envoy said.

Giving an outline of the genesis of the plan, Wheeler said that the two governments have worked very hard and closely for the past year to make it happen. He said that the plan began with a discussion between President Bharrat Jagdeo and former British Minister Valerie Amos back in May 2006. According to the British envoy a statement of principles was subsequently agreed with the government and others on how the process would move forward.

He noted that in October last year a team of experts in security sector reform drawn from Ghana, India, Sierra Leone and South Africa visited Guyana with a mandate to draw up ideas for an action plan based on previous studies of the sector, current activities and their engagement with a range of stakeholders. Wheeler said the experts fulfilled their mandate and the end product was what was agreed on yesterday.

"This is a very exciting development and I fully congratulate the Guyana government and particularly the President for making this bold and innovative move, which the British Govern-ment is delighted to support financially and otherwise," Wheeler asserted. He said he firmly believed that the close partnership on security sector reform between the two countries can make a real difference to the future of Guyana.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr Roger Luncheon in brief remarks said that the signing of the MOU was the latest step in the administration's delivery of security sector reform. The HPS said that the UK Government has had a long involvement with the development of Guyana's security sector.

Security toast: UK High Commissioner to Guyana, Fraser Wheeler (left) and Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon share a toast after inking a Memorandum of Understanding to implement a security sector reform action plan.

He further stated that at every level of cooperation security reforms must be advanced. He thanked the UK for their support and pledged his government's continued efforts in maintaining tight security in the country.

Meanwhile, according to the UK Government the wide-ranging approach is very deliberate and the plan is designed to build on and complement other activity in Guyana particularly the Citizens Security and Justice reform programmes.

Both programmes are yet to get off the ground and recently Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee had told this newspaper that paperwork was holding up the speedy implementation of the Citizens Security project.

In October last year President Jagdeo along with other top security officials met with a high-level British team headed by Wheeler at the Office of the President. The team had included Professor Aeboe Hutchful, Lieutenant General Vinayak Patanaar and Jonny Baxter of the Department for International Development (DFID).

The officials discussed Guyana's security reform during the meeting. President Jagdeo had indicated prior to the 2006 elections that one of his Government's priorities was to reform the security sector and had requested assistance from the United Kingdom and the United States.

The Symonds report on the police force by a UK officer in the 1990s had stressed the need for intelligence-led policing and putting more policemen on the streets. The government has been severely criticized over the last five years especially for its inability to control crime and to solve a great number of serious crimes including executions. (Stabroek News)

A resident of the notorious Alexander Street drug yard was yesterday morning shot in the leg by a member of a police patrol which confronted him in an alleyway on Robb Street.

It is not clear why police had chased the man from the drug yard, but a passer-by said that it would appear that he had committed a crime and the police were after him. Around 10 yesterday morning, police pulled up in front of the drug yard and confronted the man who ran away. He managed to scale a fence and was trying to escape from the police when he was cornered in an alleyway on Robb Street.

In desperation the man challenged the police ranks and as a result he was shot in one of his legs. Up to press time last night he was receiving treatment at the Georgetown Hospital under police guard. (Stabroek News)

A sixteen-year-old West Berbice girl has been reported missing from her home since July 31st last. Missing is Camille Ishack of Lot 72 Lovely Lass Village West Coast Berbice.

Nazmoon Ishack, mother of the young girl, said she left home with relatives to go to Hopetown to participate in a soiree on the night of July 30th last and when the others were ready to return home they could not find her.

The distraught mother said she had made checks with all her relatives in Berbice and Georgetown, and no one had seen the missing girl or heard anything about her. “Me ent know if she alive or dead,” the mother said. When Camille left home she was wearing a brown top with leopard spots and a blue hard pants.

The mother is appealing to any member of the public who may know the whereabouts of the missing girl to contact her on telephones # 683-9693 or 328-2360 or pass this information to the nearest Police Station. (Guyana Cronicle)

At Berbice Assizes…

Rapist who robbed victim jailed for 26 years

Diaram Persaud, convicted of rape and robbery under arms at the Berbice Assizes, was sentenced to a total of 26 years imprisonment yesterday by Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards. After listening to a probation report on the convict’s character, the judge imposed a 14-year sentence for the sex offence and a 12-year term for robbing the victim at gunpoint, with the sentences to run consecutively.

Justice Cummings-Edwards told Defence Counsel Charran Das Persaud that she could not accede to his request, as returning the prisoner to society now would mean the Court had failed in its duty. However, the judge said she had also taken into consideration the period Persaud was incarcerated and the seriousness of his acts committed between June 23 and 24, 2004 at West Coast Berbice.

Probation and Social Security Officer Rubena Marshall, in her report, said the rapist, 33, lived in one of several shacks on land owned by his father at Number Three Village. Persaud had a common law relationship with a woman who bore him four children and they lived at Number Two, East Canje, also in Berbice, before moving back to his hometown.

Marshall said, in 1998, following an altercation between him and relatives of his brother’s wife, Persaud was sentenced to 10 years in jail for damaging a dwelling house and, while he was serving the time, his reputed wife migrated to French Guiana. Persaud had only been released from prison a few weeks before being charged on the counts that led to his latest convictions.

But, whilst on bail pending the just concluded trial, he was given a four-year sentence for larceny of a boat and two armed robberies. In his mitigation plea, Defence Counsel Persaud lamented that Persaud has been an unfortunate victim of circumstances and should be given a chance to make a contribution to society.

The case for the Prosecution, presented by State Counsel Leron Daly, is that the virtual complainant and a man were in a motor car on Number Seven beach when they were attacked on June 23, 2004. The woman was raped and robbed of a gold chain, earrings and a wristwatch after being forced into sexual intercourse with a man whose face she saw as he removed his mask during the ordeal. (Guyana Cronicle)

Haslington murder case…

Security reasons protect identity of Prosecution witness

A witness in the Haslington backdam murder case at the Demerara Assizes testified yesterday without her name and address being disclosed for security reasons. She gave evidence at the trial of Donald Marks called ‘Dano’, who is indicted for the unlawful killing of Shelly Hartman, 30, on December 7, 2004.

State Prosecutor Judy Latchman, in her opening address, said the victim had gone to Haslington backdam, East Coast Demerara, with her lover Marks but did not return with him. A search party found her body the next day, with the head chopped off and the ankles and hands also severed.

The unnamed witness said, on the fateful day, the accused told her he had sent Shelly to collect $15,000 owed him for salted fish but she returned with only $6,000. The woman said, later that day, the accused borrowed a cutlass from a man called Tyson and left with Shelly, saying they were going to the backdam.

Later that night, witness heard the accused calling and, when she looked outside, she saw him washing his feet in a gutter. Then he washed the cutlass and gave her to give the owner, she said. Continuing, the witness said the accused asked her for kerosene which he used to soak his clothing before setting it afire and, when she enquired, he said Shelly had gone home.

The witness will continue her testimony today at the trial being presided over by Justice of Appeal Ian Chang, who is sitting with a mixed jury. Earlier yesterday, the victim’s mother Chlorine Hartman caused a stir in the courtroom when she blurted out that her daughter’s former paramour was not on trial.

Defence Counsel Hukumchand was cross-examining the witness when she shouted, insisting she did not want to be quizzed about the other man who had a previous relationship with her daughter. The judge admonished the elderly woman to be calm and explained to her that the Prosecutor would seek clarification at the appropriate time but she was adamant.

She said, the day after her daughter went missing, the accused telephoned her and asked for Shelly and, when she reminded him that the two had been together, he remarked that he had given her a birthday present she will never want again.

Hukumchand recalled that the witness had given a slightly different version about the same incident in the Magistrate’s Court and she agreed she said then that the accused told her he had given the victim a birthday present she will never remember. However, she disagreed that the meanings differed. (Guyana Cronicle)

An informant who helped the army recover two of the stolen AK-47 rifles last year at Rising Sun, West Coast Berbice and tipped off the force about the major attack on two banks has either gone into hiding or is dead after critical information was leaked.

This newspaper was reliably informed that the Guyana Police Force was tipped off hours before last year August's brazen attack on the two commercial banks in Rose Hall, Corentyne but key operatives were too slow to take action.

Speaking to Stabroek News on Friday a senior official of the joint services said that a friend of one of the eight dead bank robbers had informed security officials about the impending attack on the banks. This information was passed on to a senior police official who was advised to prepare his ranks for any eventuality.

Apparently the official did not take heed of the advice until the robbery occurred, then he frantically gathered troops to send into the area. The bandits, over two dozen of them had carted off around $100M from the two banks, but eight of them were later cornered and killed by the joint services in the swampy Black Bush Polder area.

Eight AK-47s, seven of them belonging to the Guyana Defence Force, and one M70 assault rifle and a Beretta were recovered after the suspected robbers were killed while several bags of money were also recovered.

The eight were cornered after a suspected getaway boat was nabbed with three men on the Canje River a few hours after the robbery. The three men, Terrence Azore, Marlon Lepps and Henry Lindie, are now before the court charged with robbing a bank. On the morning of August 11, a number of armed men cordoned off the town of Rose Hall and robbed the Republic and Demerara banks of large sums of money.

They also robbed at least one customer. They rounded up about 15 persons whom they then forced to form a human barrier across the road in front of the Demerara Bank branch. Three of the men stood guard over these persons while two patrolled the area and two others ran into the bank.

Traffic came to a standstill in front of the human barriers as the men made their way to the Republic Bank branch, moving the human chain to Independence Arch. Among those in the human chain was a two-year-old boy who was made to lie with the rest of the people on the hot road. One woman was shot by the bandits in Republic Bank and was hospitalized for several days.

The joint services source told this newspaper that the informant had complained about being mistreated by one of the men who was later involved in the attack, and who had held a key position in the criminal gang. The source said the woman got wind of the bandits' plans to rob the banks and leaked this to a top official of the joint services, who had established contact with her following the discovery of the missing army weapons. The source said it was the police's responsibility to take action, but this did not happen immediately.

Contacted for a comment on Friday on the matter, Acting Commissioner of Police Henry Greene said he would not comment. Former Home Affairs Minister, Gail Teixeira had said at a press conference two days after the robbery that the joint services got a tip off about the robbery, but she did not disclose any other information.

Meanwhile, asked how the criminal's friend became an informant for the army, the joint services source said that following the announcement that the weapons were missing, Commander-in-Chief, President Bharrat Jagdeo on three occasions told the army that they must recover the weapons by any means.

The source said that the army was prepared to carry out Jagdeo's orders and as such several operational modes were put to work. "This means 'sleeping with the devil' and some other things which we did," the source said. He added that the recovery of the fourteen weapons so far depended entirely on intelligence, taking risks and sometimes having luck.

According to the source, recognising the importance of intelligence in the recovery operation, Jagdeo wisely authorized the re-establishment of the Military Criminal Intelligence Department, which he had disbanded following the army's interception of drug accused, Roger Khan and two of his cohorts during the 2003 crime wave at Good Hope with a large cache of arms and ammunition and sophisticated communications equipment.

The source said that information gathering and intelligence work would never conform to a set pattern. "Sources of information can be complicated and would always want to be protected and because of the absence of this many do not trust or have confidence in the established intelligence agencies," the source asserted.

Asked whether the army had an idea who stole the weapons, the source replied in the affirmative, adding that they also knew who allegedly distributed the weapons, because the information was passed on to them by persons who were found with them.

A Lieutenant Colonel in the army told Stabroek News that the discovery of weapons at Rising Sun on the West Coast of Berbice last year was as a result of persons passing on information to the GDF. The Lieutenant Colonel said that the GDF was contacted by a few persons who revealed that they were given the weapons by an individual.

According to the colonel, the individuals said that they did not know what to do with the weapons and knowing that they belonged to the GDF they were prepared to hand them over. According to reports, Chief-of-Staff, Edward Collins met with the individuals and he delegated the responsibility to Colonel Lawrence Paul, his deputy, to handle the matter.

Stabroek News was told that Paul met with the individuals and arrangements were made for the weapons to be stashed at Rising Sun, where army ranks would later go and retrieve them. The Lieutenant Colonel explained that everything was set, but on the day when the weapons were to be retrieved ranks kept the individuals waiting at the site for long hours.

It was while waiting, the Lieutenant Colonel said, that one of the individuals contacted Paul on his cell phone asking him why they had not come to collect the weapons. Paul, according to the officer used his phone to contact his officers at Camp Ayanganna urging them to move swiftly to retrieve the weapons.

The Colonel said that this information was passed on to Jagdeo and Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, yet a few weeks later it was being reported in the media that Paul's cell phone number showed up as an anonymous caller contacting the GDF about the weapons at Rising Sun. "Luckily although this error is being peddled in the media both the army and the Office of the President know the truth about that matter," the Lieutenant Colonel said.

The officer was adamant that it was government officials who leaked such skewed information to the media with the intention of damaging the reputation of Paul and the other senior officers. The officer said since the information was made public the informant has disappeared and has not communicated again with the army. The military is fearful that she might have been killed by persons who found out that she was an informant. Stabroek News was told also that the army had compensated the informant.

The Joint Services in a press statement last year September when the weapons were recovered at Rising Sun had said swift action resulted in the recovery of three AK-47 rifles, two of which belonged to the army. They also recovered five magazines, and 93 live 7.62 x 39 rounds. According to the Joint Services then, the recovery of the weapons followed intense information gathering and the relentless pursuit of intelligence by ranks.

The weapons had improvised slings, while two had "sawn-off butts similar to the physical appearance of some of the weapons found on the bank robbers. "This recent development in the Joint Services' effort to recover the weapons stolen from the Guyana Defence Force indicates the invaluable contribution civic-minded citizens can play in the fight against crime," their statement back then said.

Last week a senior army source told Stabroek News that the administration was of the view that the senior officers of the military had conspired with criminals in Buxton and others to overthrow the PPP/C government.

The source said at least one senior functionary of the government had said this publicly at a security meeting last year. Relations between the military and the administration have been testy since the weapons went missing and several officers have alleged that they were being marginalized by the government. (Stabroek News)

Police capable of handling crime in Guyana

Commissioner Greene

Acting Commissioner of Police Henry Greene yesterday reiterated that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is not lacking in capacity to handle any criminal activity in Guyana. This reassurance was made at a Press Conference he held to update the media on recent robbery in Region Six.

Speaking to reporters at his office, Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown, Commissioner Greene said that the force has not lost one fight against criminal elements in Guyana and it will continue to ensure that Guyanese dwell in an environment of physical safety and comfort.

These remarks were made in reference to an incident which occurred in Corentyne Berbice, Region Six where several bandits with high-powered weapons and other instruments entered a home and terrorised a family after damaging several items on the premises of businessman Shamnarine Narine. A female passer-by was killed during the two-hour bullet-ridden rampage.

According to the Commissioner, the police were informed of the incident at 3:15am, after the bandits had escaped. He noted that a high-level team from the Joint Services was dispatched to the region to conduct their investigations.

They will be assisted by the Berbice police ranks, members of the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) and other law enforcement personnel. Meanwhile, when questioned on the general capabilities of the Force and its men, the Commissioner explained that over 350 ranks countrywide were recently trained to handle all matters relating to crime fighting.

This training was done at three different levels in crime fighting, for officers and ranks. It was facilitated by the British Government. He explained that the officers were also exposed to refresher training courses several weeks before the last General Elections in August 2006, and another training course will be done later in the year.

The administration is working towards implementing the Police Reform Programme which will cover several areas including: setting up a SWAT unit and SWAT training, an anti-crime unit, training in areas in crowd control and driving.

Government will be responsible for the establishment of a training centre for the Police Force, building a forensic laboratory, establishing approximately 72 police stations and emphasising community action which will entail working with stakeholders of the respective communities to bring them closer to the reform process. Guyana Cronicle/GINA)

The Narine family which has American citizenship flew to that country yesterday after hurriedly packing suitcases.

Police yesterday said that the terrifying assault on a Crabwood Creek Corentyne (CWC) family on Thursday morning "may have been drug related" and efforts here and in Suriname have been stepped up to determine a motive and arrest the perpetrators.

A passer-by was killed in the two-hour, bullet-riddled rampage during which the police were not evident. Yesterday, the family which had been targeted by the gunmen hurriedly packed their suitcases and left the country.

In the wake of the high profile robbery and shooting at Grant 1805 Crabwood Creek, businesspersons are planning to shut down their operations from CWC to Number 66 Village on Monday.

The businesspersons told Stabroek News that the move is to demand better security and to put an end to "cross-border smuggling" - an easy port for the criminals to enter Guyana from Suriname with arms.

About 12 heavily armed bandits stormed the home of Shamnarine Narine around 2 am on Thursday and sprayed bullets for about two hours. They entered the yard by ripping apart the barb wire above the concrete fence. The bandits shot at the steel door and after it did not budge they cut open the grill to the window and entered the house.

The gunmen seemed determined to find Narine who remained in hiding in a room in the house with his wife, Sharmilla and two children, ages 13 and eight-years-old. The attackers spent close to two hours discharging a fusillade and ransacking the entire house. After their efforts were unsuccessful they decided to destroy everything in the house and shot at the television set, water tanks, a Lexus and four other vehicles belonging to Narine.

They also set the house alight before escaping in a waiting speedboat close to a sawmill behind the house. They tied up a fisherman, Ramnauth who was close to the sawmill before leaving.

Narine was shot on his left leg when a bullet pierced the wall while he was in hiding. He heard the men shouting, "leh we find dem and shoot dem. We ain't going till we nah find them. Shoot the ceiling and see if dem in there." The bandits also threatened to come back for the family. They reportedly tried to use the cooking gas to start the fire but that effort failed. They then lit a fire in two sections of the house after spraying them with Baygon.

After the gunmen left Narine's father, Hareshnarine "Chinee" Sugrim, proprietor of Sugrim Industries who lives obliquely opposite, and neighbours ran over and put the fire out. Two of the men remained on the road and three were in the yard firing shots while their accomplices were in the house. Neighbours heard the men communicating with each other on radio sets.

A woman, Fay Campbell, 28 years, of Cumberland, East Canje was killed while she was a passenger in a truck. Driver of the truck, Mukesh Bridgemohan, 34, of Black Bee, Golden Grove, East Bank Demerara was shot thrice in his left shoulder, once on his right and on two of his fingers.

His cousin Premnauth Sukra, 34 of Kaneville, EBD who was seated at the end of the cabin was shot in both legs. Narine's watchman, Abdool Fazal Ghanie, 50, was shot in his right jaw and the bullet is still lodged there. Ghanie told SN he was hiding behind the vehicles in the yard when a bullet hit him.

Narine was treated at the Skeldon Hospital and sent away while the three men were referred to the New Amsterdam Hospital. Bridgemohan was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital yesterday while Ghanie and Sukra were discharged.

At the time of the shooting Bridgemohan was driving a truck, GJJ 3080 along a desolate road in CWC and was almost two miles away from the robbery scene. They are employed with the owner of the truck and had been hired to transport equipment for the Tom and Jerry Fun Park to Suriname. Bridgemohan told Stabroek News they had gone to Skeldon to purchase food from a restaurant and were returning to the Molsen Creek Ferry Stelling when the incident occurred.

When SN revisited the scene yesterday morning the family had already packed their suitcases and were awaiting a chartered plane from Air Services Limited to transport them to catch another flight out of the country. Other businessmen were also there to offer support to the family while relatives and friends were helping to clean up the mess.

The businesspersons ex-pressed disappointment that "the army base did not come in the area to try and find any trace of the bandits. That was a high profile robbery where AK-47s were used and the police recovered 22 pounds of shells as well as live rounds," they said. "Yet although this is such a popular businessman none government official showed a little respect for him by calling and visiting."

They are calling on the Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee to "do something about the cross-border smuggling. We want to see Rohee in Berbice. There should be better police protection and government should arm the force with high profile weapons."

Sugrim who provides employment to over 250 persons in the area told this newspaper he is putting up some of his business operations for sale and a lot of people would be affected. He said the family could not sleep because they were still traumatized. They were hearing speedboats passing in the river and thought the bandits were indeed returning.

There were suggestions that the bandits came from Suriname since the sledgehammers had markings in Dutch. But Sugrim said it appears that the bandits are Guyanese and that some of them came from Georgetown.

Meanwhile President of the Upper Corentyne Cham-ber of Commerce, David Subnauth told this newspaper "the chamber is disgusted at the spate of crime. A lot of people are complaining they cannot operate their business and they can't sleep in peace."

He said with the type of weapons that were used in the recent shooting, residents could not have retaliated even though they had guns. He congratulated the police for the quick response at a shooting incident at Number 69 Village. He noted that while "the police came out at CWC they did not have the manpower and the type of weapon to act." He is of the opinion that "social issues have to be addressed to stop these types of crimes."

Meanwhile, in a statement yesterday, Region Six commerce chambers said they are alarmed at the escalating crime in the region and called on the government to respond urgently.

According to a press release signed by President of the Berbice Chamber of Commerce, Ramesh Maraj, Secretary at the Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce, K Raghunandan, and acting President the Upper Corentyne Chamber of Commerce, David Subnauth, government must prioritise crime and security on its agenda.

The groups said they are requesting an urgent audience with President Bharrat Jagdeo and Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee to air their concerns and to discuss the following recommendations for the region: reintroducing the joint patrols by the police and army; carrying out the death penalty for convicted persons who have exhausted their appeals; to introduce the death penalty for armed robberies where firearms are used and to introduce the three-strike laws.

The groups contend that crime is the biggest impediment to progress and investment in the region and the police seem incapable of engaging the heavily armed bandits and bringing a halt to the situation. The chambers said they are fearful that if immediate and drastic action is not taken there will be civil unrest and a complete breakdown of law and order. (Stabroek News)

Bandits shoot Texaco Gas station manager

Armed bandits last night shot and seriously wounded the Assistant Manager of the Texaco Gas Station, East Bank Demerara. After he was shot, he drove several rods heading to his home at Kurukuru, before passing out and crashing into his gate.

Wayne Daniels, 45, was shortly afterwards rushed to the Accident and Emergency Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) bleeding profusely from a bullet wound on his left thigh. At the hospital, still unconscious, he was rushed to the theatre for emergency surgery. The wounded man was transported to hospital by a neighbour, accompanied by his wife and a teenaged son.

Reports said that around18:45 hours, Daniels had just closed up the filling station, when he was attacked and shot by armed bandits. It is not clear how many persons staged the attack, since, the wounded man, passed out before he was able to give an account of what had happened.

The neighbour who took him to the hospital said that he was taking a nap when he was hastily awakened by other neighbours, who informed him that Daniels had been shot and needed to be transported to hospital quickly. (Guyana Cronicle)

A passer-by was shot dead and four men injured after 12 heavily armed bandits invaded the home of a businessman at Grant 1805 Crabwood Creek (CWC) around 1:45 am yesterday setting fires in the house, shooting wildly and sending shivers throughout Berbice.

The dead woman was identified as Fay Campbell, 28 years, of Cumberland, East Canje. She sustained gunshot wounds to her back. Abdul Fazal Ghanie, 50, a guard at the home of the businessman, Shamnarine Narine, 35, was shot in the jaw and Narine in the leg.

The other injured men are Mukesh Bridgemohan, 34, of Black Bee, Golden Grove, East Bank Demerara and his cousin Premnauth Sukra, 34 of Kaneville, EBD.

The three men were admitted to the New Amsterdam Hospital while Narine was treated at the Skeldon Hospital and sent away. The scale and brutality of the assault was reminiscent of those conducted at the height of the runaway crime spree of 2002-4. In yesterday's assault, the police were unable to engage the gunmen.

At the time of the shooting, Bridgemohan was driving a truck, GJJ 3080 along a desolate road in CWC and was almost two miles away from the robbery scene. He was shot thrice in his left shoulder, once in his right shoulder and two of his fingers were also hit. Sukra suffered injuries to both legs. The woman was seated beside Bridgemohan while Sukra was at the end. The men are employed with the owner of the truck from Mahaica and had been hired to transport equipment for the Tom and Jerry Fun Park to Suriname.

Bridgemohan told Stabroek News (SN) they had gone to Skeldon to purchase food from a restaurant and were returning to the Molsen Creek Ferry Stelling when the incident occured. "All we see is about 12 gunmen deh on both sides of the road and they start shooting up the truck. But me continue driving to the stelling."

He said the woman's head fell back and she was left in that position and appeared to be dead. The men said they did not know the woman but they met her at the restaurant when they went to buy food and she asked them for a "drop" to the stelling. Narine was shot in his left leg and he was treated at the Skeldon Hospital and sent away while the other three are patients at the New Amster-dam Hospital.

Ghanie, the watchman told SN he heard "a van stop and gun start fire and me fire back about three loads." He said about 10 to 12 gunmen surrounded the yard and then a few went upstairs while the others remained downstairs and continued firing. He said he was hiding behind a vehicle in the yard when the bullet hit him in his jaw -where it is still lodged - and he fell to the ground.

The gunmen seemed determined to find Narine who remained in hiding in a room in the house with his wife, Sharmilla and two children, ages 13 and eight-years. The gunmen spent close to two hours firing rapidly and ransacking the entire house. After their efforts were unsuccessful they decided to destroy everything in the house and shot at the television set, water tanks and at a Lexus and four other vehicles belonging to Narine.

They also set the house alight before escaping in a waiting speedboat close to a sawmill behind the house. They tied up a fisherman, Ramnauth, who was close to the sawmill before leaving. The men gained entry to the house by ripping open the grill on a window. They attempted to shoot down the steel door but it would not budge. They had cut a barbed wire on the concrete fence and jumped into the yard.

Narine told Stabroek News he heard the men saying "leh we find dem and shoot dem. We ain't going till we nah find them. Shoot the ceiling and see if dem in there." They then lit a fire in two sections of the house after spraying the area with Baygon. They reportedly tried to use the cooking gas to start the fire but that effort failed.

After the gunmen left, Narine's father, Hareshnarine `Chinee' Sugrim, proprietor of Sugrim Industries, who lives obliquely opposite, and neighbours ran over and put the fire out. Sugrim collapsed after he did not see his son and family. They finally emerged from their hiding place about 15 minutes after the gunmen fled.

Still shaken by the incident, Sugrim told this newspaper, "Guyana is no place to stay because there is no protection. I would definitely close my business down and migrate." Further, he is offering a reward of $5M to anyone who can provide him with information about the shooting. The man said he was about to open the door when a gunman fired a shot in his direction and told him, "Ow Chinee come out your (expletive) and save your son now."

Narine's aunt, Pamela said she heard the loud shots and thought her neighbours who were "sporting" were lighting firecrackers. But after it continued she checked it out and noticed two men in front of her nephew's house and three under the house firing rapidly. A resident said he saw one of the bandits pumping bullets non-stop at the house while talking on a radio set.

Hemnauth whose house is situated behind Narine's said some of the bullets entered his building. He said his wife Kamal heard the rapid gunfire and she called out to him. He proceeded to wake his daughter and they hid in a corner of the house. "We couldn't hear anything else only bullets. But we look out to see where it was coming from, we just keep quiet."

A police statement yesterday said that four of the bandits entered the house by cutting through the grill work on the window. They ransacked the home and took away jewellery and $300,000. "During this, they discharged rounds indiscriminately around the house, resulting in Shamnarine Narine being hit above his right knee by a bullet that went through the wall. The bandits also lit small fires in the hall and kitchen of the house using the curtains".

The statement also added that as the bandits were leaving they saw watchman Ghanie and fired rounds at him, one of which grazed his head. The police said they recovered a .38 revolver along with 187 empty shells of various calibre, one 16-gauge cartridge, three sledgehammers and a claw bar. Recent months have seen an upsurge in crime in all parts of the country with many attacks featuring guns.

Last night, Campbell's mother Judith Mc Donald told Stabroek News that her daughter left to go to the beach and then to Coney Island and Reno. Campbell also leaves to mourn her three children Leroy, Tiffany and Fiona and her sister Gwendlyn. (Shabna Ullah/Stabroek News / Additional reporting by Adrian Smith)

Vedowattie Khelawan as she was helping out at the wedding house before the shooting.

A 38-year-old mother of three at Number 69 Village, Corentyne was shot during an attempted robbery around 11:15 pm on Monday and is said to be in a serious condition at the New Amsterdam Hospital. A man was taken into custody in connection with the shooting.

The woman, Vedowattie Khelawan called "Vedo" was rushed to the Skeldon Hos-pital Emergency Room and immediately transferred to the New Amsterdam hospital. Emergency surgery was performed to remove the bullet that was lodged in her left hand.

The bullet entered her right rib cage, passed through her lungs and lodged in the left hand. Relatives said the doctor told them that the bullet hit a bone in the woman's hand causing a part of the bullet to be shattered in the process. Khelawan was at the time a guest at a wedding celebration in front of her home. She saw relatives running out on the road after hearing that "bandits were in the area" and she decided to join them.

Sal Persaud who came from New York with his family for the wedding said one of the guests had gone to a relative, Hemchand Dulchand's house, obliquely opposite the wedding house to use the washroom when he noticed two persons walking in Dulchand's yard.

He said the guest immediately ran back to the wedding house and informed Dulchand's eldest brother, Mahendra and the two decided to give chase. Dulchand and other male guests realized something was wrong and they joined the two in an attempt to pursue the bandits.

He said another bandit seemed to be hiding nearby and fired the two shots to prevent them from pursuing his accomplices. "After the second shot fire ah hear Vedo say, 'ow me get shoot.'" He said he saw her lying on the ground, bleeding and they rushed her to the hospital. By the time a licenced firearm holder could retaliate the bandits had already fled the scene.

Dulchand said the men "pushed down" his zinc fence, ran into an empty lot and jumped a resident's fence and escaped. He said he did not think the bandits intended to rob his house. "To me dem just hide in me yard fuh wait until me go home to hold me hostage and rob the people at the wedding house where the overseas guests de staying."

Sixty-nine-year-old Sasenarine Ramtahall whose son had come from New York and had gotten married on Sunday told this newspaper he was sleeping at the time of the incident. He said he was awakened after the music had stopped and persons were shouting that "Vedo get shoot."

He said when he looked out he saw two persons running through a yard. The police arrived within 20 minutes but the bandits had already beaten a hasty retreat and relatives had already taken Khelawan to the hospital. He said for a few days during last week a resident who was known to have committed several crimes in the area rode his motorcycle slowly in front of his [Khelawan's] house and kept looking in as he was talking on his cell phone. The man was arrested by the police yesterday.

Relatives are disappointed that the military unit, based at Number 62 Village, which would normally patrol the area every night and pick up persons who are found loitering did not stop that night to "clear the road." They said, "When the president come to New York he encourages us to come back home and visit but we are not coming back because we do not feel protected." They feel licenced firearms should be given to more business persons in the area to take control of the crime situation.

Further, the residents plan to block the road to protest over the upsurge of crime in the area. "We want the president to come and address the situation," they said. (Shabna Ullah/Stabroek News)

A relative of the 69-year-old Corentyne farmer, Deonarine Bhansingh, who was found dead in a pool of blood on Monday, has confessed to the murder, a Berbice police source has told this newspaper.

The male relative was taken into custody on the same day of the incident and has told police that the man had owed him $2,000 and he had asked the man for the money.

Bhansingh was reportedly on his way to take a bath. Police said the man refused to give him the money at which time an argument ensued and the relative went into the yard where he picked up a piece of wood and hit Bhansingh, killing him.

The man then reportedly broke the wardrobe and took out a sum of money. Police said the man was unable to ascertain how much money he took but said he felt it was around $20,000. The man reportedly told police too that he bought a bottle of rum and drank it out then took the rest of the money to his sister.

Bhansingh's nude body was discovered at his Lot 24 'K' Albion Front, Corentyne home by the police after they were alerted by a neighbour who had visited the man's house to borrow a tarpaulin and saw blood dripping through the flooring. According to reports, the house was not broken into, but the man's room was ransacked and his wardrobe door broken.

His reputed wife was said to be in the city, where she had travelled last week to attend a funeral. Relatives told this newspaper that Bhansingh was married but his wife lives overseas. He had been living with another woman and a male relative of the woman, they said.

The neighbour who alerted the police told Stabroek News that when he visited the man's house to borrow the tarpaulin and saw blood dripping through the flooring, he alerted other neighbours and the police were summoned. The police arrived and found the man lying face down in a pool of blood, naked, except for a towel around his knees. He was in front his bathroom and had cuts to his left ear, head and left hand. (Stabroek News)

A man who admitted to robbing the Elegance Jewellery and Pawnshop of over $2.6 million in cash and jewellery was yesterday sentenced to six years in prison while four others accused of being part of the plot were remanded. Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton handed down the sentence on Jude Bushby and also remanded his female friend who pleaded not guilty and who was found with him in a home at Annandale, East Coast Demerara.

Bushby pleaded guilty to robbery under arms, unlawful possession of a gun and ammunition while Kevin Gibson, 27, a barber who resides at Pineapple Street, East Ruimveldt, Vibert Weekes, 25, a trader of WW 7 North East La Penitence and Andre Plass, a taxi driver of 160 James and Curtis streets, Albouystown pleaded not guilty to robbery under arms.

Amanda Castello, 24, a cosmetologist of 242 West Ruimveldt Housing Scheme pleaded not guilty to unlawful possession of a gun and ammunition when they all appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate's Court.

It is alleged that on July 26 at Durban Street, Georgetown while armed with a handgun the four men robbed Hardat Muniram of one 7.65 CZ .32 pistol and 14 live rounds of ammunition, a quantity of gold jewellery and $500,000 cash to the total value of $2,651,960.

On July 28 at Eastville, Annandale, Bushby along with Castello were allegedly found with 14 rounds of .32 ammunition and one 7 .65 CZ .32 pistol without being the holder of a firearm.

Bushby said, "I was the person who committed the offence and I'm asking that the court be lenient with me. These rest of persons who involve with me is innocent." Speaking about Castello he said, "This girl Amanda Castello is not a case. She was with me all the time. I just telephone her and tell her to come visit me. As soon as she came about half an hour after the police arrived. She ain't had no knowledge that I had a gun in the house. It's the same gun I take away from the man."

According to police prosecutor Denise Griffith on July 26 the proprietor of Elegance jewellery store at Durban Street, Werk-en-Rust was held up by Bushby. The accused placed a gun to the man's chest and ordered him to remain silent and get on the ground. He then relieved Muniran of his personal firearm and ammunition.

He then took the same firearm and stuck up Muniram before fleeing with a bag containing the cash and jewellery. He was later arrested and placed on an identification parade where he was positively identified. Griffith added that as a result of the robbery the police received certain information and went to Eastville, Annandale where Bushby and Castello were found. A search of the home revealed the gun and ammunition in a cupboard. They were then arrested.

Attorneys for the men as well as for Castello proclaimed their clients' innocence saying Bushby had already admitted to the offences and denied their clients' involvement. Attorney-at-law Basil Williams represented Weekes while attorney-at-law Winston Murray represented Plass and Adrian Thompson represented Gibson. Hubert Rodney represented Castello.

Williams in his bail application told the court that his client was in custody since last Thursday and was only rushed to court because he had filed habeas corpus proceedings. Murray stated that Plass is Weekes' brother-in-law and he was driving out with Weekes when the police stopped and arrested them.

Thompson said that if granted bail his client would not tamper with witnesses. They all stated that their clients were innocent and were not flight risks and had no previous convictions. Attorney-at-law Rodney told the court that his client is a friend of Bushby and was only visiting when the police arrived and conducted their search.

However police prosecutor Griffith objected to bail for the men and the woman saying that not because one of the defendants pleaded guilty the others would automatically go free. She stated that there are other circumstances that resulted in all of them being charged. She added that there are other charges likely to be brought and when the jeweller was robbed the police got certain information and found a car number plate which led them to a home where they found out about the plot.

The plot, she said, involved all of them. She also said that if granted bail the men may not turn up for their trial. Speaking about Castello, she said that neither Castello nor Bushby lived at the home where they were found and she deemed her a flight risk. Griffith stated that Castello only arrived in the country two weeks prior to the offence from a Caribbean destination and she had ties to Antigua and Barbados. She stated that she may not turn up for her trial if granted bail.

The magistrate sentenced Busby to three years in prison for robbery under arms and three years each on the unlawful possession of gun and ammunition charges, to run concurrently. However the latter three years would run consecutively with the robbery under arms sentence. He also was fined a total of $20,000. The men will return to court on August 10 while Castello's case was transferred to the East Demerara Magisterial District for August 3. (Stabroek News)