East Coast unrest
Attorney-at-law and PPP parliamentarian Anil Nandlall speaks to leader of the Justice For All Party, CN Sharma (right) minutes after police used tear gas to disperse a large group of protestors on the Beterverwagting public road as they attempted to march
After two days of relative calm, unrest returned to the East Coast corridor yesterday and close to 200 angry residents were prevented from marching to the city to condemn Saturday's massacre at Lusignan.
Police fired tear gas canisters at the protestors after repeatedly warning them that their march was unlawful. In the end, several, including children, suffered the effects of the tear gas and had to be rushed to the hospital. Two young men, one of whom was said to be the leader of the march, were arrested.
Tempers reached boiling point during the five-hour standoff, after residents were told that no approval was granted for the procession and they reacted by threatening the police and the government. A fire was set at the La Bonne Intention (LBI) public road temporarily stalling traffic as close to 20 police officers kept the protestors at bay at Triumph. A fire engine arrived at the scene within minutes and doused the flames.
Police at the ready on the BV Public Road to stop the attempted march to the city yesterday. Tear gas was used to scatter the crowd.
Following the use of the tear gas, the protestors slowly made their way home but many vowed that their fight would continue. And, as if to make known their determination to carry out the plan, bottles and dried coconuts were hurled onto the roadway into the path of oncoming traffic.
Hours after the murders on Saturday of 11 Lusignan villagers, residents began their protest at the brutal slayings, blocking roads and setting fires on the two main roadways between Lusignan and Mon Repos to vent their anger.
When Stabroek News arrived at Mon Repos around 10.20 am yesterday, around 200 villagers were on the street being watched closely by several uniformed policemen. The policemen kept the crowd from impeding traffic and ranks could be heard warning the protestors that they had not applied for permission to have a march and as such could not be on the road.
Before going to Mon Repos, the protestors assembled at Lusignan some time after 8 am and were preparing to march to the city. However, a large contingent of policemen and several soldiers were deployed to the area and the protestors were warned that their intention was illegal. Stabroek News was told that some of the protestors then boarded passing vehicles intent on assembling at another point.
No permission
One angry protestor said that at Lusignan the police and the soldiers blocked them and took away their placards. He said they told them that they could not protest because they did not have a permit to do so, but he stressed that an application was sent to the police on Tuesday with no response thus far.
"We ain't able wait pon them no more. They gon neva give we de pass and we gotta march. We want to march," the protestor said.
Paul Hardy and Everall Franklin, leader and party member of the Guyana Action Party (GAP) respectively were among those who lined the road for more than half an hour, repeatedly telling them that permission was needed. "You can't have a march without a permit... There was no permission. Do not move off because if you do it will be deemed illegal. Put in a proper application right away," Franklin told the residents who refused to listen to anything he had to say.
The protestors vowed not to leave the area until President Bharrat Jagdeo went and spoke to them. They said they were living in fear and nothing was being done for them. "Is we money does pay y'all police them. We nah kill nobody. We ain't do nothing wrang… Nobody nah prevent de Buxtonians them," another protestor bellowed, pointing her finger angrily at a policeman nearby.
During all the shouting, several could be heard saying that the protestors were "too soft"; and they should just march ahead and let the police stop them. Minutes later, that was exactly what the protestors did. Some on foot and other riding bicycles, they set out for Georgetown.
Barred
The policemen on the scene began running and driving ahead of the angry protestors and several were heard calling for back up on their cellular phones. On the bridge separating Mon Repos and Triumph the police used one of their vehicles to block the eastern lane while ranks formed a human barrier in front.
Other officers diverted traffic though Agriculture Road but they failed to keep the protestors at bay. They just barged past the police officers, who made no further attempt to restrain them.
At the Beteverwagting bridge, heavily armed ranks from the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) were waiting. Using a loud hailer, the police advised them to return to their homes as their march was unlawful. The protestors then came to a halt in front of the Region Four Education Office. There they remained for more than an hour some cursing and voicing their disgust with the police for not letting them pass.
Around 11.30 am, a fire erupted further up the road at LBI and the police officers continued to warn the band of protestors to leave the area. Attorney-at-law Vic Puran by this time was on the scene and he pleaded with the protestors for almost 45 minutes to comply with the police's order.
They did not heed him and insisted that they would remain there and carry on with their march. Puran, on several occasions, went to the police and pleaded with them not to shoot since the protestors were "heated".
At one point, he asked for his vehicle to pass through the police cordon so he could take five of the protestors to the Office of the Police Commissioner. This was allowed, but before the vehicle could drive off, the five persons hurriedly exited it and rushed to converse with another man who had just turned up at the scene. He, too, was pleading with them to return to their homes and apply for permission.
Tear gas
Just after lunch, the police fired tear gas into the crowd and sent the protestors scampering in different directions. When the smoke cleared, Nazela Hussein was sitting on a nearby bridge panting for breath as her 13-year-old daughter Pamela struggled to remain on her feet. They both complained of burning eyes and skin and were being soaked with water.
A few metres away, two sisters, Tiffany and Varshanie Mulchan sat on the grass gasping. Their relatives too were soaking them with water. The children's mother Sharmila told Stabroek News that she was travelling from Annandale to LBI but the bus only got as far as Mon Repos. She said because of the confusion with the protestors she decided that they would walk the rest of the way.
"Y'all got to see small children in de crowd before y'all do this thing, man. Y'all got to have some sort a care fuh de children them. Y'all call this justice?" the woman shouted angrily as she pulled one of her affected daughters towards the line of policemen. About ten minutes after the tear gas was fired, an ambulance arrived at the scene but refused to take the tear gas affected persons to the hospital. A private car later took them.
Member of Parliament Anil Nandlall arrived on the scene about 15 minutes after the tear gas was thrown and told the protestors that if they didn't have permission then they could not march. Leader of the Justice For All Party, CN Sharma later turned up on the scene and told the residents that they have a right to protest. The protestors left the area about 20 minutes later and some said that they planned to continue protesting.
At Mon Repos they threw glass bottles and rotten coconuts on the roadway even as vehicles passed. Policemen arrived shortly after and removed the debris. Within five minutes of their departure, protestors again began throwing obstacles on the roadways. Meanwhile, Puran on behalf of the residents, yesterday afternoon applied to the police for permission for a peaceful walk from Lusignan to Georgetown tomorrow. The letter said residents will provide marshals for the walk and their intention is to also petition the Ministry of Home Affairs.
There remained a heavy police patrol along the East Coast highway yesterday and on the railway embankment, things were a lot quieter. There was no sign of joint services ranks except at Lusignan line top. By nightfall, the East Coast corridor had resumed a level of normalcy and there were no reports of any unrest up to press time last night. (Zoisa Fraser / Stabroek News / Brenon Sookram photo)
Two shot dead in Buxton security operation
Disciplined Forces set to apprehend, terminate activities of Buxton gang
Dr. Luncheon
An exchange of gunfire by the Joint Services with gunmen aback Buxton, East Coast Demerara last night, has reportedly left two persons dead. Up to midnight last night, this newspaper was unable to confirm the identity of those dead but unconfirmed reports are that both persons were ‘criminals’. A senior security official confirmed that the exchange began in south Buxton after sundown yesterday and sustained gunfire ensued for hours.
Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, President Bharrat Jagdeo had, last Saturday, ordered the security forces to dominate the East Coast in the wake of the slaying of 11 Lusignan residents. “We…have to simultaneously hunt down these criminals,” the President declared in announcing increased security presence on the East Coast.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) and Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon, earlier yesterday announced at his weekly post-Cabinet media briefing that despite having their focus on the recent heinous crimes being affected as a result of crowd control demands, the Disciplined Forces have still been able to unleash a massive exercise to apprehend and terminate the activities of the Buxton gang believed to be behind the Lusignan massacre.
“The Joint Services have been brought in line and enhanced security measures have been put in place at vulnerable locations,” Luncheon told reporters. He noted that the reward for the apprehension of the ‘menace’ – Guyana’s most wanted and notorious criminal, Rondell ‘Fine Man’ Rawlins, has been upped to $30M for apprehension or the provision of information leading to his apprehension.
Luncheon also reported that Cabinet registered its surprise and disgust at ‘those voices of irresponsibility and opportunism which either have failed to make condemnation of this outrage the central point of their public utterances, and/or have sought to introduce justification for this heinous crime’. “In the face of such an outrage, one can understand the absolute rejection by Cabinet of their contributions to any public examination of this event,” the HPS contended.
On Saturday, January 26 last, heavily armed gunmen swooped down on the peaceful and close-knit community of Lusignan on the East Coast of Demerara, opening fire indiscriminately as they invaded several homes and slaughtered 11 of their occupants in the process.
Those killed in what has been described as the worse crime since the Jonestown Massacre in 1978, included five children. Some of the victims’ relatives survived the ordeal and were hospitalised. One of the victims was buried Tuesday while 10 others are to be buried today in a mass funeral. The Office of the President has declared today a National Day of Mourning. (Guyana Cronicle)
January 30, 2008
Lusignan massacre victim laid to rest
President Bharrat Jagdeo (second from left) in prayer with CIOG officials and relatives of 22-year-old Shazam Mohammed who was killed when gunmen launched a brutal attack in Lusignan, slaying 11 of its residents.
Hundreds flocked Tract 'A" Lusignan Pasture yesterday to bid farewell to 22-year old Lusignan cricket club member Shazam Mohammed who was gunned down in his kitchen when a group of about 25 gunmen slaughtered 11 persons including children on Saturday morning.
Relatives sobbed quietly and the young man's father Nadir Mohammed who was shot in his leg was discharged temporarily from the hospital to see his son's remains for the last time.
At 10 yesterday morning Mohammed's body was taken for viewing at the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG) shortly after preparation according to Muslim rights.
President Bharrat Jagdeo was present for the viewing and in brief remarks extended his deep condolences once again to relatives, conceding that there was nothing which could be done to alleviate the pain that relatives feel. "This is a terrible tragedy and the fact that so many of our people were murdered ... there is nothing we can do to alleviate the pain the family is feeling right now, all we can do now is extend our condolences," Jagdeo said at the brief viewing of the body.
The president also alluded to the fact that Mohammed played a very important role in his family and was very supportive to his parents.
CIOG Education and Dawah Director Moeen ul Hack emphasized that the organisation stood by the family in their time of grief.
Meanwhile at the family's home, relatives sobbed quietly as they sat around the coffin bearing Shazam's body wrapped in traditional white cotton. His mother Bibi and other relatives sat around his body.
"Why this happen, now you lie down there," the woman cried as she stared at her son's body with fear still obvious in her eyes as she was comforted by relatives. The man's body was later taken to the Lusignan Public road where hundreds of residents poured out to pay their respects. Many relatives fainted as his body was taken to be interred into the Lusignan Muslim cemetery. Several government officials including Prime Minister Samuel Hinds were part of the public road viewing.
Shazam Mohammed, who was an employee of HS Nauth Construction Company, was on his bed on Saturday morning sleeping when the men attacked. His mother Bibi Khan had told this newspaper that the family was asleep and they were awakened by a deafening burst of gunfire. Before they could react the gunmen had already reached their door, kicking it down after calling on them to open it.
"We stayed quiet but then the bullets started to fire in the house," the woman recounted. The high powered ammunition pierced the frail wooden walls of the home hitting her husband Nadir Mohammed on his leg while he lay on his bed.
Once his father was shot Shazam ran to the kitchen for safety but with not much room to run in the modest house the gunmen fired several rounds striking him in his chest and head. He collapsed on the kitchen floor, dying instantly. (Jules Gibson photo/Stabroek News)
Calm pervades East Coast as… First of Lusignan massacre victims buried
Hundreds attend funeral, mindful of appeals by relatives and others...
for peace and calm to prevail
An outpouring of grief as family members view the remains of 22-year-old Shazam Mohamed at his Lusignan home yesterday.
Hundreds of Lusignan residents and other sympathisers from across the country gathered in the East Coast Demerara community yesterday for the funeral service of Shazam Mohamed -- the first of the 11 persons massacred by marauding gunmen last Saturday, to be laid to rest.
It was the first day when calm dominated the village and neighbouring communities, as residents respected the calls of family members for their loved ones to “go in peace”.
There was a flood of emotions at the home of the Mohamed family at Lot 30 Lusignan, when hundreds turned up to join in a religious service, to pay their last respects to the 22-year-old.
Residents of Lusignan and other villages across the Coast, still in shock at the brazen terror attack, turned out in their hundreds to show solidarity with the family, as they await tomorrow, when the rest of those executed by high powered weapons would be laid to rest, either by burial or cremation.
Mohamed, employed as an accountant with the H. Nauth and Sons civil engineering firm, was one of the eleven persons mercilessly mowed down by heavily armed criminals in their homes last Saturday. Also wounded from his home, was his father Nazir Mohamed who was shot in both legs, and who is hospitalized at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Reports are that the elder Mohamed was taken to the home in a wheelchair from the hospital to see his son’s body for the last time.
Muslim brothers and male relatives pay their last respects at the funeral of Shazam Mohamed.
Among the many speakers at the service held at Mohameds’ home was President of the CIOG, Haji Fazeel Feroze. He admonished those present and indeed all Guyanese to resist and desist from all attempts to hit back.
“We must resist and desist from all attempts to hit back, because we do not know who perpetrated this crime. To hit back at people of a different ethnicity – innocent people, then we will be doing exactly what the killers of our wives, our children, our brothers did,” Feroze told the large gathering of mourners. He said it was a time to sit down, think and reflect, and do so soberly.
Considering the extent of the massacre, Feroze noted that it is “beyond the grasp of our understanding that the innocent – the children, the women, the poor in our country, the defenceless -- have been picked on by a ‘mad gang’ who have unleashed their terror and horror on the community of Lusignan in this manner.”
“We cannot understand this and we are all shocked, and therefore we can only turn to the Creator of the Universe, and beg Him for His mercy, His protection and understanding, while trying to cope with what is happening here,” he said.
The body of Shazam Mohamed being taken to the Good Hope cemetery – its final resting place.
Feroze also used the occasion to admonish the people of Guyana, not to let the victims of the Lusignan massacre and other horrific incidents in the country, go in vain.
“Let us raise our voices, but do it in a peaceful, purposeful manner – a manner in which we can get results – not to cause inconvenience and destruction to others in their communities,” he admonished.
He pointed out that to fan the flames of racial disunity in the country would be to play into the hands of those who want to cause problems in the country.
Acknowledging that there are problems with the security system in the country, Feroze said it is important that such problems be addressed, so that those lives that have been snuffed out during the reign of terror in Lusignan on Saturday morning, will not go in vain. “We have to stand firm and demand of our government and our security people that we would like to see an end to this kind of thing in our country, and that we will all be willing to work with them to solve this problem,” he said.
“The Guyanese people – not only the people of Lusignan - need to be able to walk this land without fear and live in peace, love and harmony,” Feroze stated. He charged those present to not only mourn with the grieving relatives “today”, but be there for them even after.
“They will need to be comforted, consoled, and counseled. They will need our love, our care. We must reach out to them. Let us not just come today to express our sympathy then leave them. Let us stand by them as we want people to stand by us. Let us not allow race, ethnicity or religion to get between us and divide us,” Feroze urged.
Prime Minister Sam Hinds and several government ministers were among those who attended and witnessed the funeral rites at a separate service held on the forecourt of CARICOM Auto Sales on the Lusignan public road, where hundreds gathered to view the remains of the young man cut down in the prime of his life. The hundreds then marched to the Good Hope cemetery where Mohamed was buried.
Meanwhile, residents of Lusignan have planned a peaceful protest “for security” starting from Lusignan to Georgetown today. However, Police said they received no application for permission to stage the march. The residents said they will allow the funerals to go ahead tomorrow without protests, but plan to stage another march for justice in the killings on Friday. (Shirley Thomas/Guyana Cronicle)
January 29, 2008
LUSIGNAN TERROR ATTACK
Relatives of massacre victims appeal for peace, calm - amid escalating tension and fiery protest action by angry residents in several villages along the East Coast Demerara and West Berbice
“We understand that the whole country is mourning, but we want peace. We are hurt, the country is hurt, but we want them (the victims) to go peacefully. They had a disastrous death so let them go peacefully,” - one relative appealed yesterday.
Relatives of those brutally killed in the Lusignan terror attack last Saturday morning have urged that all citizens, particularly those on the East Coast Demerara, remain calm and avoid any further disruptive practices. The relatives urged that residents desist from burning tyres and blocking roadways as such actions do not augur well for the country’s development.
They noted that while the tragedy has impacted on all Guyanese, peace must prevail especially while the final rights are performed for those killed. “We understand that the whole country is mourning, but we want peace. We are hurt, the country is hurt, but we want them (the victims) to go peacefully. They had a disastrous death so let them go peacefully,” one relative appealed.
The funeral procession for one of the victims will be held today while the others will take place on Thursday. The recent brazen terror attack by a gang of heavily armed gunmen on the village of Lusignan left 11 innocent persons dead, including five children, while two have been wounded and are hospitalized. (Guyana Cronicle)
Military funeral for soldier killed in Buxton shoot-out
The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) soldier killed on January 24, when the vehicle in which he and others were travelling was ambushed by gunmen on the Railway Embankment between Church of God and Company Roads, Buxton, East Coast Demerara, will be buried on Thursday.
Corporal Ivor Williams, 24, will be accorded full military honours before being interred at Eliza Cemetery, following a church service at the Seventh-Day Baptist Church in Dartmouth, also on Essequibo Coast.
Williams was shot in the left shoulder while another colleague, Private Cohen Torrington and a civilian, Thelma Cromwell, 29, of Lot 138 Friendship, also on East Coast Demerara, were injured, too, during a shoot-out between soldiers and bandits.
Torrington, who suffered gunshots wounds to the left hand, left leg and right side stomach, is warded at Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) while Cromwell was wounded on the right leg by a stray bullet. A member of Williams’ family said his body will be flown by helicopter to the Kayman Sankar hangar, Hampton Court, on Essequibo Coast, as well, from where it would be transported to Dartmouth.
Williams was the eldest of five children, born to Ureth and Canliss Williams of Church Street, Dartmouth. Eloise Williams, paternal grandmother of the deceased, said he was a very loving person who would shower her with hugs and kisses whenever he visits their home. She said her last encounter with him was on New Year’s Day after he had travelled there for a family gathering hosted by an overseas-based aunt, Vanica Robertson.
“He spent the entire day with us…we had a good time with gift exchanges and everything…he was so loving,” the elderly woman remarked, recalling that her husband, Clement was proud of his grandson and always encouraged him to save for “wet days.” (Guyana Cronicle)
Children affected as tear gas used to end protest
Several schoolchildren were affected yesterday after police used tear gas to break up the demonstrations by residents of several East Coast Demerara villages who continued to protest the lack of security in their areas following the weekend murders of 11 people including five children at Lusignan.
But by nightfall, the intense protest action had subsided and although there were crowds, the police who were out in full force were keeping order.
Yesterday morning, angry residents upped the tempo on their protest, scattering nails and hurling glass bottles on the road as police struggled to contain them.
Eventually the police released tear gas near a private school at Market Street, Mon Repos, which resulted in several students being rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Blocking the roads and setting at least two fires, more than 200 angry residents lined a section of the Lusignan Public road and another large group converged at Mon Repos.
Protestors continued to demand better protection from criminal elements and vowed to continue their protest until they hear from the government, exactly how it plans to capture the perpetrators of the Saturday morning barbaric act.
"We want [President Bharrat] Jagdeo to come and tell us about a detailed plan about how they plan to address the issue of the criminals in the Annandale/Buxton Backdam. There are good people living in Buxton and it is not fair to them too. He has to tell us now what they will do. We done get enough sympathy," an Annandale resident who preferred to remain anonymous, told this newspaper.
When Stabroek News arrived at Lusignan just after 9 am yesterday, residents were gathered on both sides of the road. They hurled insults at police. "If you all did come in so much numbers when awe did call you all, we wouldn't had so much dead people," one woman shouted at a policeman who pleaded with her and others to behave themselves.
However, it was no easy task for the police to monitor the behaviour of the residents, who continued, at every chance they got, to throw debris onto the streets. At one time, a man ran into the middle of the road and pretended to have an injured foot. The policeman, who tried to hurry him back into the corner, did so without touching the man who was being cheered on by other protestors.
Many of them also hurled racist insults at officers who appeared obviously constrained, even when they were victims of presumptuous jostling. Close to 100 uniformed police officers were on the scene yesterday morning and even as they thought they had control of the protestors, another group was forming in the vicinity of the Mon Repos Market.
Police as well as ranks from the Guyana Fire service were tasked with cleaning the roads and as fast as they got their jobs completed, protestors added more debris, broken from market stalls, and bottles to the road creating more blocks and forced several vehicles to seek alternative routes.
'It is for him to do the thinking'
A small group of men who looked on, told Stabroek News that they were not satisfied with the meeting which they had with the President over the weekend.
One of the men, who preferred to identify himself as "a resident of Annandale" said, "He hasn't given us any comforting solutions. All he wanted to do is hear from us what we think he should do. But why does he think we put him there? It is for him to do the thinking."
The men said that the time being taken for the police to stay in their area to maintain order, should be spent going after the criminals. "Sending the police and soldiers here is in no way adequate," one opined.
Another member of the group said the President listened to their concerns very carefully, but noted that he felt that if the police suspected that the bandits were hiding out in the cane fields, the only alternative was for them to clear the fields even if it meant forsaking the farms and sugarcane plants.
The men said they felt that it was important for them to continue burning tyres and keeping the police busy because they felt it was a way of getting them to open their eyes and do their job responsibly. "And we are not only blaming the police because they can't operate alone. We want the authorities to res-pond appropriately to our situation. We are not protesting to harm anyone, but enough is enough," he insisted.
That resident said he had believed that after Agriculture Minister Satyadeow Sawh and then the five Kaieteur News pressmen were brutally murdered, government would have taken a stronger approach to tackling crime in Guyana. "But no, now 11, something has got to be done," he said.
A Mon Repos resident who shared the view that something ought to be done with seven to eight miles of backlands, insisted that the protest had nothing to do with race and that their intention was not to create any racial tension, but they wanted an admission that the criminals seemed to be selecting their targets carefully.
"This ain't got nothing to do with no one group. We are all Guyanese, but we must see that these men choosing who they will attack. We want all east coast residents to come out in this struggle, because we pay our taxes and we must be protected," the man insisted.
Arrests
Police later arrested about four men after they sought to prevent a fifth man who was clearing debris from the roadway. As the day progressed, a man had attempted to move some of the debris blocking the roadway at Mon Repos but received a hostile reaction from residents. After he had dragged away some of the debris blocking the road, residents put them back and confronted him.
The man, seemingly unaware of the high emotions engulfing the crowd, attempted to argue with them but was drowned out by the angry shouts of the enraged residents who pelted him with glass bottles and other debris.
As a menacing group of persons, armed with pieces of wood and other implements, advanced, the man slowly retreated but the residents rushed to him and with hostile shouts, hit him several times with the pieces of wood. As the barrage intensified, the man was forced to flee. The police turned up shortly after and the man returned and identified a few of the persons, who hit him and the police took them into custody.
Prisoners were then taken to the East Coast to assist the police in clearing the debris from the roadway and residents turned their attention to them. "Wha y'all helping them foh?" one questioned, to which a prisoner responded: "We wukking foh de same thing…we feeling the same thing too". He then asked the residents for $100.
Tear gas
While the protesters played cat and mouse with the security forces on the East Coast scores of schoolchildren from Urmilla Institute, an all-age school at Mon Repos, were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital fainting after being affected by the tear gas released by the police in efforts to disperse the crowds.
The students were at the bottom flat of the school building when the police lobbed the tear gas canisters at protestors who scampered off. Students fainted and parents and teachers rushed to cover their faces with wet rags and towels.
Soersattie Persaud, who said she was the mother of the school's owner, Urmilla Persaud, said she had to scramble for towels as many of the children started to faint, while some managed to run out of the building. "People expect we to protect their children and if they know they would use the tear gas, they should warn people first cause we could have sent home the children," the woman told this newspaper.
Principal of the institute, Jaikarran Jaipersaud told Stabroek News at the hospital that his school, which is located some distance from where the protesters were demonstrating, was hit with two canisters of tear gas. He said he could not say whether the police targeted his school, but it was severely hit with the noxious gas which stifled some 40 of the students many of them between the ages of six and ten years old.
"The police are behaving like mad people… they are just spraying tear gas wildly this will not end easy," Jairpersaud shouted.
One of the teachers of the institute told Stabroek News that the school had just reassembled after a mid-morning break when the tear gas was used. The teacher said that once the gas got inside the school a number of students ducked under their desks, while some rushed outside to soak their faces in barrels of water that were in the yard.
Suresh Jabar, 15, was in his class when he felt a burning sensation to his face. "I just feel my face burning and then I couldn't breathe properly so I started to run," the school boy said. He said he went into the school yard where he ducked his face in a barrel of water at which point he got some relief. Jenita George, ten, and Hakeem, nine, also spoke of their experiences.
There was near pandemonium when the students arrived at the hospital as scores gathered outside the emergency unit to have a glimpse.
Moved out
When Stabroek News returned up the road to Lusignan, residents, waving black and purple flags were engaged in a stand-off with police who attempted to calm them and keep them off the road.
An agitated man who said that he was a bus driver lamented the massacre. "In this whole country, nothing like this ever happen. We gat children. I gat lil children here. We sacrifice, but look wha happening," he said.
Meanwhile, at Coldingen, the police and army maintained a presence after reports of strange men in the area were made on Sunday evening. A section of the railway embankment remained closed to traffic and with guns at the ready, soldiers maintained a watchful eye.
A police van was seen in the cane field and a resident told this newspaper that the lawmen and soldiers had been there since the reports of strange men in the area were made. He said that residents from another section of the community, where he resided had moved out after being advised by soldiers to do so. On Sunday evening, fearful residents had packed bags and vacated a section of the village close to the cane fields. The man said his children were at a relative and he had just returned to check on things at his home.
Quieter
Last night, the burning debris, blocked roads and traffic build up on the main East Coast highway and the Railway Embankment, features that had marred that area were no longer there. There was heavy police presence stretching from Lusignan to Mon Repos both in vehicles and on foot. Army presence in the area was minimal.
However, when this newspaper approached Lusignan on the main highway, there was a huge crowd on the parapet near the market road. About 20 ranks formed a human barricade to prevent the protestors, who were shouting angrily, from venturing onto the roadway. Another sizable group of police officers and two armed soldiers were across the road looking on and there were several groups further up the road.
On the Railway Embankment, the scene was totally different. There were no protestors on the road, which was blackened with soot from the burning debris and again traffic flowed freely. A lone policeman was on foot patrol and there were several vehicular patrols stretching from Mon Repos to Lusignan. At the Lusignan line top, policemen were directing traffic as persons made their way to where the early morning massacre took place, for the wakes.
Meetings
The Government Information Agency (GINA) yesterday reported that President Jagdeo met relatives of the victims of the massacre at his New Garden Street office yesterday. However, the agency said the distraught relatives were unable to comment on the issues and told the President that it was still a time of grief in their families.
According to GINA , Jagdeo also met representatives of several communities along the coast to discuss more assistance to community policing groups.
The release quoted Jagdeo as saying that his government as always encouraged the formation of the groups to assist in the protection of communities and noted too that the policing groups have been effective in some communities but were not functioning as they should in others. (Additional reporting by Nigel Williams/Heppilena Ferguson, Gaulbert Sutherland and Zoisa Fraser/Stabroek News)
Confusion at hospital over Lusignan bodies
Confusion reigned at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) mortuary yesterday as two funeral service providers went to uplift the bodies of those killed in the Lusignan massacre.
The bodies were eventually released to the Sandy's Funeral Home after it was claimed that the funerals would be done free of charge. However, when contacted yesterday, Sandy's owner, Michael Sandy told Stabroek News he was unaware of this and was waiting on relatives of the deceased to go into his office to make arrangements. He confirmed that the 11 bodies were at his funeral home.
First Lady Varshnie Singh was at the mortuary yesterday and according to reports was instrumental in the bodies being moved to Sandy's.
Dr Dawn Stewart of the Lyken Funeral Home, where the bodies were previously stored told Stabroek News that two of the families had already made arrangements for the funeral arrangements to be looked after by Lyken's when upon turning up at the GPH, she was told that the bodies were going to Sandy's.
She alleged that the relatives were told that Lyken's was a "government parlour" and they did not have to use that service. She pointed out that Lyken's was a privately-owned business but had contracts with several state agencies.
Stewart said that Singh had contacted her and said she was "not part of the policy or anything" but was advocating on behalf of the families and Sandy's had offered to carry out the funeral arrangements for free. "The First Lady told me Mr Sandy is doing the services free for all 11 of the persons," Stewart said.
"She asked me if we were going to bury them free," and after Stewart said there was no such arrangement, Singh said that she wanted the bodies to go to Sandy's.
Stewart added that she had spoken to Kwame McCoy, Assistant Press and Publicity, Officer of the Office of the President, who said that the bodies were to go back to Lyken's for the families to make their arrangements.
Noting that the families were free to make their own arrangements, Stewart noted said it was the manner in which the bodies were removed that was upsetting. She noted that two families had signed authorizations for Lyken's to uplift the bodies.
Meanwhile, Chairman of Vision Guyana Peter Ramsaroop said in a press release that he would pay for all the children's funerals if the government did not do so. (Stabroek News)
January 28, 2008
LUSIGNAN TERROR ATTACK Protests Ease, but tension still high
President Jagdeo, security forces to meet Community Police today to discuss training, increased weaponry supply
‘HEIGHTENED SECURITY ON THE EAST COAST’: There has been a heightened security presence along the East Coast road corridor yesterday, especially between Mon Repos and Enmore, in the wake of Saturday’s brutal massacre in Lusignan when 11 persons, including children, were gunned down in the most barbaric and heinous fashion by persons described by President Bharrat Jagdeo as ‘sick, demented cowards’
Protests eased on the East Coast Demerara corridor yesterday, as the Police and Army maintained a visible presence, but tension remained high as angry residents called for justice in the early Saturday morning killing of 11 Lusignan residents, including five children.
The Police announced no headway in the hunt for the 15-20 gunmen who carried out the attacks. It is believed that the mastermind of the attack was Rondell ‘Fine Man’ Rawlins, for whom a wanted bulletin has been issued and a $30M reward on the table for information leading to his arrest.
President Bharrat Jagdeo, who held three different community meetings on the East Coast yesterday, appealed to residents to remain calm and lend support to the Police and Army in intercepting the criminal elements behind the slayings.
Mr. Jagdeo said he will be meeting with several community policing groups on the East Coast of Demerara today to discuss strategies of strengthening their operations. That meeting, he said, will be convened at the Office of President and will be attended by his top security officers. Among the issues to be discussed are training and increase of weaponry supply, the President stated.
The Police and the Army are maintaining mobile and foot patrols in Lusignan and surrounding villages. The Police and Army manned the clearing of roads which were blocked with sand, burnt tyres and other debris in the wake of widespread protests on Saturday, allowing traffic to return to relative normalcy.
However, the main road remained blocked at Lusignan last evening. The last reported incident was that of angry residents at Lusignan setting alight wood and tyres. They said they started the fire because the Police beat two community boys who were playing cricket on the road. A sizeable group of Police and Soldiers stood a few yards away, ignoring the protest action.
In the community of Lusignan, black flags of mourning lined the streets. President Jagdeo said the government would be meeting the funeral expenses for those slain, and said the state would ensure that children who have been left victims of the brutal attack will receive a sound education.
Dead from one family are Clarence Thomas, 48, his 12-year-old daughter, Vanessa, and his son, Ron Thomas, 11. Next door to the Thomas’ family, Mohandai Gourdat, 32, and her two sons, four-year-old Seegobind Harilall and ten-year-old Seegopaul Harilall were also shot dead. Across the street, 22-year-old Shazam Mohamed was gunned down as he sought shelter in his kitchen. Next door, 55-year-old Shaleem Baksh died instantly after he was hit by a volley of bullets in his head.
Nearby, a couple and their daughter were shot dead still clinging to each other against a wall. Their names were given as Seecharran Rooplall, 56, his wife, Dhanrajie Ramsingh, 52, and their 11-year-old daughter, Raywattie Ramsingh. Addressing Mon Repos residents at the village primary school early in the day, President Jagdeo declared that “security is not a one man issue.”
“Your support is necessary in this fight...in all countries the Army and the Police are the two agencies that are responsible for ensuring national security,” he said. The clarion call was repeated at two other meetings he had with residents at Good Hope and the Lusignan Mandir.
President Jagdeo also assured the angry and occasionally disorderly gathering that tough sanctions will be taken against the Police at the various stations if the ‘call log’ of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) indicates the Police did not heed the call of residents in a timely manner. Mr. Jagdeo said he will receive that document today.
Residents lamented that they are often harassed by the Police, who demand money at times. They complained that some peaceful women were beaten Saturday night. The head of state promised that these matters will be investigated and appropriately dealt with. Mr. Jagdeo said his government has been appealing for persons within communities to become part of neighbourhood policing, but the response has been poor.
He said some 600 positions were made available countrywide, but to date only 200 have been filled. The neighbourhood Police receive a salary, the President said, and the positions were made available to those uncomfortable working outside their community. He urged that at least two persons from each community take up the challenge and serve as a nucleus to expand the operation.
Leader of the Justice for all Party (JFAP) Mr. Chandra Narine Sharma attempted to speak at the same meeting, but was booed off the stage by residents.
At Good Hope, the residents implored Mr. Jagdeo to clear the Buxton backlands because they believe the area is a safe haven for criminals. But he said that exercise was undertaken couple years ago but it came to a halt when the main opposition, People’s National Congress, began to accuse the government of intruding on private lands and destroying cash crops.
The President acknowledged that the lands are privately owned and this posed a limitation to the plan, but he denounced the PNC’s claim as utterly “ridiculous”. One resident encouraged the President to seek assistance from the international community to address the problem but he said his government has done so and has made several similar appeals in the past for different situations.
He said the international community never promised to supply troops here to lesson the tension but all they gave were advisors and some funding to address the situation.
The President pointed out that his government has made several requests to the international community to procure the advance MP5 submachine guns for the security forces to overpower criminal factions, but this was to no avail.
Police have matched the high powered ammunition used in Saturday’s attack to those used in the April 2006 assassination of Agriculture Minister Satyadeow Sawh and two of his Canadian siblings, among other heinous crimes. The diplomatic community in Guyana Saturday said it remains steadfast in its support to Guyana and is optimistic that the country will overcome the challenge.
A joint statement to this effect was issued by British High Commissioner, Fraser Wheeler, United States Ambassador, David Robinson, European Delegation Head, Mr. Geert Heikens and Charge’d Addaires of the Canadian High Commission , Marc Mostovic.
President Jagdeo, early Saturday, said the motive of the killings was to spread terror on the East Coast “and it has succeeded to some extent because there is a significant amount of fear in the people.” He, however, warned that this should not spread across the nation “because it could be exploited by the criminals and others to spread ethnic tension and I want to urge every Guyanese to ensure that the act of a few criminals is not interpreted in any way of ethnic lines.”
The President promised that the criminals, whom he described as ‘sick, demented cowards’, would be hunted down.(Tajeram Mohabir/Guyana Cronicle) Guyana Chronicle condemns perpetrators of Lusignan massacre
The Chairman, Board of Directors, management and staff of the Guyana Chronicle newspaper, wish to convey the deepest sympathy and condolence to the families and relatives of those persons who were slain in the senseless Lusignan massacre.
Innocent lives, including children, have been lost through no fault of theirs. We condemn this brutal act of murder in no uncertain terms. This should not be allowed to go unpunished.
At this time of deep anguish and despair, we exert the families and relatives of the deceased to be strong in their time of grief, and join with the rest of Guyana in mourning this irreplaceable loss of life. (Guyana Cronicle)
Four-year-old survivor in Lusignan killings.....
......battling for life at Georgetown Hospital 
One of the three persons who survived the gruesome Lusignan tragedy on Saturday morning, remains in a critical condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital, while the other two are listed as stable up to press time last night.
Four-year-old, Roberto Thomas, of Lot 26 Lusignan, is currently on life-support in the Intensive Care Unit of the GPH, but was said to be responding slowly.
The infant was shot in the lower abdomen by gunmen who broke into his parents’ home, and began a senseless shooting, killing three of the Thomas’ family members, and seriously wounding him and his 19-year-old brother, Howard. Howard Thomas, who was shot in the right shoulder and lower right arm, with high powered rifles, was yesterday doing slightly better than Saturday, and was communicating with other relatives.
Even though trying to be strong emotionally, the pain and grief associated with the tragedy, and moreso the loss of his family members were evident. On the tragic night of the shooting, Howard, who was hiding under a bed, looked on helplessly as gunmen slew his father Clarence, 45, his younger brother, Ron, and sister Vanessa, 12. His mother, Gomattie, who hid behind a curtain escaped physically unhurt, but is now deeply anguished and badly traumatised.
Meanwhile, Nadir Mohamed, of Lot 30 Lusignan who was shot in both legs, was yesterday also sitting up in bed, communicating with family members. He too, told of experiencing great pains, compounded by the loss of his 22-year-old son, Shazam, who was shot and killed in the gruesome massacre at Lusignan.
Shazam was shot in the back, and at the right side of his head. His body is now lying at the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour, along with ten others killed in the wanton slaughter that sent shock waves across Guyana. (Shirley Thomas / Guyana Cronicle)
East Coast presses Jagdeo for crime solutions
These crime-besieged residents were begging for protection yesterday. At left this woman holds a garland made of newspaper reports of the Lusignan massacre which she wanted the President to wear.
One day after gunmen slew eleven residents at Lusignan, President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday held meetings in several East Coast communities but he offered no new solutions and villagers remained skeptical.
Police and soldiers continue to patrol the volatile East Coast corridor, but to date there has been no major move on the criminal enterprise by the security forces. Three different meetings were held at Lusignan, Good Hope and Mon Repos, where the President promised to help resuscitate policing groups and demand more from the security forces who the residents said had let them down.
Gunmen early Saturday morning shot and killed eleven people, including five children in a 20-minute blitz at Tract 'A' Lusignan, ECD. They left behind the mutilated bodies of Clarence Thomas, Ron Thomas, Vanessa Thomas, Mohandai Gourdat, Seegobind Harrilall, Seegopaul Harrilall, Shazam Mohamed, Shalem Baksh, Dhanrajie Ramsingh, Seecharran Rooplall and Raywattie Ramsingh.
Three others were injured in the carnage: Nadir Mohamed, Roberto Thomas and Howard Thomas.
Residents of several communities nearby later erupted in protest, setting fires to used tyres, blocking the roadways and dismantling steel bridges on the Railway Embankment and on the Public Road. Several government ministers and Jagdeo rushed up to the area but they made little impact on quieting the residents who hurled insults at them.
By 9 pm Saturday the protesters had retreated to their homes and some of the broken bridges were fixed and the roadway cleared. They however vowed to return if their demands were not met and did so yesterday afternoon.
Jagdeo held discussions with villagers of Mon Repos, Good Hope and Lusignan between 11 am - 3 pm yesterday, but he offered no concrete solutions to the people who at times disrupted the meetings. The head of state first met with residents of Mon Repos at a school in the village. He was several times offered a garland made with newspaper clippings of the pictures of the dead victims.
On each occasion he was offered the garland he refused. The woman who made the garland insisted that he be presented with it but every time she tried the President objected and at one time warned her of her behaviour. Still very angry at Saturday morning's atrocities, the villagers hurled insults at the Guyanese head of state, telling him that he and his cabinet were incompetent.
Residents complained on Saturday morning that during the shooting spree several of them had contacted the police at different stations along the East Coast yet ranks showed up one hour after the massacre. "I have asked for a full investigation into this," Jagdeo yesterday reiterated, noting that despite the flaws of the security forces, the army and the police were the only legitimate bodies to fight crime.
Residents said they did not want the army and the police in their villages noting that at the time of need they were not there. The President said on Saturday that the security forces were fully deployed along the East Coast and he had promised a mobile as well as a static police presence in the troubled communities.
However, on Saturday night residents of Lusignan, Mon Repos and Good Hope demanded that the lawmen leave their villages. Jagdeo said following this the lawmen were deployed in Buxton where they were positioned at different locations.
Workers of the Ministry of Works yesterday fixing parts of this bridge connecting Good Hope and Montrose. Residents in protest over the killing of 11 people had dismantled it.
Security issues
Addressing the issue of security, Jagdeo told the residents that some of them had to join the army and the police force if they felt these institutions were not ethnically balanced.
He said he had asked several persons to enlist in the services but they refused saying that Indo-Guyanese did not like the police force and the remuneration was too low.
"Well if the pay is low for one group then it is low for the other," The president said. He told the angry residents that despite their lack of trust in the security forces, the army and the police force were the only two bodies at the moment to protect them.
One resident then suggested that greater attention be paid to community policing and that drug-indicated businessman, Roger Khan and former Home Affairs Minister, Ronald Gajraj be brought back. Jagdeo told the resident that no one man could solve the crime problem, noting that Khan was in a US jail on a charge of drug dealing. "We have to work together…no one man could do it," the head of state said.
Asked for proposals for more secure and safe communities, some of the residents suggested that the constitution be amended to allow every citizen to own a gun. Another proposed that the entire backlands from Buxton to Good Hope be cleared of cane fields and farms. The President said that his government had no problem with clearing the backlands, but at one time when the issue was raised, PNCR Leader Robert Corbin objected saying that several persons owned farm lands there from which they derive their livelihood.
"You ah the President not Corbin, what you say goes," one man standing on a bench shouted across the floor. Jagdeo said the matter would be further discussed. Another proposal was made for the administration to ask the donor communities to assist in fighting crime, but Jagdeo said the diplomatic community was all mouth.
"They said they would help but what is their assistance? a USD$15,000 and an advisor," the head of state declared. He insisted that the US, Britain and Canada would not send their troops here to assist this country in the crime fight. "They are not going to send their troops here." He acknowledged that the security forces here had limitations, noting that should a unit of lawmen be placed in every village only 10% of the country would be covered based upon the numbers available.
Both the Guyana Defence Force and the Guyana Police Force have severe staff shortages. One man asked about the aerial capacity of the GDF and the police. Jagdeo said he would not answer in the open because the media was there. The GDF helicopter has been inoperable over two years now and the army had been trying to acquire a small aircraft abandoned by drug dealers in the Cuyuni Region.
Residents also asked for the death penalty to return, but Jagdeo noted that he had signed death warrants for four persons shortly after becoming President but the victims have all sought legal recourse. "It is not that we are not doing anything, but these things do come up," Jagdeo said.
Give us Corbin
Amid the din a man walked into the meeting hall and told the President that he was incapable of protecting Indo-Guyanese. "If you can't protect Indians then Corbin's PNC should be given a chance," the man declared.
Jagdeo then put the question to the hundreds who attended the meeting whether they wanted the PNC and he got a resounding no as the answer. He then told the man that it was his democratic right to vote for a party and a leader of his choice.
Leaving Mon Repos Jagdeo went to Good Hope, delivering very much the same message. He told the residents there that the security forces were being challenged on a number of fronts, noting that on one hand they were under-staffed while on the other they did not know many of the criminals they are hunting.
Jagdeo said that the administration was hoping that with a bounty of $30M for any information leading to the arrest of wanted man Rondell Rawlins there would be much more cooperation. He said that the security forces had to go after Rawlins who is believed to be the leader of the Buxton/Agricola criminal gang, adding that wanted bulletins and rewards were also out for his cohorts, many of whose faces are not known to the police and soldiers. The President also held a meeting at a mandir in Lusignan.
Following the meeting Stabroek News spoke with several residents who said that the President did not address their concerns, instead he spoke of "rice, sugar and VAT," one man said while leaving the meeting. Another woman holding her daughter by the hand commented 'This man ain't say anything that mek sense". (Nigel Williams/Stabroek News/Ken Moore photo)
January 27, 2008
$30M reward out for Rondell ‘Fine Man’ Rawlins
Guyana's most wanted Rondell Rawlins
Police said anyone with information that may lead to his arrest is asked to contact the police on telephone numbers 225-6411, 226-6978, 225-8196, 226-1326, 225-2227, 225-3650, 225-7625, or 911 or the nearest police station. All information will be treated with strict confidence.
Police have been hunting for Rondell ‘Fine Man’ Rawlins since 2003, when he and several other men escaped from prison and killed two guards in the process. Rawlins was serving time for several armed robberies.
Rawlins, who, police say, is the leader of the Buxton/Agricola Street gang in Guyana, is also wanted for a series of other murders, including the April 2006 assassination of former Minister of Agriculture, Satydeow Sawh and his two siblings.
Reports said he is the mastermind of the Lusignan massacre yesterday morning in retaliation for his missing girlfriend who is heavily pregnant. The 19-year-old disappeared about a week ago in the city when she came to visit a hospital.
A few days after, someone who purported to be wanted man Rawlins, telephoned the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Eve Leary, Georgetown and threatened ranks there to find his girlfriend or face the consequences. (Guyana Cronicle)
January 26, 2008
11 die Guyana attack, including 5 kids
Gunmen stormed into a coastal village in Guyana early Saturday and shot 11 people to death, the worst mass killing in this small South America nation in more than 30 years.
On Wednesday night, suspected members of Rawlins' gang killed a Guyanese soldier during a gunbattle in Buxton, a village 2 miles from Lusignan.
Authorities say Rawlins has been the leader of a gang associated with armed robberies since 2002. He is suspected of involvement in the April 2006 slaying of Agriculture Minister Satyadeo Sawh _ a murder that authorities said was aimed at destabilizing this former Dutch and British colony.
There were no reports of arrests for the Lusignan killings, and President Bharrat Jagdeo urged neighborhood watch groups to report any leads to police. "(This) could not have been done by human beings but rather by animals," Jagdeo said ahead of meetings with security officials and the military. There were just over 100 people killed last year in the nation of about 770,000.
Authorities blame much of the crime on the growing drug trade and gun smuggling. Drug trafficking accounts for an estimated 20 percent of Guyana's gross domestic product, according to the U.S. State Department.
Guyana, on the northern coast of South America, is known to many abroad as the site of Jonestown, where American cult leader Jim Jones exhorted his followers to drink cyanide-laced grape punch in 1978. Babies were killed by squirting it into their mouths with syringes.
Most adults were poisoned, some forcibly. Some were shot by cult security guards. Hours later, Jones and 912 of his followers were dead. (Bert Wilkinson/AP Photo/Martin Cleaver)
Guyana shooting rampage kills 11
Gunmen in Guyana have gone on a rampage, killing 11 people, including five children, police say. The gunmen stormed into a village east of the capital, Georgetown, and fired into several houses. It was reported to be the worst mass killing in the South American country for more than 30 years, and sparked angry protests by neighbours.
Officials suspect a criminal gang acting on the orders of the country's most wanted man, Rondell Rawlins. Police say Rondell Rawlins has accused government forces of kidnapping his pregnant girlfriend, and has threatened to launch attacks until she is returned.
Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo deplored the attack, in the village of Lusignan, east of the capital Georgetown, as a "cowardly act" carried out by "sick, demented criminals". "We have to hunt them down," he said.
Screaming on streets
Divisional Police Commander Leroy Brummel said unidentified gunmen kicked down the doors of five wooden houses in Lusignan, shooting at inhabitants within. The dead include a man, his wife and their granddaughter in one house, and a mother and her two children in another, news agency AFP reported. "They didn't come here to rob, they came here to slaughter," a resident, Jag Singh, told AFP.
Local people screamed and wept on the streets of the village. Later, as many as 300 people from the neighbouring town of Mon Repos started fires on the roads to Lusignan and vowed to form vigilante groups to avenge the killings. "We want justice!" they cried. "Government can't protect us! We want more police!"
Ethnic tension
Hours before the village massacre, heavily armed gunmen had also attacked the headquarters of the Guyana police force, injuring two policemen. On Wednesday, in the criminal haven of Buxton, east of Georgetown, gunmen engaged Guyanese soldiers in a firefight that left one soldier dead and another seriously injured.
Police said Rondell Rawlins himself had made telephone threats following the disappearance of his 18-year-old girlfriend. He is reputed to head a gang of about 20 heavily armed men engaged in "urban warfare", and is also wanted over the murder of a government minister in 2006.
President Jagdeo suggested that the latest attack may have been meant to stir up ethnic tension. The village of Lusignan is mostly ethnic Indian, while Rondell Rawlins and his followers come from the ethnic African community.
Shortly after 22:00 hours last night a Toyota AT 212 sped out of Parade Street and once outside the headquarters of the Tactical Services Unit, opened fire on the two guards there, wounding them. Two policemen outside the guard hut sustained minor injuries, described as grazes and one of them had to seek medical attention. 
The police said that the weapon used in the attack was an M-16 given the caliber of the spent shells recovered. The bullets shattered the glass windows and damaged portions of the hut.
A police source said that the bullets destroyed sections of the hut, chipping the concrete walls in parts. Police Commissioner Henry Greene was in his office when he was disturbed by the sounds of rapid gunfire. He raced downstairs to find his ranks at the gate to the compound nursing the injuries. He said that there was no time for anyone to return fire because the car sped away.
The gunfire sparked an alert at the United States Embassy nearby. People at the Le Meridien Pegasus also heard the gunshots and wondered at the source. Within minutes the police mounted cordons and stopped and searched vehicles in the vicinity. They emptied vehicles and conducted thorough searches but failed to uncover anything illegal.
And in Buxton, all was quiet with the majority of the residents choosing to remain indoors. Some residents spoke of being informed that gunmen in the village had ordered a dusk to dawn curfew. However, others said that they expected a raid from the joint services and therefore chose to remain indoors to avoid any injury.
On Wednesday night, a Guyana Defence Force patrol came under attack that left one soldier, Ivor Williams, dead and another, Cowyn Torrington, injured. A woman, Thelma Cromwell, was shot in the leg. (Kaieteur News)
Kilcoy murder
Police searching for killer hunter
Zulikha Razack displaying marks on her hand that she sustained during the struggle to wrest the gun from the attacker
A 30-year-old hunter of Kilcoy, Corentyne cold-bloodedly gunned down the husband of his ex-lover around 5:30 pm on Wednesday in a fit of jealousy and police are on the hunt for him.
Ahmad Razack, a 49-year-old cane harvester of 'Kilcoy Front' sustained a single gunshot wound to his right ear at close range and appeared to have died instantly. The suspect's wife and father are in police custody assisting with investigations.
While this newspaper was there yesterday, rumours were spreading in the village that the suspect had hung himself in the backdam but police sources say they were unable to confirm this.
Razack's wife Zulikha, 43, told Stabroek News that she and her husband left home on a bicycle around 4:45 pm to pick up bricks from her mother's yard at `Kilcoy Back' when the suspect pounced on them.
She said "all I hear is a loud noise and at the same time me hear me husband shout 'Bee' [her nickname] and when me turn around me see me he fall to the ground. Smoke was coming out of his ear
Ahmad Razack
She said before she could do anything, the suspect snatched her from behind and told her that he wanted the two of them "to go away far." She said she was afraid that he would turn the gun on her so she agreed to go with him.
She said as he attempted to flee with her through an abandoned rice field behind the house - from where he apparently entered - he told her "ah gon carry yuh behind there and buss yuh belly."
The woman said he held onto her hand and dragged her to the back and said "ah gon shoot you and shoot meself. But me grab the gun and he try to tek it away from me.
We start fuh scramble and roll pon de ground." She said her attacker rolled among some bushes and she took the opportunity to run but he pursued her and grabbed her hair. She jerked away and strands of her hair got entangled between his fingers.
She said he again threatened to shoot her and she told him to go ahead and "shoot me." But as luck would have it, the hair in his hands prevented him from pulling the trigger. He then turned back and bolted through the rice field.
Zulikha, who suffered bruises on her right hand and other parts of her body during the scuffle, said relatives and other persons living nearby witnessed the incident but they were afraid to intervene because the attacker had a gun.
She admitted to this newspaper that she and the suspect shared a relationship for a few years but said she ended it five months ago. However, her younger, jilted lover kept calling her cellular phone. She said she ignored all his calls and would even turn the phone off to avoid him.
She learnt that her attacker was drinking with his friends earlier and said that was the only reason she managed to overpower him. "If he wasn't drunk ah woulda never manage him and he woulda shoot me," she stated. She said that when they were together the suspect was abusive but she always tried to fight back.
She said in the past he threatened to kill her, her husband and her son and she reported the threats to the Albion Police Station but they never took any action. Her daughter, Zorifa told this newspaper on the day of the incident the man called twice on her mother's phone but she disconnected the calls on both occasions.
According to Zulikha, as she and Razack were going to pick up the bricks they passed the suspect standing on the street. Reports are that he returned home and told his wife and father that he was "going to shoot two birds," when in fact he premeditated to follow the couple and attack them.
Zorifa said shortly after her parents left home she got a message that her mother was calling her "right away." She said she saw a crowd and thought that her mother and the suspect had a fight again or that he had a problem with her father. But she said when she entered the yard she saw her father lying face down in a pool of blood with his feet pulled up slightly and she started to scream.
In tears the girl told this newspaper, "My father did not deserve to die like this. He was a quiet and good man; he never troubled anybody." She said even when the suspect would try to pick a fight with her father he would just walk away. (Shabna Ullah/Stabroek News)
January 25, 2008
Fake $14M found in barrel was sent from London
Some of the counterfeit money.
Customs officers yesterday unearthed $14M in counterfeit Guyana currency hidden among some items in a barrel which had been sitting at the John Fernandes Wharf for almost two years now.
The stunning discovery was made late yesterday morning after a decision was taken to open up the barrel which was shipped from London through the Harrison Shipping Company in May, 2006 to an Essequibo Coast resident.
Up to last evening, no one had been arrested in relation to the find and although Customs have said that the money found was fake the police will be conducting their own tests.
John Fernandes Ltd yesterday said that the find is now a police matter so the company had no comment to make at this point in time. This newspaper later spoke to an official from Harrison Shipping Company. According to a Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) statement, the counterfeit money and other articles which were sent two years ago were discovered during routine duties at the city wharf. The barrel, GRA said, was selected for inspection as it was identified as want- of-entry, meaning its time for clearance was long overdue.
"The Customs Act stipulates that once cargo is entered within 30 days after arrival of a vessel, it is deemed want of entry and the GRA has the authority to dispose of such cargo", the statement said adding that, the money was contained in a steel barrel, which originated from London. It arrived in the country on May 5, 2006 and the consignee uplifted the documents to clear the consignment on May 11, 2006 but never did.
The GRA yesterday said that as a criminal offence had been committed the police were called in and the money, 13,956 $1,000 notes and 183 $500 notes, was handed over to them. When Stabroek News arrived at the wharf around midday, ranks from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had not yet arrived. About four of them arrived in a pick-up a few minutes later and immediately went into one of the company's buildings to begin their investigations.
About fifteen minutes after the police arrived, Stabroek News noticed a man hurrying into the building with a money counter on his shoulder. Up to when this newspaper left nearly two hours after, the police had not concluded their investigation there and reports were that the counting process was not over. Stabroek News was told that the money needed to be counted again to verify that the first count was correct.
Sources said that the money was in numerous piles hidden among items in the barrel which included pens, towels and tools. As the customs officers removed the items from the barrel, they discovered the money piles. A London address and a Supenaam, Essequibo Coast address were printed on the barrel, this newspaper was told.
Contacted yesterday, a woman who said she was in charge of the Harrison Shipping Company but wished to remain unnamed told Stabroek News that it was a Supenaam, Essequibo man who uplifted the documents to collect the barrel from the wharf.
The woman said that when the container with barrels, boxes and parcels arrives at the wharf, the company's officials would unpack it. The items would then be left there. She said that it is then the recipient's responsibility to go into the office and collect the documents to uplift them. The woman said that the company would draw up documents for each individual's package which would be given to customers once identification is produced.
The woman told Stabroek News that she has since handed over the book with the person's signature and ID number to the police so that they can carry out their investigations. When the customer goes to uplift an item from the wharf, they have to fill out a customs document before the barrel or box is examined by a Customs official and its value assessed in their presence.
Training in counterfeit detection
The GRA said that over the years there has been a robust training programme to enhance the capacity of its employees and the organization continues to strive to improve its efficiency. The GRA said too that staffers, especially those in the Customs Department were trained to differentiate between counterfeit and genuine currency.
Officials of the Central Bank conducted the training exercise and the Bank's official stressed that counterfeiting carries serious penalties including life imprisonment while the penalty for knowingly passing on counterfeit currency to another person is 14 years imprisonment, the GRA said yesterday. (Stabroek News / Zoisa Fraser /photo courtesy of the Guyana Revenue Authority)
Pirates raid 10 boats
Five pirates attacked the crews of 10 fishing boats on Tuesday off the Corentyne coast and robbed them of engines, fish and fish glue worth "millions of dollars" in the latest strike against the besieged industry.
The boats belonging to members of the Number 66 Fish Port Complex were attacked in the Atlantic Ocean. Some of the boats drifted to the Coroni shore in Suriname where the crew members were awaiting rescue. Up to late last evening only three of the boats had returned to the complex while a rescue team had gone to Coroni with engines to bring in the others.
The pirates who were armed with a double barrel gun used a grey boat to carry out the first attack. According to reports they pulled up alongside the boat and after they jumped in they proceeded to beat the crew severely with cutlasses. The owner of the boat told Stabroek News that the pirates ordered his crew to lie face down. They then abandoned the boat they came with and compelled his captain to pilot them to the other boats.
According to the owner, the pirates threatened to kill his crew if they did not co-operate. He said the pirates demanded to know who the owner of the boat was but since he is a prominent member of the complex "they gave them a wrong name."
He said the sea bandits examined his engine and after they realized it was "old" they did not take it. But, he said they took away the anchor from the boat. They also carted off a quantity of fish and fish glue worth over $300,000 from the boat. The man said as his captain was heading back to the complex, he pulled in a boat that was drifting after the pirates had made off with the engine. Another crew that was left to drift was also rescued by a passing fishing boat.
An official from the complex told this newspaper that the attack occurred even though the head of the piracy ring and other pirates were arrested in Suriname. He said the piracy situation was under control for one month but it has started again since some of the men were granted bail in Suriname. According to the official six engines, engine parts, a quantity of fishing seines and drums of gasoline were recovered in Suriname but the authorities have only returned two engines so far.
He said he is "fed up with this whole thing and I condemn the attack on the poor fishermen." He appealed to the "general public, the opposition and human rights activists to speak out against the piracy and support the fishermen."
He questioned, "Why is the human rights not coming out? Are the fishermen not humans too?" Further he blamed "the government for not taking drastic actions against the pirates. They should have moved to Suriname and bring the pirates back to Guyana to face charges."
The official also said that even though government is offering full support to the fishermen by listening to their complaints "when the fishermen make a request they don't respond… but if the sugar workers make a demand the government respects their demands"
The official said he would continue the fight to ease the sufferings of the fishermen and said the complex is offering a reward of $500,000 for any information that can lead to the capture of the pirates. Persons can call 338-2328, he said. (Shabna Ullah/Stabroek News)
January 24, 2008
Soldier killed in Buxton shoot-out
Two injured
A shoot-out last night between patrolling ranks of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and gunmen in the East Coast village of Buxton left one soldier dead and two persons wounded. Dead is 24-year-old Troy Williams who took a gunshot to the left shoulder which exited the left side of his chest, according to sources at the Georgetown Hospital last night.
Up to press time this morning, the wounded soldier, Cowyn Torrington, 18, of Agricola, East Bank Demerara was receiving treatment at the hospital. He was shot in the right leg and left thigh. A 29-year-old woman, Thelma Cromwell of 136 Friendship Railway Embankment, was also wounded by a bullet to her right leg and she was receiving medical attention at the Georgetown Hospital also this morning.
Torrington had been the first to arrive at the institution after the shooting, which started sometime around 8.30 pm. The firefight lasted around 20 minutes and was heard by residents of the village many of whom took cover.
According to reports, an army patrol was making its rounds in the village in the vicinity of the Railway Embankment when the ranks came under fire from a number of gunmen wielding assault rifles. The soldiers returned fire and thus the exchange ensued leading to the wounding of Torrington and Williams.
An army pick up brought the bullet-riddled body of Williams to the hospital, accompanied by ranks of the force, all of whom seemed in battle mode, weapons at the ready. Senior army staffer Colonel Bruce Lovell, who was at the hospital, had to urge the ranks to get a grip of themselves.
Last night residents of the village reported seeing a heavier than usual presence of patrolling ranks who arrived by the truckloads and poured deep into the village. The last casualty for the army by way of criminal elements was in 2004, during a similar operation in Buxton.
Since the beginning of the crime spree in 2002 with the Mashramani Day jailbreak, over two dozen soldiers and police ranks have died at the hands of criminals on the lower East Coast. The Police have been unable to control the situation, made worse with the 2006 disappearance of a large number of AK-47 rifles from Camp Ayanganna.
The police had recently warned of difficulties in patrolling certain parts of the village because of the presence of gunmen. (Stabroek News)
Police issues wanted bulletin for Dataram
The Police yesterday issued a wanted bulletin for controversial West Demerara resident, Barry Dataram, who is at the centre of extradition proceedings in the courts here, upon a request by the United States of America.
Dataram, of Ruimzeight Gardens and who is holder of US citizenship, was initially held by local police on a Provisional Warrant of Arrest pending extradition proceedings to the US where he is indicted on drug related charges.
However, following representation by his lawyers in the High Court, he was subsequently released on $100,000.00 bail by the said court on January 16 this year, with an order that he should report to the Commissioner of Police every Monday and Friday. But according to the police release, Dataram has failed to do so and as such, is in breach of the Order of the Court, resulting in his now being “wanted by the Police in connection with this breach of recognisance”.
The Police, in seeking the assistance of the public in arresting Dataram, is asking that anyone with information should contact telephone numbers 225-6411, 226-6978, 225-8196, 225-3650, 226-1326, 225-7625 or 911 or the nearest police station. All information, the Police assured, would be treated with strict confidence.
The arrest of Dataram has its genesis in the abduction of his wife Selezaa and three-year-old daughter by two Venezuelans, one of whom was killed during a rescue operation in the Pomeroon area by the Police. Following his arrest and subsequent incarceration at the Camp Street jail, Dataram was released thrice by High Court Judge Jainarayan Singh Jr, but Acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack, is viewing the judge’s decision as an abuse of the court’ process.
In a letter first released to the Chronicle on Sunday evening, Ali-Hack questioned the habeas corpus application upon which the judge released Dataram, pointing out that it was not the legal procedure for deciding the validity of a provisional arrest warrant. According to the Acting DPP, had the correct procedure been invoked, there is the likelihood that the decision would have been appealed. (Guyana Cronicle)
January 23, 2008
Green: 'I don't know about ministry guns
Former Prime Minister under the Forbes Burnham-led PNC administration, Hamilton Green says that he has no knowledge of the movement of weapons from the army to government ministries in the 1970s. He also insisted that the then government and the party were under threat from "terrorists" from within and without during that period.
On Monday Stabroek News was told that several government ministries and semi-autonomous bodies were issued with army weapons during the Burnham-led government and that the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) had records showing weapons being issued to one senior, current PNCR official which to date have not been returned.
President Bharrat Jagdeo last week announced that he would be commissioning a board of inquiry to investigate how many guns were issued to government departments by all para-military organisations from the 1950s to the present. He did not give a timeline as to when the inquiry would begin, although hinting that it would be soon. Jagdeo had also disclosed that between 1976 and 1979 some 237 guns of various calibre were issued to the Ministry of National Development.
The announcement of the probe was triggered by the police recovering three weapons from gunmen in the Zeskendren, Mahaicony, West Coast Berbice area two weeks ago. The GDF subsequently said that two of the weapons- an M-72 rifle and a 9mm Beretta submachine gun belonged to the military and they were issued to the Ministry of Mobilisation and National Development between 1976 and 1979.
Stabroek News was however told that weapons were not only issued to the national development ministry, but several other such agencies. According to a source, based on records it could be more than 237 weapons that were issued. The source mentioned that guns were issued to the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and other semi-autonomous bodies. The army source also disclosed that at one time some 50 Beretta submachine guns were issued to the youth arm of a political party.
Contacted for a comment, City Mayor, Green, who was a cabinet minister in the 1970s and later became Prime Minister told Stabroek News that he had no knowledge of the movement of weapons from the army to state agencies at that time, noting that although he was a cabinet member he was not always in the 'know'.
The former Prime Minister however said that what he knew was that the government at the time and the country were the targets of terrorist from various sources. He said coupled with that Guyana was under threat from Venezuela. Asked directly whether his ministry at the time was issued with guns, Green replied in the negative and when asked whether he knew of any other departments which received weapons, he said he could not answer for them.
"If the army has information then they should pursue it to see what weapons were returned and what wasn't," Green, who said he supported the inquiry which will be commissioned by President Jagdeo, said.
Rice bags
He however, noted that Jagdeo should not limit his inquiry to guns issued by the security forces in the 1970s, but the movement of all guns across the country. The City mayor recalled that there were instances in the history of this country when guns moved across the country in rice bags and this was not done by the PNC.
"The public needs to know also who were issued gun licences during the period 1992 to now," Green said adding that there should be an audit of all guns. He said because of the serious threat illicit guns posed to national security, the President should broaden his inquiry. "A gun is a gun, whether it was issued in the 1970s or now, it remains a gun and a very dangerous weapon," Green said.
Asked how as a senior official of the then PNC government he did not know about the issuance of weapons by the army to state agencies, Green said "We are not deities. I have no personal knowledge." On whether the revelation that weapons were issued to the government by the army but were never returned cast a bad light on the party, which he only recently returned to, Green said he did not think so. "You have to look at this issue from both sides we have to see if the army's records are authentic," Green stressed.
Leader of the PNCR, Robert Corbin has already said that he believes most the weapons were returned and urged the military to check its records before making public declarations. On the issuance of the weapons, Corbin had said he would not venture to speak on behalf of the past PNC administration and the policy it adopted three decades ago with respect to the issue and distribution of guns to a state agency.
He said the matter should however be examined in the context of the security conditions that existed at that time in the country. The question of the issuing of weapons to state agencies in the seventies and eighties has a specific context, Corbin said, noting that it was a troubling and challenging period in Guyana's history.
Ridding
In a statement yesterday the inter-agency task force on narcotics and illicit weapons said it is concerned over the disclosure that a large quantity of high powered weapons issued by the GDF to a state agency under the previous PNC administration have gone missing and cannot be accounted for.
The task force's concern is based on the fact that some of these weapons, as manifested at Zeskendren, Mahaicony have ended up in the hands of criminal elements, the statement said adding that it is of the firm opinion that the weapons must be considered illicit since they were found in the hands of persons who are not authorized to possess them.
The task force said at this point in time, given that the other weapons, associated with those found at Mahaicony cannot be accounted for, they therefore must be deemed illicit weapons. "This expos, in the task force's view, fuels the speculation in certain quarters that there are large quantities of illegal weapons "out there".
The body said such speculation contrasts significantly with the consistent efforts by the law enforcement agencies to stem the proliferation of illicit weapons in Guyana. It added that in 2007, 144 illegal firearms were seized against 143 in 2006.
The task force said it is convinced that the situation is not one that is out of control as is the case in other countries, noting that credit must be given to the joint services for the excellent work they have done and continue to do in ridding the streets of illicit weapons. (Nigel Williams/Stabroek News)
January 22, 2008
Guard remanded over rape of girl, 18
Gavin Doris
A 33-year-old man charged with the rape of an 18-year-old girl was remanded to prison yesterday when he appeared before Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle. Gavin Doris of 169 Freeman Street, East La Penitence was not required to plead to the indictable charge for the offence, which allegedly took place on January 11.
The accused, a security guard and the father of two, appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates Court without a lawyer and said nothing in his defence. The case will be called again on January 29 at Court Five.(Stabroek News)
After PI continuation… Kaieteur News murder accused, policeman in physical clash
One of the men charged with murdering the Kaieteur News pressmen was involved in a physical clash with a policeman after another of their Court appearances yesterday. It happened when another of the remanded accused tried to collect something from a relative and the cop attempted to stop him.
Dwight Da Silva, who was with the others in a Police vehicle, intervened and the policeman cuffed him. The prisoner retaliated by kicking the officer before other ranks moved the latter off the scene, with DaSilva calling for a fight. DaSilva also hurled a drink bottle in the direction of the policeman but the object missed its target.
Earlier, DaSilva, Germaine Charles alias ‘Skinny’, of Lot 133 Brutus Street, Agricola, East Bank Demerara and Buxton, East Coast Demerara, Quincy Evans called ‘Jimmy Dog’ and a 12-year-old juvenile, had appeared before Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys for the continuation of the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) into the joint charge for the unlawful killing of Barbot Paul, at Kaneville, Grove, East Bank Demerara, on August 6, 2006.
In those pre-trial proceedings, Paul’s reputed wife, Latiphan and his granddaughter, Nazeema Persaud, gave depositions.
Police Detective Lance Corporal Germaine Laundry testified in the Kaieteur News pressmen PI, in which Charles, DaSilva and Evans, are accused of having, between August 7 and 13, 2006, murdered Mark Maikoo, Chitram ‘Boyo’ Persaud, Eon Wigman, Richard Stuart and Shazim Mohamed, at the Eccles, East Bank Demerara printery.
The three are also jointly charged with murdering Wordsworth Grey, at Bagotstown, another East Bank Demerara village, on August 8, 2006. Charles alone is on three more charges of murder and attempted murder. He is accused of unlawfully killing Devon Charles on January 23, 2006 at Agricola and Kevin Browne on March 18, 2006 at McDoom and attempting to kill Shaundell Browne, mother of Kevin, the same day at the very location.
One more charge said Germaine Charles, along with Diego France, murdered Gilford Grey, at Agricola, on June 26, 2006. Charles is charged, too, with the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and he pleaded not guilty to that offence. That allegation said, on August 11, 2006, he was found with a .32 pistol together with 29 live rounds of matching ammunition. (Guyana Cronicle/Telesha Persaud)
New York nurse murder
Mahaica duo further remanded
The disc jockey and the taxi driver stood emotionless in the dock at the Mahaicony Magistrate's Court yesterday after they were further remanded to prison for allegedly clubbing a US-based nurse to death. The beginning of the preliminary inquiry into the murder has been set for February 11.
DJ Amar "Buddy" Narine, 20, and taxi driver Devindra "Buoy" Sukhdeo also 20, both of Belmonte, Mahaica were first charged with the offence on Friday at the Vigilance Court. It is alleged that between January 15 and 16 the men murdered 49-year-old Abdool Hackeem Khan, a nurse from Queens, New York.
Narine's attorney, Vic Puran was not present at court yesterday. But attorney-at-law, Sandil Kissoon, who is representing Sukhdeo, made a request for the copies of the statements from the men whom he said were charged on the same jacket. Police Prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent Errol Watts objected, saying the matter was indictable and the file had to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice first.
The lawyer responded that the newspapers received information, which they published, that the men confessed to the crime, and questioned why then the statements could not be made available. Kissoon further said that his client's family has been stigmatised. He also asked that Sukhdeo's vehicle, which is in police custody, be released to the agent, as it has not yet been paid for. The prosecutor replied that the vehicle was an exhibit and could not be returned at this stage.
The lawyer then said that there should be a fair trial within a reasonable time, adding that the prosecution needed to "examine the exhibit and take the forensic samples as quickly as possible".]The prosecutor then submitted that the police would not be ready to commence the preliminary inquiry until April. But the lawyer argued that it would not be fair for the accused to wait so long and asked that the matter be fixed for February 11.
After listening to arguments from the defence and the prosecution, Magistrate Sherdell Isaacs, before whom the men made their second appearance, upheld the submissions of the counsel and adjourned the matter to February 11. (Stabroek News)
January 19, 2008
DJ, taxi driver charged with murder of US-based nurse
Amar "Buddy" Narine
A disc jockey and a taxi driver accused of clubbing an overseas-based Guyanese to death were remanded to prison when they appeared before Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs at the Vigilance Magistrate's Court yesterday.
It is alleged that between January 15 and 16, Amar "Buddy" Narine, 20 and Devindra "Buoy" Sukhdeo, 20, a taxi driver, both of Belmont, Mahaica murdered 49-year-old Abdool Hackeem Khan, a nurse of Queens, New York.
The men who were not required to plead to the indictable offence are scheduled to appear at the Mahaicony Magistrate's Court on Monday.
A post-mortem examination performed yesterday on Khan's remains proved that he died from brain haemorrhage due to multiple skull fracture. According to reports, Khan who arrived at his mother's home at Mahaica around 2.30 pm on Tuesday, dropped off his suitcase and went out to meet friends. He returned home at 8.30 pm and retired to bed.
Around 11 pm, after receiving a phone call, he collected the gate key from his brother's house at the back and said a taxi was waiting for him. Relatives made a missing person's report at the Mahaica Police Station around 5 pm on Wednesday and shortly afterwards police informed them that a body was found among a clump of bushes at Letter T, Mahaicony.
The police escorted the relatives to the Mahaicony station to give statements and later took them to the Lyken Funeral Home where they identified the body. According to reports a wallet containing a quantity of US currency was reportedly missing from the dead man's pocket and some of the money was later recovered from the home of the two accused.
Reports state that the back of Khan's head and his ears were severely bashed in and his hip area was badly bruised, suggesting he had been dragged along the road. (Stabroek News)
Armed gang in raid at Stanleytown
Family robbed of $1.5M, threatened
Five heavily-armed gunmen last evening invaded the home of a Stanleytown, West Bank Demerara businessman robbing him of over $1.5M in cash while threatening to kill him and his family.
The gunmen, who arrived at the man's home via the Demerara River, escaped by boat. Police up to last night were patrolling the area with two vessels of their own. There was widespread fear last night in the small community which has had its fair share of trouble at the hands of now dead serial rapist, Neil Bovell.
Stabroek News was unable to solicit a comment from the businessman, Gladwyn Lall. Speaking to Stabroek News last night a senior police officer in the West Demerara division said that the gunmen arrived at Lall's home at around 6:40 pm.
The officer said at the time the man's family was upstairs, while he and one of his workers were downstairs. The gunmen accosted him and the worker and led them upstairs where they were placed to lie face-down. The man's family was also placed to lie on the ground. During this period two of the gunmen guarded them, while the others demanded cash and jewellery. They ransacked the house and found around $1.5M in cash and jewellery before escaping.
Armed bandits have routinely used the river as a getaway route after committing robberies and other crimes along the East Bank and also West Bank Demerara. On December 11 last year at Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara, a gang armed with guns, robbed Basdeo Sahadar of $5.7 million and 355 ounces of raw gold valued at $55 million.
Reports are that shortly before 7 pm on the said date; a gang of armed men invaded the Anna Catherina home of Sahadar and as he attempted to run away, shot him in the left hip. Holding his son Davendra at gunpoint, they ransacked the home and discovered the items. Firing shots in the air, the bandits escaped in a waiting car after residents began blocking the road.
Police had said that it is suspected that the bandits escaped by boat along the Atlantic Ocean. On December 13, acting on information received, the police arrested one of the suspects in Kitty. Police in a press release had said that $1.8 million had been recovered from his hotel room.
Back in September last year the Manageress and a sales representative attached to the Digicel outlet at Grove Public Road, EBD, were attacked and robbed by three men all armed with handguns. Reports were that the Manageress Kineon Branford and sales rep Sean Freeman were in the building when the men entered and held them at gunpoint.
They then took away an undisclosed sum of cash, a laptop computer and a number of cell phones, including the sales rep's personal cell phone. The bandits then escaped by boat along the Demerara River. In April also last year nine bandits invaded the Demerara Oxygen Company Limited headquarters at Eccles, East Bank Demerara and carted off some $5M and also took away the security monitor.
The police had said then that the nine gunmen entered the company's premises from the direction of the Demerara River. While some of them stood guard, three others went to the accounts area where they held up employees who were in the cashier's cage and robbed the company of over $5 million and four employees of jewellery and cellular phones. After the robbery police said the criminals jumped into a boat that was waiting in the Demerara River and escaped.
There was also another case in June 2006 when a gang of seven masked men carted off $30M from Muneshwer's Hardware Ltd., Water Street, Georgetown. Police had said that the criminals, three of whom were armed with handguns, held up the five unarmed security guards on duty at the business entity at the time and placed them in a storage bond.
While one of the bandits stood guard, the other men used a welding set to cut their way into the building and into a metal safe from which they took away the cash. After collecting the cash the bandits escaped by way of the Demerara River. The police have been criticized for lacking boats and other resources to adequately patrol the rivers and track down bandits. (Gaulbert Sutherland/Stabroek News)
Golden Grove man electrocuted on lamppost
The lamppost that Lennox Alexander was working on when he was electrocuted.
A Golden Grove man was electrocuted yesterday when he came into contact with a live wire atop a lamppost a short distance from his home.
Lennox Alexander, 33, of 77 Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital. His death has divided a section of the large community, with many saying that he was called out of his home to do dirty work.
There are conflicting accounts in relation to what happened to Alexander. It is clear that he was on the post fixing a wire, but while some said he was merely trying to repair a broken streetlight, others said he was called to do an illegal connection.
Alexander was known in the area as the man with a little knowledge about electrical matters and persons were in the habit of asking him to do work for them. This is according to the man's mother, Jennifer Alexander, who told Stabroek News yesterday that her son was at home having a meal when someone from the road called him.
"He was here good good eating when someone from the street call he and ask he to do something for them. So he get up and left. I had no idea where he was going but I never saw him again until the news reach me," the mother related.
The woman said Alexander left around 9.25 am with the individual who had called out to him and apparently climbed up the lamppost. Based on the reports she received, he was on the post fixing wires when he came into contact with a live wire, some five minutes after leaving home. He was electrocuted and was left hanging from the post for a short while before he crashed to the ground. When he fell, Alexander was still breathing so persons close by rushed him to the city but by the time they arrived at the hospital it was already too late.
According to the mother, someone delivered the news that her son had a fall but no information was provided as to what happened. She later learnt that he had been electrocuted, but this was after he had left for Georgetown. She said the people who called him out must have had a reason for doing so but whatever it was, it cost Alexander his life and deprived her of her youngest child.
This newspaper spoke with a few persons in the area yesterday who claimed to have witnessed the incident. One woman said the streetlights in the area had stopped working for some time now and Alexander would often remark he would fix them one day. She said he decided to work on that particular one yesterday morning when he was electrocuted. According to her, no one called him from his home since he already had a plan to start working on the lights.
She said Alexander had a fairly good knowledge of electrical work and seemed to know what he was about. According to her electricity theft is not a practice people in the area subscribe to because they pay bills. The woman said the people who were circulating information about illegal connections needed to recheck their facts because not a single person being blamed for the death was stealing electricity.
However, another woman in the area said Alexander was at home eating when he got the call to go fix a wire for someone in the area. She said the man left his home and went to the lamppost where he started working on an illegal connection to a home. It was while connecting the wires that he was electrocuted.
The man's mother said she did not have all the facts to say what her son was doing. What she knows is that he is not coming back. Alexander had no children but is survived by three siblings and his parents. (Iana Seales/Stabroek News)
January 15, 2008
Weapons find at Mahaicony
Trio released on station bail
Police have released the three men who were arrested following the abandonment of a boat with three weapons last Wednesday at Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Leroy Brummel told Stabroek News yesterday that the men have been released on station bail. He said the men were merely arrested to aid in the police investigations, and they were not the same men who confronted the police in the Zeskendren, Mahaicony area during the operation that yielded the weapons. Brummel said investigations were continuing.
Meanwhile, a political row has erupted between the ruling PPP/C and the opposition PNCR after the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) disclosed in a statement on Friday that two of the weapons, a Beretta submachine gun and an M-72 rifle, belonged to the GDF and were issued to the Ministry of Mobilisation and National Development under the Forbes Burnham-led PNC administration in the 1970s.
Police had said in a statement on Wednesday night that around 2 pm the said day policemen responded to information that a boat with a number of men was seen in the Zeskendren, Mahaicony drainage canal area. Upon arrival there, the police saw three men aboard a boat. According to the police statement, the men opened fire and the policemen took evasive action and returned fire. The men then abandoned the boat and escaped into thick bush north of the canal, the police statement said.
The law enforcement officials then conducted a search of the wooden boat, which had a 75 hp Yamaha outboard engine and recovered one M-72 rifle with five magazines and 80 rounds 7.62 x 39 ammunition; one Beretta submachine gun with two magazines and 60 rounds 9 mm ammunition; a semi-automatic rifle with two magazines and 42 rounds 9 mm ammunition; one telescopic lens; two camouflage jackets; two cutlasses; one torchlight and two bottles of mosquito repellent.
Leader of the PNCR Robert Corbin said the authorities were trying to divert attention from torture allegations made against the military by now saying that two weapons recovered from criminals were issued to a government ministry in the 1970s. Corbin had promised to make a fuller statement on the issue yesterday, but this was not done.
He told Stabroek News on Sunday that even if the weapons were issued to the Ministry of Mobilisation and National Development it was an entirely government arrangement since the ministry was part of the state. "The weapons were issued to a government ministry and not the party," Corbin declared.
Sources in the military said a number of weapons might have been issued to the said ministry and not returned. The GDF on Friday said in a statement that the guns were the property of the army. It said the M-72 rifle and the Beretta 9 mm submachine gun were issued to the Ministry of National Deve-lopment in 1976 and 1979 respectively and were not returned.
People's Progressive Party General Secretary Donald Ramotar told the Guyana Chronicle on Saturday that the PNCR needed to "come clean to tell us how many weapons they have from the army and to return them."
Ramotar said he was not surprised by the army's revelation, charging, "We had known" that at a time of the philosophy of party paramountcy over the state in the 1970s and 1980s, "a lot of these para-military type organisations were set up by the PNC." Ramotar said an enquiry is needed "to try to find out where the weapons are and try to get them back. What is clear is that these weapons are in the hands of very dangerous criminals within our society."
However, Corbin said it was hypocritical for the ruling party to be calling for an enquiry into arms recovered from criminals, which were issued decades ago to a government ministry while resisting holding enquiries into allegations of torture and violence against persons along the East Coast Demerara. (Stabroek News)
January 11, 2008
Suriname police hunt serial rapist
PARAMARIBO, Suriname: Police in Suriname have launched a manhunt for a suspected serial rapist who has attacked at least four European women the past eight months. In its bid to catch the suspect, the police have called upon the public to come forward with information.
Lead investigator of the case, inspector Rudy Steinberg told reporters that the first attack was reported in May 2007, followed by similar attacks in August and September. According to the Public Relations Office of the Suriname Police Corps, the attacker, who is said to be of East-Indian descent and in his mid-20s, is targeting white females who are living alone.
All the reported attacks occurred in the northern part of the capital Paramaribo, police have disclosed. The victims were three women from the Netherlands and one from Belgium, all students. During the past several years, hundreds students from these two countries have flocked to the Suriname capital to do their internships in Suriname.
According to police, the perpetrator has planned his attacks very carefully. In most cases, he broke into the homes of his victims at night when they were not home and subsequently attacked and raped them as soon as they entered the house. In at least one case he waited for his victim to arrive home and jumped her as she opened the door to enter her house.
Police said that in most cases the attacker also took money and valuables from the victims. “We ultimately called in the help of the media and the public because we have noticed that the attacks are continuing and the suspect is especially targeting foreign white female students and this is very worrisome,” said inspector Steinberg. Meanwhile several of his traumatized victims have left the country without finishing their studies.
Steinberg in an invited comment noted that the police normally don’t try to solve rape cases through publicity. “But if we don’t stop him, this thing could turn very ugly for the country,” said the police officer. Police meanwhile have received information from the public, but so far no arrest has been made. “We hope to catch the suspect as soon as possible. We have to stop this,” said Steinberg. (Ivan Cairo/Caribbean Net News Suriname Correspondent)
January 10, 2008
Minibus driver shot dead in botched robbery
The scene shortly after the minibus ran off the road.
Minibus driver Edward Joseph, of Lot 636 Gibson Street, Tucville, La Penitence, Georgetown, was fatally shot early yesterday morning in a botched robbery.
The 42-year-old left his home around 05:00 h for his usual trip on which he transports passengers to Moleson Creek, Corentyne, Berbice, on their way to Suriname.
Police said he was attacked about 15 minutes later. The father of one was in his vehicle at the Berbice Minibus Park in Georgetown when he received a cellular phone call to pick up a passenger in Lain Avenue and the shooting took place on his arrival there.
Joseph realised his passengers, who were carrying large sums of money, were going to be robbed and he made a desperate attempt to drive to East Ruimveldt Police outpost but did not succeed. After the gunmen escaped, he disembarked and ran some distance but fell into a nearby canal where BHH 7786 was also ditched with the four passengers inside.
He was pronounced dead at Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH). One of the passengers, Candace Blackman said she was going to Suriname on business and had a quantity of cash. She said Joseph saved her and others by driving away from the scene. “The bandits came to rob us and he prevented that but it is unfortunate he was killed because he tried to drive to the Police outpost,” the woman said.
Blackman said it was a passer-by who rescued them, including a one month old baby, as the minibus was partly submerged in the water. The infant is a patient at the GPH in a stable but critical condition. (Guyana Cronicle)
Other man shot in Drakes killing still hospitalised
Brian Vishnu Deolall, 23, the Bonny’s Meat Centre employee, also shot when businessman Lawrence Drakes was killed in Church Street Tuesday evening, remains a patient in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH).
He was wounded in the left side hip by a stray bullet and doctors are closely monitoring his condition. Deolall, of 48 Delph Street, Campbellville, also in Georgetown, suffered the wound while at work around 19:50 h. The shooting took place when gunmen walked into Merriman Mall, opposite Bonny’s and dragged out Drakes, the 45-year-old owner of an Internet cafe.
Bullets were fired by the gunmen to scare off other people nearby and one struck Deolall in the supermarket across the street. Speaking from his hospital bed, the injured man recalled leaning against the counter when he felt something stinging him in the region of the left groin.
He said he impulsively held on to his side and ran towards the meat section where workmates who heard the gunshots hurried to his assistance and rushed him to hospital. Drakes, of Lot 16 Bel Air Avenue, Lamaha Gardens, another part of the city, was pronounced dead on arrival at the GPH. (Guyana Cronicle)
High-power guns, ammo..........
and other equipment unearthed in Mahaicony
Police yesterday acting on information received, unearthed two high powered guns, ammunition and other equipment in a boat in the Zeskendren, Mahaicony drainage canal area.
Upon arrival in the area the police said they saw three men aboard a boat. The men opened fire on the police who returned fire. The men, however, abandoned the boat and escaped into some thick bushes north of the canal.
The police then conducted a search of the wooden boat which carried a 75hp Yamaha outboard engine and recovered the following:
* one (1) M-70 Rifle with five magazines and 80 rounds of 7.62 x 39 ammunition;
* one Beretta pistol with two) magazines and 60 rounds 9 mm. ammunition;
* a semi automatic rifle with two magazines and 42 rounds 9mm ammunition;
* one telescope
* two camouflage jackets;
* two cutlasses;
* one torch light;
* two bottles mosquito repellant.
The boat and engine were also taken into police custody. Additional police ranks and the Army responded and over flights were conducted in the area. Roadblocks have been established at strategic locations and up to press time, searches were being conducted in the area. Guyana Cronicle)
January 09, 2008
One dead, at least two seriously injured.....
....in Merriman’s Mall shooting
Now dead Lawrence Drakes, being escorted to the Georgetown
Lawrence Drakes, also known as ‘FC’, was shot dead last night in what appeared to be a robbery attempt on the Merriman’s Mall Internet Café, obliquely situated to Bunny’s Super Market on Church Street.
According to reports, the incident occurred around 19:30 hours, when about four unmasked gunmen entered the café as it was about to close. It is uncertain what transpired between Drakes –the proprietor, and his attackers, but eyewitnesses have speculated that there was more to the attack than robbery.“I deh creasin the action from de side, and I see one a dem holdin a long gun to de man and he seh aright aright I gon go in de car” one eyewitness stated. “If dem come fa rob de place why they want he fa go wid them?” Drakes reportedly stated the business with his brother, who was also present at the time of the incident, but managed to escape unharmed.
This newspaper understands that the dead man would usually wear a lot of gold and diamond jewellery, making him what onlookers say makes him an “an easy target.” The ordeal which lasted about six to eight minutes saw at least two other persons being shot at Bunny’s Supermarket, across the street - after the gunmen reportedly opened fire in that direction.
While to some, the ‘robbery attempt’ would appear to have failed, relatives of the dead man are saying otherwise, as they mourn the loss of a life. A gold wrist band complete with a large quantity of diamonds was said to be missing from the dead man’s wrist.
Following the ordeal, the gunmen was said to have fled in a car that was parked mere yards away from the scene. Police investigations are ongoing. (Guyana Cronicle/Photo by Cullen Bess-Nelson)
Colleen Forrester’s killers make confession
The killers of 55-year-old Colleen Forrester, have confessed to the brutal killing and are in police custody. Her nephew and four friends were suspects in the gruesome killing. Relatives of Forrester, whose bloated and decomposed body was discovered in a septic tank in Campbellville, Georgetown, revealed she died as a result of strangulation and a fractured skull.
Her son, Cleyon Forrester, said his mother went missing after she and her grand-daughter visited her overseas-based brother’s house she was caretaking. Mrs. Forrester’s main intention was to evict her nephew from the house which is located at Lot 55 William Street, Campbellville, Georgetown, because of his friend’s constant visit to the premises.
“The neighbours had complained that the men’s behaviour was disturbing the peace and quiet of the neighbourhood,” Cleyon Forrester explained. He added that his mother went there to ask him to move out of the house and it is then she was murdered by her own nephew and his friends.
Cleyon Forrester believes that his mother was killed on December 27, 2007 after returning from the Main Big Lime. Mrs. Forrester’s body was discovered about 09:55 h on Sunday in a septic tank in the yard during a search at the Campbellville premises.
Relatives, along with the Elder of the church Forrester attended, accompanied by the police, went to the building in search of Mrs. Forrester, after they could not ascertain her whereabouts and seeing blood and a quantity of knives in the house during an earlier visit on Sunday. The mother of five is expected to be buried on Thursday. (Guyana Cronicle)
Doctors battling to save stabbed 20-year-old mother
Doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), were last night battling to save the life of a 20-year-old mother of one, brutally stabbed by another woman on a public way at Rasville, Roxanne Burnham Scheme. Vanecia George, also called “Moonie”, also of Rasville, was rushed to the Accident and Emergency Unit of the institution around 20:45h with a gaping stab wound to the neck, and others to the left rib cage and shoulder.
George’s sisters said that around 20:30 hours, Vanecia and another female resident of Rasville had an argument. They recalled that as the misunderstanding escalated, the aggressor was aided and abetted by another female and male companion, one of whom handed her a knife.
The sisters said they tried in vain to rescue the victim from the trio, but before they knew it, the woman had whisked out the knife and dealt Vanecia multiple stabs. The wounded woman was rushed to the GPHC and the matter later reported to the police, but by then, the attacker had disappeared. (Guyana Cronicle)
January 08, 2008
Woman, 23, stabbed to death at marital home
Allegedly by husband's girlfriend
Husband 'other woman' held
Iana Hamilton
A 23-year-old woman was on Sunday night stabbed to death, allegedly by another female, while visiting her New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop marital home. Dead is Iana Hamilton of Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, who had separated from her husband about two months ago. Police have since detained her husband and the alleged female assailant as investigations continue.
According to reports, Hamilton had gone to the New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop residence on Sunday night where she reportedly had a "scramble" with her husband's girlfriend. Following the incident, she was transported to the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) where she was pronounced dead on arrival. Her body bore a stab wound to the left side of her chest.
Her husband and his 21-year-old girlfriend are in police custody assisting with investigations. Relatives were in shock over the incident yesterday. According to reports, Hamilton had gone to her husband's home around 10 pm, when she was confronted by the other woman. They reportedly had a tussle and Hamilton was stabbed.
A neighbour, who asked not to be identified, said she saw Hamilton, "all dressed-up", entering the yard late that night. A short while later, she said, she saw the police and then learnt what had happened. The incident reportedly occurred under the house, which only has an upper flat. Pools of blood were still visible under the house when this newspaper visited yesterday.
Hamilton's mother, Ann Pickett told Stabroek News that her daughter, who had returned to live with the family, had left to go out some time after 9 pm on Sunday. She said her daughter did not say where she was heading, just that she was going out on the road. The grieving woman recalled that the last words her daughter had spoken to her were to enquire if they had any ice. Pickett said she later received a call from her daughter's sister-in-law who told her what had happened.
She did not go to the scene but sent her husband who later informed her that by the time he arrived, the police had taken their daughter's body to the WDRH.
Pickett yesterday recalled that her daughter and son-in-law had been experiencing marital problems and Iana had moved out of the New Road home about two months ago. The couple had been married for two years. She said even though they were separated, her daughter's husband still used to visit her even turning up at the home last Saturday to see her.
Relatives said Iana's husband had had other girlfriends and after being involved in a tussle at her marital home with another one, who was allegedly pregnant for him, Iana had moved out. Iana was the third of six children. Relatives described her as a quiet but friendly person, who was always smiling. "She was not no rowdy person," one said. (Gaulbert Sutherland/Stabroek News)
January 07, 2008
Gruesome discovery of woman’s body in septic tank
Mrs. Coleen Forrester whose body was found in a septic tank yesterday
Her son, Cleyon Forrester, 23, told the Guyana Chronicle yesterday that many telephone calls to her cellular phone went unanswered and they decided to look for her.
“I went to the house one night last week in search of her and I knew something was amiss when a friend of the relatives staying at the house refused to look me in the eye when I asked him about my mother’s whereabouts,” he explained yesterday.
The distraught man added that his cousin also went to the house to look for his mother and noticed what appeared to be blood stains all over the house and a quantity of knives. “She did not tell me anything until after the body was found or we would have made the discovery earlier, Cleyon Forrester remarked. He added that his mother was scheduled to leave Guyana for Trinidad during the time she went missing and they were of the opinion she had left and as such did not bother to notify the police.
House where her body was found.It was after the woman with whom she was expected to travel with showed up at her daughter’s house in Sophia to enquire about whereabouts that a search for Coleen Forrester was mounted on Wednesday last.
Relatives are of the opinion that Mrs. Forrester went to the house to inform her nephew and two other male relatives who are occupying the house to move out because they were many complaints about their behaviour.
She had intended for her son to live there and is believed this angered the men who murdered her and dumped her body in the septic tank in the yard.
Cleyon Forrester said that he was also present when they searched the entire house at Lot 55 William Street, Campbellville and it was when they were about to leave her two dogs began barking insistently near the septic tank and the Pastor asked the police to open it and the gruesome discovery was made. Her son told the Guyana Chronicle that his mother was very fond of her dogs and took two of them from her West Ruimveldt home to the Campbellville residence.
At the time Mrs. Forrester went missing she had in her possession a quantity of US currency which she had intended to travel to Trinidad with, as well as documents including the transport for her property among other things.
Police said the discovery was made about 09:55h. Coleen Forrester was last seen alive by her grand-daughter on December 27, 2007. Three men, including a relative who lives in the house, have been arrested and are in police custody assisting with the investigations. Mrs. Coleen Forrester, a mother of five leaves to mourn 12 grandchildren and scores of shocked relatives. (Guyana Cronicle/Photo by Cullen Bess-Nelson)
January 05, 2008
Guyana troops allege torture over missing rifle
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AFP): Guyana's military said Friday they were ready to investigate allegations that soldiers were tortured by their superior officers after an AK-47 assault rifle disappeared at a barracks.
"For the loss of the AK-47 rifle, several persons were interrogated and we are not aware of any act of physical abuse during the interrogation process, but we remain committed to investigating any such act," Acting Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Lovell told AFP.
One soldier said that when he was interrogated by officers on December 7, a week after the rifle disappeared, he was strapped down and beaten, given electric shocks, suffocated, and had his groin pepper-sprayed.
Several soldiers and a high-ranking senior officer confirmed that the soldier responsible for the arsenal at Camp Ayanganna Headquarters in Georgetown at the time of the AK-47's disappearance had his ribs broken by army investigators.
Since the disappearance, military sources said, the entire command structure of the unit has been relieved of their duties to facilitate the investigations, and disciplinary proceedings have started against officers and soldiers.
A former investigator, who spoke to AFP on condition of strict anonymity, said soldiers are usually mistreated during investigations and the tactics included submerging them in the Demerara River, one of Guyana's main waterways. (Caribbean Net News)
January 03, 2008
Gunmen storm New Year's church event
Celebrants ordered to lie on floor
Gunmen on New Year's morning attacked members of the Bethel Wesleyan Church on the Bachelor's Adventure Public Road, East Coast Demerara robbing the pastor and a woman of jewellery valued at $145,000 along with an undisclosed sum of church funds.
The robbers, armed with rifles, ordered over 20 members to lie on the floor while threatening to shoot the Pastor, Clairmonte Boucher. Speaking to Stabroek News last evening Boucher said that they had their traditional Old Year's Night church service on Monday evening which concluded at 1 am on Tuesday. He said it is customary that a social would follow the service every year and this year there was no difference.
He told Stabroek News that they had just finished eating - around 30 of them and were sitting mainly inside the church and on the verandah when around 4:30 on Tuesday morning the bandits struck. The pastor said one of the bandits wore military fatigues, while another was decked out in a black dress and a wig. He said all three men brandished rifles.
Boucher said when he first saw the men entering the church he thought they were policemen. "I thought there was a robbery nearby and the police were after the bandits," the pastor said. He said once the gunmen got into the church the one dressed in military fatigues went up to him and asked for the church funds. "Pastor where is the money?"
Boucher quoted the bandit as saying. By this time he said the rest of his congregation was placed to lie face down and he was soon ordered to adopt the same position. He said beside him was a sister of the church and she too was forced to lie face down. Boucher told Stabroek News that he showed the robbers to the offering which was on a table near the rostrum. He said the man in the black dress went to uplift the offering, but he did not find it and they then began threatening him.
"Like this man deh pon stupidness…leh we shoot he," one of the robbers said. Boucher said he again directed the men to the offering and had even volunteered to go and fetch it for them, but they insisted that he stay down.
While on the ground Boucher said he was stripped of his gold band valued $90,000, wedding band and wristwatch, while the church sister was also relieved of her valuables. The bandits grabbed the offering and escaped. Boucher said when he was satisfied that the gunmen had left the area he contacted the police who later came and took statements.
Police in a statement yesterday said that investigations revealed that Boucher and several members were having refreshments after the church service had concluded when three armed men entered and held them at gunpoint. (Stabroek News)
January 01, 2008
British drug mule thought he had swallowed diamonds
Jailed for four years
George Onyekachi Agbapuruonwu
A British national who pleaded guilty to a trafficking in narcotics charge yesterday told the court that he was tricked, since the pellets he swallowed were to have contained diamonds, not cocaine.
George Onyekachi Agbapuruonwu, a 25 year-old London resident and student at the University of Greenwich, was arrested at the Cheddi Jagan Inter-national Airport, Timehri on Christmas Eve day. He later excreted 40 cocaine pellets at the hospital.
Yesterday, a calm looking Agbapuruonwu appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive Hamilton in the Georgetown Magistrate's Court charged with the offence. After pleading guilty to the charge and giving an explanation, he was sentenced to four years in prison together with a $363,075 fine. Last Monday, he had in his possession 485 grammes of cocaine for trafficking.
Police Prosecutor Desiree Fowler is reading the short facts of the case told the court that on the day in question around 5.25 am, Agbapuruonwu was an outgoing passenger at the airport bound for London via Port of Spain and Miami. Fowler said ranks of the police narcotics branch who were on duty at the time, noticed that he was acting in a suspicious manner and arrested him. She said he was later escorted to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he excreted 40 pellets containing suspected cocaine.
They were weighed and amounted to 485 grammes of cocaine. Agbapuruonwu was told of the offence and charged. In court yesterday, dressed in a grey Guyana souvenir t-shirt and black jeans, Agbapuruonwu repeatedly cracked his knuckles, licked his lips and stared at the floor. He said he came from London about two weeks ago to see a young woman by the name of "Micha" who he met on the internet.
When he arrived, he said, the young woman took "me somewhere for a couple of nights", adding that while he was there he met a man twice and the man asked him to take diamonds back to London for him. "He said that if I take half and he takes half himself, it will be cheaper. He wouldn't have to ship them. I asked him if they were blood diamonds," he added.
According to him, after the man assured him that everything would be all right he agreed to take them. "He said that to protect the condition I should swallow the diamonds and I did so. He said that they will be checked by customs if I just kept them in my bag and then they would get damaged," he added.
Agbapuruonwu told the court that the supposed diamonds were wrapped up; the outside of the wrapping was transparent and the inside was white. "I thought that it was the diamonds wrapped in tissue... I wouldn't have risked my life if I knew that it was that," he said. Begging the court for mercy, he said he was never arrested before and he had nobody in Guyana. He said he was born in London and his parents were there too.
In handing down her sentence, the magistrate said that she was taking off a year from the prison term because he pleaded guilty and Agbapuruonwu thanked her. After he has served his sentence, he will be deported. (Stabroek News)