Teen charged with.....
.....murder of 79-year-old Wakenaam woman
Latchman Persaud
Latchman Persaud, 17, called `Saramakatoy’ was not required to plead to the indictable charge when it was read to him by Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle. It is alleged that the youth murdered Dhanwantie, known as `Auntie’, at Sans Souci, Wakenaam between May 25 and 26.
The young man was unrepresented and no parent or relative accompanied him to court. He declined to say anything when he was asked by the magistrate.
Dhanwantie’s body was discovered by neighbours who had noticed her front door open and upon checking found her lying on her bedroom floor in a pool of blood. Dhanwantie lived alone but was being cared for by a woman, who would leave late in the afternoon and return each morning.
Her death came as a shock to residents who said she stayed mostly indoors and described her as peaceful. Neighbours had reportedly told the police that the woman would tell the lady who looked after her that she sometimes felt someone pulling at her at night. The matter continues at the Wakenaam Magistrate’s court on June 25. (Stabroek News)
Police round up Agricola men
Police yesterday morning rounded up close to a dozen men in the East Bank Demerara community of Agricola during a raid which the lawmen said was a routine exercise. Angry residents taunted and hurled remarks at the policemen during the raid which began shortly after 5 am and ended sometime after 9 am.
Residents told reporters that most of the men were picked up from their homes, while others were stopped and searched on their way to work and later bundled into a police vehicle. Police over recent months have stepped up surveillance in Agricola and other communities besieged by crime.
May 29, 2008
Court martial following theft of AK-47s…
Army officer loses one year seniority for negligence
Lieutenant Colonel Tony Ross has lost one year of his seniority for failing to ensure that the keys to the keys cabinet were booked in at Defence Headquarters’ Operations Room and to manage an effective booking in/out system for the keys ledger.
This decision was handed down yesterday by Judge Advocate Oslen Small at the court-martial of Ross who was in charge of the army’s arms store at the time of the theft of the 30 AK-47 rifles and five pistols in February 2006. The court-martial ended late Tuesday but Small reserved his sentence for yesterday.
Stabroek News had incorrectly reported in yesterday’s edition that Ross was found guilty of failing to effectively mange the arms store. Leslie Sobers, the officer’s lawyer, clarified that the charge had nothing to do with the management of the arms store but rather a failure to ensure keys were booked in and a system for booking in and booking out of keys was kept.
Sobers also clarified that his client’s court-martial had nothing to do with the disappearance of the 30 Ak-47 rifles and five pistols from the army’s storage bond back in 2006, although acknowledging that it was the theft of the weapons which triggered it. A military jury late Tuesday night found Ross guilty on two of four charges relating to conduct and negligence of duty.
The first charge against Ross alleged that on or about February 13, 2006, without proper authority, he instructed Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Gordon to establish an arms store for personnel of the Ordnance Corps, an instruction, which he knew, or was reasonably expected to know, he had no authority to issue. He was found not guilty on this charge. The second charge alleged that he gave instructions to have weapon numbers assigned to soldiers of the Ordnance Corps for the purpose of issuing the weapons to the soldiers, and Ross was also found not guilty on this charge.
However he was found guilty on the charges of failure to ensure that the keys to the keys cabinet were booked in at Defence Headquarters’ Operations Room, a duty that he knew or was reasonably expected to know, and during the period March 2005 to February 2006, failure to manage an effective booking in/out system for the keys ledger.
The GDF had terminated an earlier court-martial of Ross following President Bharrat Jagdeo’s appointment of several officers to the top posts of the military last year. Ross was in charge of the army’s arms store when the 30 AK-47 rifles and five pistols were smuggled out some time in February 2006. Ross was the commander of the Ordnance Corps, a unit responsible for the storage and distribution of weapons in the army. He is the first senior officer to be court-martialed following the disappearance of the weapons, which had sparked widespread public concern.
Warrant Officer John Peters was the first officer to be charged. He was found guilty on an offence relating to the missing weapons, but now retired chief of staff, Brigadier Edward Collins used his powers under the Defence Act to remit the sentence. Peters, following a court-martial, was found guilty on charges of conduct and neglect to the prejudice of good order and military discipline.
He was sentenced to one year’s detention and reduced to the rank of private. However, on August 16 Collins, utilizing the powers granted him under Section 111 (4) of the Defence Act 15:01, remitted the Warrant Officer’s sentence of detention. In effect, it meant that Peters no longer had to serve time in detention, but his conviction still stood, as did the sentence reducing him to the rank of private.
Additionally, the GDF had said that Peters would receive his benefits for serving in the force, but these would be in the rank of private. Fourteen of the AK-47 rifles have been recovered so far, most of them found in the hands of criminals connected to the Buxton-based criminal gang. (Stabroek News)
Second man charged with Bartica massacre
Clebert Reece
Clebert Reece called ‘Chi-chi’ of Lot 63 Barr Street, Albouystown, a 30-year-old miner who works in the Cuyuni area, was not required to plead to the 12 indictable counts of murder. Reece stood calmly before Principal Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle yesterday as she read the charge to him. He stared straight ahead with a blank expression.
It is alleged that on the night of February 17 at Bartica, Reece murdered nine civilians: Edwin Gilkes, Irving Ferreira, Ronald Gomes, Baldeo Singh, Dexter Adrian, Deonarine Singh, Abdool Yassin, Ashraf Khan, and Errol Thomas and three police officers: Ron Osborne, Zaheer Zakir and Shane Fredericks.
Attorney-at-law Adrian Thompson represented the accused. “The charge surprised us,” the attorney said. “He was in police custody for a while and was released. After months police have charged him,” Thompson told the court. Reece was remanded to prison and the matter was transferred to the Bartica Magistrate’s Court and will continue on June 11.
The accused, Reece, was previously before the court for allegedly being involved in a robbery. However, he was subsequently freed on November 6 last year by Magistrate Fazil Azeez since there was not enough evidence to convict him.
It was alleged that on 22 March, 2006 at Baboon Hole, Essequibo River, Reece along with three other men robbed the passengers of a speedboat heading to Bartica. Four men, earlier reports said, being armed with guns robbed the passengers of over $1 million in items, abandoned them on an island in the river and fled in the boat with the captain who later managed to escape.
On the night of February 17 at approximately 9.40 pm, some 20 gunmen attacked Bartica slaughtering one dozen people including three policemen during an hour-long strafing.
It was reported that the gunmen attacked the police station first, killing three policemen and freeing prisoners. They then took the vehicle assigned to the police station and went on a rampage, terrorising the community and murdering nine others. According to reports, the gunmen arrived in the area by boat and departed in similar fashion taking with them firearms they had grabbed from the police station and from a mining company.
Simon, a 44-year-old miner and father of nine who is a resident of the community, was the first person charged for the 12 murders. He first appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on April 9 and then later at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court on May 14. Reece, a father of one, made no statement to the court. Like Simon he passed through the court in an orderly manner without any outbursts from relatives.
The attack on the Bartica community came amidst supposedly heightened security across the country following the slaughter of 11 people at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara three weeks earlier. James Anthony Hyles, 19, called ‘Sally’, of 70 Friendship, East Coast Demerara has been charged with the Lusignan massacre. (Stabroek News)
Second man charged with Bartica massacre murders
Another man has been charged in connection with the February 17 Bartica massacre of 12 persons, including three policemen.
Clebert Reece alias ‘Chi Chi’, 30, of Lot 63 Barr Street, Albouystown, Georgetown, appeared before Principal Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle yesterday, accused of unlawfully killing Zaheer Zakhir, Shane Fredericks, Ronald Gomes, Irvin Ferreira, Errol Thomas, Edwin Gilkes, Dexter Adrian, Baldeo Singh, Ashraff Ally, Abdool Yasseen, Baldeo Singh and Ron Osbourne.
The father of one was remanded to prison and he will make his next appearance at Bartica Court, to where the case has been transferred. Previously, Roger Simon, a 44-year-old father of nine, of Lot 25 Fifth Avenue, Bartica, also faced a charge, on April 9, for the mass murders.
Injured in the marauding attack, too, were Police Constables Mark Campbell and Chester Benjamin, Melrose Allicock, of Bartica Housing Scheme, 15-year-old Lisa Narine and Raymond Whyte. (Guyana Cronicle)
May 28, 2008
Aranka dredge owner was shot, stoned to death – wife
Errol Inniss
A 48-year-old dredge owner was shot and stoned to death by two men on Sunday at his mining camp in Aranka; a small mining settlement along the Aranka River which branches off from the Cuyuni River, in the North-West region.
According to a police press release, investigations have revealed that around 2.20 pm on Sunday, Inniss was on his claim working when he was confronted by a man whom he had previously fired.
An argument ensued between Inniss and the suspect, who pulled out a firearm discharging rounds at Inniss, which hit him about the body, then escaped, the release said.
When Stabroek News visited the deceased man’s home yesterday afternoon, wake preparations were just beginning. Inniss’s reputed wife of 18 years was in a state of shock, but said that she was at Aranka when the incident occurred.
“I went to Aranka Landing to make a phone call and that is where the message reach me. Some of the workers come running out from the camp and they tell me that Tall Man dead,” the 45-year-old Mars explained. She told this newspaper that she started to scream, “he ain’t dead. I just talk to he,” after the men gave her the news.
Mars said that before she left their camp she and her reputed husband had shared a joke about the pants she wore that day. “That is the last I remember hearing from him,” she said. Mars explained that the Aranka Landing area is equivalent to a mining settlement where a small number of residents live and shops are located. The landing is just a small clearing surrounded by dense forest, she said, and a track, that stretches approximately one mile through the trees, leads to Inniss’ dredge camp.
“I run through de track. I fall down about five times before I reach,” Mars recounted. She added that along the track, there were shallow creeks and when she finally reached the camp she was wet. “Workers who saw the entire thing tell me what happen,” she told Stabroek News. She said the suspect and another man approached Inniss as he was starting the water engine. Both men were armed with guns and the workers were afraid to intervene, Mars explained.
The widow said she was told that her reputed husband was standing near one of the abandoned mining pits as one of the men argued with him. She added that one of the men reportedly shot Inniss who jumped into the pit in an attempt to escape his attackers.
“The workers said that after they shot at him they start to stone he with big bricks before they finally escaped,” Mars said. The woman said she arrived at the camp between 3.30 pm and 4 pm, but they could not find Inniss’s body in the muddied waters of the pit.
“We had to drain the dredge pit,” Mars explained, “and we ain’t find he until like 6 pm.” The woman said that when his body was finally recovered from the pit she held on to him. “He had mud all over he. The way I was holding he, I coulda feel that he get shoot in his back and his head was bleeding,” she recalled. Mars said could “feel” that her husband was dead.
Mars told this newspaper that the matter was reported to the police that same afternoon and the next day at approximately 5 am, she transported Inniss’s body to Bartica. The woman explained that it took five hours to travel from Aranka to Bartica where the closest police station was located.
The body was then taken from Bartica to the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour by police, she said, and a post-mortem examination will be conducted today. Inniss leaves to mourn one child and five foster children along with many relatives and friends. “He was a good husband to me,” his wife lamented, “he take me with all my children and he de always good to us.” (Sara Bharrat/Stabroek News)
Wakenaam murder
Woman had said someone was tugging at her at night
The 79-year-old Wakenaam, Essequibo Island woman who was found dead in her Sans Souci house on Monday, had complained on several occasions to her caretaker that she had felt a tugging at her underclothes often at night, and even though several reports were made to the police no action was taken, residents claim.
Dhamwantie, known as “Auntie”, lived alone but was being cared for by a woman, who would leave late in the afternoon and return each morning. Her body was recovered by neighbours who noticed her door open and found her lying on her bedroom floor in a pool of blood.
Essequibo police have since confirmed that a 17-year-old Parika youth has been held in connection with the murder but stated that investigations were continuing. The source said the youth had confessed to raping and killing the woman. The woman’s body, the source said, bore marks of violence.
The woman’s death came as a shock to residents who said she stayed mostly indoors and described her as peaceful. Following the discovery of the body, the teenager, who neighbours said was a drug addict was seen with bloodstains on his clothing. He was reportedly arrested for breaking and entering and it was during interrogation he reportedly told police that he had raped and killed the woman.
“She did tell the girl that does look at she that sometimes in the night she used to feel somebody pulling at she pampers and the girl did report it to the police but they never investigate anything,” a neighbour told this newspaper yesterday. The woman who said she lived close to “Auntie” did not even realize that anything was wrong until she saw another woman from the area going into the house and when she enquired she was told of the woman’s death.
She said in a matter of ten minutes as word spread about the discovery many persons rushed to the scene. The woman said she also heard some persons saying that the woman’s house had been ransacked and there was blood on her bed and on the floor.A senior police officer on the Essequibo Coast told Stabroek News yesterday that the claims being made by residents about complaints being lodged that the woman was tormented by someone at night, were being investigated. The source said many residents have made the claim.
A post-mortem examination is to be conducted on the woman’s body after which the police may move to charge the teen. (Stabroek News)
May 27, 2008
Other defendant granted bail…
One year imprisonment, $6,000 fine for marijuana smoker
Magistrate Hazel Octave-Hamilton yesterday sentenced Rayon Quow to one year imprisonment for smoking cannabis (marijuana).
The prisoner, of Lot 2, Phase Two, East Ruimveldt, pleaded guilty to having smoked the narcotic on May 20 last on Croal Street, also in Georgetown. He said he had a domestic problem and went to have a drink when a friend gave him a “joint” (cigarette).
But before he could begin to use it, the Police arrived and he threw it away. However, the prohibited substance was retrieved, Quow said, begging for lenience. He was also fined $6,000.
In the same court, Leon Jones alias ‘Doops’ was granted $50,000 bail on a different drug charge. The defendant, of Lot 22 Third Avenue, Bartica, pleaded not guilty to being in possession of eleven and a half grammes, of marijuana, too, at Bartica police Station on May 20, as well. His case was transferred to Bartica Court for June 10. (Guyana Cronicle)
Father of four chopped, gunned down
Murdered Felix Da Silva.
Dead is Felix Da Silva, 27, of Lot 7 Sea Dam Riverview, Ruimveldt, Georgetown. Wife of the deceased, Michelle Russell, 26, told the Guyana Chronicle that she was inside the house when she heard a knock on the door and went to open it.
At the door, was a villager, who had a cutlass in his hand, and is known to her, and a man who identified himself as a policeman enquired about her husband’s whereabouts, she said.
The grieving woman added that the men rushed into the house and forced Da Silva out of bed and the man who was armed with the cutlass dealt him a lash to the body. Outside the door, the men accused Da Silva of stealing a generator from his shop which is located a short distance away, she said.
Grieving wife, Michelle Russell and her four children yesterday
In the end, Da Silva lay dead after the man who claimed to be a policeman police discharged three bullets into his body.
The fisherman was shot in the head, chest and foot and was later dragged by ranks to the Public Road Ruimveldt where a trail of dried blood was evident yesterday.
Reports said Da Silva succumbed soon after he was shot near his home. Da Silva was the father of four children whose ages are three months, three years, four years, and eight years. Relatives and neighbours gathered at the man’s home yesterday and were in a deep state of shock and mourning. (Guyana Cronicle)
May 26, 2008
Scalped man said he gathered fruits for a living
Abandoned at hospital as baby, ran away from home at 7
“If ah didn’t have long hair I woulda dead that day,” Moheal Raul Ramsaywack, victim of the vicious Forshaw Street, Queenstown pit bull attack, said yesterday from his hospital bed in Ward B2 at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH).
Last Tuesday the 20-year-old vagrant was scalped by three pit bulls while he was picking mangoes in an empty lot. The dogs managed to enter the empty lot through a hole in the fence.
Ramsaywack was lying with his eyes closed yesterday, deep lines creasing his forehead indicating that he was still in great pain. He was quite willing to talk to this newspaper and said that the dressing for his wounds had been changed a few minutes before. The young man’s head and both arms were heavily bandaged but his condition seemed to have improved.
Ramsaywack said that he was homeless and he explained that he gathered fruits from trees in open spaces and empty lots. He said that he made a living by selling the fruits and when he couldn’t get any then he worked as a labourer at the Stabroek Market.
In a matter-of-fact manner Ramsaywack explained that he had been homeless for a number of years. “I grow up right here in this hospital,” he said. “My mother left me at the hospital and this nurse tek me in ‘til I was like three year.” The man explained.
He went on to say that his mother came looking for him when he was 3-years-old and he went to live with her. However, he said, when he was 7-years-old he ran away from home and has lived on his own ever since. When asked why he ran away Ramsaywack could not give an answer. All he managed to say was, “I ain’t know. I just run away. I ain’t see my mother in years and I remember she telling me that me father get shoot in de army. But I does still see de nurse.”
The day before the pit bulls attacked him; Ramsaywack told this newspaper that he’d visited the nurse. He explained that the next day he decided to go into Queenstown to look for fruit trees in empty plots of land. “I de standing up and picking mangoes de day and next thing you know I see three dogs jumping on me,” he recalled. “I try to get away but I trip on a piece of wire or something and fall down.”
The man remembers screaming for help while the dogs bit at him. “After a while I jus’ give up ‘cause nobody de hearing,” he explained. “I remember everything after that. I remember when dem take me to de hospital. I de screaming out for water. I scream ‘til I de can’t scream anymore but nobody bring water for me.”
He said that he had shoulder length hair and he believes that if it weren’t for his hair causing some difficulty for the dogs to chew on his head then he would be a dead man today. The owner of the dogs, Joseph Satrohan, Ramsaywack said, has visited him once. “He come one time and bring some fruit and juice and I neva see he face again,” he said. Ramsaywack explained that when he gave his statement to the police last week he told them that he only wanted Satrohan to compensate him with a reasonable sum of money.
“I got a friend that does come see me every afternoon. She bring me lil clothes and food,” he said. Ramsaywack went on to add that he only knew the woman by seeing her around the Stabroek market area. He said the woman told him she saw the story in the newspaper and knew it was him. Since the attack last week, many residents of Queenstown and citizens countrywide have made pleas for drastic measures to be taken since pit bulls have launched several bloody attacks this year. Ramsaywack’s attack was the latest.
Charles Roopchand, a security guard of 2C Area H, Lusignan, ECD, was killed by a pack of dogs on the Ogle Airstrip road while on his way to work. Later that morning, Desire London, the wife of Bishop Philbert London and resident of 123 Goedverwag-ting, ECD, was bitten on her arms and leg by the same animals.
Earlier this year, full-blooded members of the breed bit two Tucville residents, as well as, two employees of the Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. That incident had occurred after a woman in the area was alleged to have loosed the dogs on a group of children.
Last year two pit bulls had attacked a North Ruimveldt jogger, seriously injuring him. He underwent several operations to repair his damaged ligaments and was expected to go abroad for further treatment. (Sara Bharrat/Stabroek News)
Lawmen working on massacres gunmen -Jagdeo
Promises full debate on forest options
President Bharrat Jagdeo
In the 42nd Independence Anniversary address which was to be delivered at the flag-raising ceremony at the National Park last night, the President sought to reassure Guyanese about the January 26th Lusignan and February 17th Bartica massacres which convulsed the country and left many in deep fear.
Noting that the country had been confronted internally by “evil forces”, Jagdeo said “Every day, the law enforcement agencies are working to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Lusignan and Bartica massacres, as well as other violent crimes. They are being supported by intelligence supplied by an ever widening group of Guyanese.
To give continued support and impetus to the anti-crime initiatives and to ensure a broad-based national response, we will continue to engage national stakeholders in finding solutions to this dilemma. In addition to these measures, we are implementing practical initiatives through our Security Sector Strategy- actions which will significantly increase the long-term capability of our security services.”
Thus far only one person has been charged for the Lusignan slaughter and one for the Bartica massacre despite the fact that dozens of gunmen participated. Spending a significant part of his address on the challenges and opportunities offered by climate change, the President pointed out that the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gases offered very little incentives to countries with forests.
He said if the goal of market-based incentives for forest preservation was realized there could be significant flows to countries like Guyana. Jagdeo noted that Guyana was joining with strategic partners across the world in this campaign and adverted to his public statements on several occasions that the country was open to receiving proposals on how its forests could be utilized to battle climate change.
“Much has been said about this, and not all of it is accurate, so I want to use tonight as an opportunity to repeat three fundamental points. One, Guyana’s sovereignty over our rainforest is not up for negotiation. Two, the legitimate development aspirations of our people will always come first, and three, when the time comes to discuss proposals for how we will implement this vision, all Guyanese will have the opportunity to participate fully in the debate on proposed solutions”, the President said.
The offer was first made by the President at the Commonwealth Finance Ministers meeting here last year and had raised eyebrows as political parties and others said they had not been consulted.
“I am confident that this national debate will show the world that our independent Guyana possesses a capacity to participate with the international community, not as a poor country looking for handouts but as a proud, independent nation with an understanding of how environmental vision can sustain prosperity and the path to social justice”, Jagdeo added.
The address, which was expected to be crowned by a fireworks display compliments of CLICO, also focused on the global economic situation and the cost of living pressures. Highlighting that the oil price had zoomed from around US$25 per barrel to US$135 per barrel in around five years, Jagdeo said Guyana was not exempt from the contagion.
“My government is mindful of the increased cost of living facing the general population. We have responded by extending the range of zero-rated items, removed the import taxes on diesel, lowered the import duties on gasoline and provided a subsidy to prevent the price of bread from rising. Through the New Guyana Marketing Corporation we are making cheaper flour and rice available to consumers.
We have further supported these interventions by making more money available to our citizens through increases in wages, pensions and social assistance, an increase in the income tax threshold and by providing a cost of living adjustment for public workers earning below $50,000 per month. In addition, we have for sometime now been absorbing electricity and water costs which would otherwise have had to be passed on to consumers. All of these measures are costing the Treasury billions of dollars”, the President stated.
He vowed that the government would ensure that social services – particularly health and education – were not compromised in efforts to cushion the impact of rising prices. In addition, he said that the country was re-orienting its economy over the long-term via the national competitiveness strategy.
He asserted “These are not merely statements of aspirations. We are frequently seeing that many Guyanese businesses have the innovation and entrepreneurship to create new economic successes. One significant example is the rapid emergence of a vibrant Information and Communications technology-enabled outsourcing sector employing well in excess of 1000 persons and growing at more than 40% per year. This sector is on track to emerge as one of our major exporting segments of our economy within the next five years.
“The reaction of international customers to the Guyanese professionals who provide services in this industry is almost entirely positive, proving that Guyana can compete and win in a highly competitive global market-place. These developments should serve as an inspiration to innovators and entrepreneurs across our country – whether in diversified agriculture, agri-processing, eco tourism, aquaculture, value-added forestry products, or any of the newly emerging economic sectors, which along with the modernization of the traditional sectors of the economy will form the bedrock of the new economy that is evolving.”
He contended that rising fuel prices make investment in hydro-electricity far more enticing and that in time this may also enable Guyana to export electricity. Plans for hydro have been held up for many years over project financing. Turning to the government’s `Grow More Food’ drive, Jagdeo said it was not just an emotive slogan but a call to action for farmers and businessmen “to think big and realise that we can build large-scale agri-businesses here in Guyana”.
He also sent best wishes to Guyana’s first President Arthur Chung who is in the hospital.
Referring to the challenges facing the country, the President said “We shall not retreat or succumb in the face of these adversities. If the independence we celebrate today is to mean anything, it should inspire us to draw from within ourselves a sense of confidence that there is a Guyanese destiny greater than the problems we face today, and that through a combination of vision and hard work we will overcome the challenges we face.” (Stabroek News)
Mrs Jagan cites guns, drug trafficking as key crime factors
Crime is one of the biggest problems facing Guyana and there are several factors that have come together and brought about serious crimes and one of these is the easy availability of guns, according to former President Janet Jagan.
Writing in the May 17-18 edition of the Weekend Mirror under the headline ‘Why is there so much crime?’, Mrs Jagan said that generally, the easy availability of all types of weapons, particularly small lethal weapons has led to a situation where too many people own such weapons.
“There’s not much difficulty in using them or in obtaining whatever amount of ammunition is needed”, she said. The former President wrote that people have been stealing since humans occupied the earth but what is new is that the thieves now carry weapons and use them without much provocation.
Security experts have in the past argued that the government needs to do more to soak up illegal guns via amnesties or buybacks and by strengthening border controls.
Another factor in the prevalence of deadly crimes, according to the former President, is the emergence of new forms of communication particularly television. She said that most children grow up “glued” to the TV screen, most without any parental restriction. “Without parental and school influence on the right and wrong of things, a child can grow up totally immune to what killing means. This helps formulate the killers in our society and it also emphasizes the responsibility of family and teachers in the lives of all of us as we and our children grow up”, she said.
“What I see is frequently absolutely revolting as regards killing, sex, general behaviour etc., but a child cannot discriminate so easily what is good from what is bad. Men and women with guns, shoot and shoot and shoot; it goes on every day, all day and night on TV. After a while firing a shot at another person is like putting a piece of candy in one’s mouth”, she added.
Mrs. Jagan also declared that the growth of drug trafficking is at the root of a great percentage of local murders and robberies. “Guyana has joined the fraternity of executions, I suppose for cheating in money transactions related to drugs”, she said. (Stabroek News)
Man reportedly shot dead at Aranka
A man was reportedly shot and killed in the remote mining community of Aranka, Cuyuni, police said in a press release yesterday. However, the law enforcers could not provide any further detail on the reported incident.
“The police are investigating a report received about 15:30 today (yesterday) that a man was shot and killed at Aranka, Cuyuni River. No other information is available at this time,” the police release said. (Stabroek News)
May 25, 2008
FARC leader is dead, Colombia says
Manuel Marulanda Velez, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, in 2000.
(CNN) -- The leader of Colombia's largest leftist rebel group is dead, a spokesman for the nation's defense ministry said Saturday. Pedro Antonio Marin, known as Manuel Marulanda Vilez and nicknamed Tirofijo, is believed to have died of a heart attack, ministry spokesman Juan Manuel Santos said. "He must be in hell," Santos told a reporter from Semana magazine.
Marulanda, who was believed to be in his late 70s, has led the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, for decades. "The information that we have is that he has gone already," he added. Asked whether he was saying that Marulanda had died, Santos said, "That's what a source who has never failed us tells us."
Speaking later, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe stopped short of saying Marulanda is dead, but he also said that the news comes from a reliable source. "I hope so," he said of Marulanda's reported death.
Santos said that the Colombian military had bombed three areas where Marulanda was believed to be around the time of his death but that the fighting was not believed to have killed him. Santos said Marulanda may have been replaced as leader by Alfonso Cano, a longtime ideologue for the group.
Uribe, who was speaking at a town hall-style meeting, also said his government is creating a reward fund of up to $100 million for rebel soldiers who leave FARC. He also said he's working on a way to grant former rebels what he called "conditional freedom" -- suggesting that they'd receive some form of amnesty for criminal acts.
The president said his government has been contacted by FARC members who apparently want to leave the group but fear for their safety. He did not say whether the fighters were high-level or rank-and-file members, but said they had expressed a willingness to release some of the hundreds of hostages that FARC is believed to be holding in the jungles along the border of Colombia and Ecuador.
Established as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party in 1964, FARC is Colombia's oldest, largest and best-equipped Marxist rebel group, according to the U.S. Department of State. Several nations, including the United States, classify it as a terrorist group. FARC has been embroiled in a complex guerilla conflict with the Colombian government and right-wing paramilitary groups working in tandem with the government.
The group has defended the taking of hostages, including ailing former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, as a legitimate technique in the conflict, although nations including the United States consider it a terrorist organization. As the group's leader, Marulanda was the ultimate decision maker who decided to approve the FARC's expanded efforts into cocaine trafficking, according to the U.S. State Department.
May 24, 2008
Gov’t must come clean on Roger Khan - PNCR
The opposition PNCR is calling on the PPP/C government to come clean about its knowledge of drug accused Guyanese Roger Khan and his activities, stating that the party “could not have been unaware of his extensive narco-related activities”.
Khan’s alleged drug trafficking and crime organization activities have been coming to light in legal arguments as the US government prepares for his trial, scheduled to begin in October.
Reading a prepared statement at its weekly press briefing at Congress Place yesterday, PNCR Central Executive Member Lance Carberry noted that it had been said that “the organization, headed by Roger Khan had not only exported cocaine to that country but was responsible for the deaths of over 200 individuals.
”According to the party, it was as a result of the findings that PNCR Leader Robert Corbin reiterated a call for an independent inquiry into “the death squads in Guyana.”
Carberry said the PPP’s response has been to deny all knowledge of Khan and his activities.
The party’s statement also said that when Khan was arrested in Suriname in 2006, that country’s Minister of Justice and Police Chandrika Persad Santokhi had disclosed that the Surinamese government had exchanged information with the Guyana government about Khan.
He quoted Khan’s statement prior to his arrest and detention by the US government that he had worked closely with police and provided them with assistance at his own expense during the crime spree in 2002. Carberry then said that any normal person would ask how it was possible for an individual to carry out major activities with the police force of a country and the government would not know that this was taking place.
He recalled that when Khan was arrested at Good Hope in 2002, one of the men arrested along with him was a serving policeman and the computer in Khan’s possession at the time was one which could only be purchased by a government.
“The evidence is clear that, not only did the Jagdeo administration know of Roger Khan but also aided and abetted his nefarious activities,” the statement said. Asked for a comment on the PNCR’s statement on details emerging from the case and which the government should have knowledge about, Presidential Advisor on Governance Gail Teixeira responded with a question.
“How is it expected that any government provide details coming out of a trial taking place in another country when all they have access to, are newspaper reports?” she asked. Stabroek News tried to make contact with PPP General Secretary Donald Ramotar to elicit a comment on the PNCR’s statement without success. (Stabroek News)
Bandits fire shots, rob Vive-La-Force family
At least four bandits robbed a couple and their daughter at their Vive-La-Force, West Bank Demerara home last evening and attempted to gain entry to a pastor’s house but were unsuccessful.
Before escaping the bandits fired off four shots. According to reports, the bandits struck sometime after 7 last evening at the Lot 28 Vive-La-Force home of 59-year-old Cecil Raganauth. He and his wife and their daughter were home at the time and the bandits held them at gunpoint and forced them to lie on the ground while demanding money and jewellery.
$12 000 and an undisclosed amount of jewellery were handed over to the men who then left and went to the pastor’s home where they attempted to gain entry. Police sources told Stabroek News that the pastor, who was robbed of over $2M during a robbery in November last year, and his family were at home at the time.
The bandits attempted to enter the home but by this time an alarm was raised and the bandits left but not before firing off four shots. There were conflicting reports on how the robbers escaped as some said that they had fled in a waiting car while others said that they ran away. Police are investigating the matter. (Stabroek News)
Two bodies found at separate locations
No marks of violence
Two bodies found at different East Coast locations were at the Lykens funeral parlour on Thursday awaiting post-mortem examinations.
The body of 52-year-old John Joseph of Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara was found on the Nabaclis foreshore at around 2.30 pm on Thursday while the body of 36-year-old Chaitram Baldeo who is known as a destitute was found in a coconut farm at Chelsea Park, Mahaica around 3 pm on Thursday, a police press release said. No marks of violence were seen on either body. (Stabroek News)
May 23, 2008
Roger Khan denies murdering Devendra Persaud, Allison
Lawyers say gym owner was supplying guns to Agricola gang
Roger khan
Lawyers representing Guyanese drug accused Roger Khan yesterday opposed a US government motion to admit into evidence “uncharged conduct in Guyana, including two murders” which they said Khan has denied committing and they alleged that one of the two could have been killed because he was supplying guns to an anti-government gang in Agricola.
Disclosures in the US court in New York have riveted the attention of Guyanese and resulted in the local police force on Wednesday formally asking the US government for any information on murders that Khan might have been involved in.
Devendra Persaud
Robert M. Simels and Diarmuid White, in a 22-page document filed in the New York eastern District Court yesterday and which this newspaper has seen, argue that the “probative value of the proffered evidence is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues and considerations of waste of time”.
The prosecution had filed a motion in limine seeking to have the court admit into evidence in Khan’s trial slated for October, that Khan murdered or caused to have murdered Devendra Persaud and Donald Allison in October 2004 and September 2005, respectively, as well as some 200 other people in Guyana.
Donald Allison
The defence argues that introduction of such evidence, based principally on the word of cooperating witnesses with no firsthand knowledge of the murders, would unfairly prejudice Khan and would fundamentally change the tenor and expand the scope of the trial.
It added that Khan would be required to meet the murder allegations in a trial within a trial and to seek the testimony of lay and law enforcement witnesses in Guyana with knowledge of the murders and this would cause confusion of the issues and a waste of time.
In fact, the defence argued that in its motion, the government acknowledged, for the first time, that certain violent activity involving Khan was “part of a battle among political factions in Guyana,” but contended that Khan also committed violent acts in furtherance of drug trafficking.This shift by the government from its previously stated position that Khan’s involvement in the battle among political factions in Guyana was irrelevant supports “Khan’s consistent position that he is entitled to offer evidence demonstrating that his activities related to the political struggle, not to drug trafficking”, his lawyers said.
The defence lawyers further stated that in the case of Persaud’s murder, they had interviewed a witness who was with Persaud at the time he was killed. They said the witness provided them with the name of the person who shot Persaud—a person with whom the witness was familiar—and the witness stated that it was neither Khan nor anyone associated with Khan.
The defence lawyers said they had investigated and found out that after Persaud returned to Guyana from the United States he had shot an individual and that individual or persons associated with him would have had strong motive to shoot Persaud in retaliation.
In addition, they said, in 1999, “one Butch Fraites (a pilot) was killed in Guyana, and Persaud was arrested for the murder”. The charges were dismissed, and Persaud moved to the United States. When Persaud returned to Guyana in 2003, friends and associates of Fraites had ample motive to kill Persaud, the lawyers said.
And with regard to the prosecution’s statement that Persaud’s relative had informed him in a consensually recorded telephone call that “Shortie” threatened her and her child at gunpoint, Khan denied participating in any such conduct. They said they would provide substantial evidence at trial that the nickname “Shortie” or “Shortman” was very common in Guyana.
With regard to the Allison murder, the lawyers argued that their investigations had revealed that it was not likely related to narcotics trafficking at all. They said it was because of “his role in supplying firearms to an anti-government gang in the Guyanese town of Agricola that was allied with the anti-government gang in the town of Buxton, which Khan has described in his previous submissions.” The lawyers submitted that Agricola and Buxton were connected by a common sugar cane field, and gang members transporting arms could pass clandestinely from one town to the other.
Allison, who operated a gym in Agricola, they said, was discovered to have brought large numbers of arms into Agricola in crates labelled as containing boxing equipment, for distribution to the Buxton gang. Therefore, the defence lawyers submitted, the prosecution’s contention that the murder of Allison was narcotics-related could only be based on false information provided by a person, Khan’s political enemy and a supporter of the Buxton criminal gang.
Khan’s lawyers submitted that the US government’s allegations of uncharged murders are based solely on the word of cooperating witnesses and not on any evidence. The lawyers said that as reported in yesterday’s edition of Stabroek News the President of Guyana has stated that Guyana had no information from the United States to substantiate any of the utterances in relation to the unsolved murders attributed by the US government to Khan.
The prosecution had charged in its motion that Persaud had been killed because Khan suspected that he was cooperating with the US government and that Allison’s murder was because he refused to join Khan’s drug organisation and had insulted Khan in public. (Stabroek News)
Police Commissioner clears air on transfer of ranks
Says he will not bow to political pressure,....
..... interference in performing his duties
Police Commissioner (acting) Mr. Henry Greene yesterday made it clear he will not bow to political pressure nor interference in performing his duties, and stressed that the Guyana Police Force is an organisation committed to professionalism.
Greene’s declaration was in response to recent statements by the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) which, according to the acting Police Commissioner, “seems to be an attempt to influence the actions of the Force Administration in relation to managing the Force”.
The PNCR Leader Mr. Robert Corbin, in a statement to the media, said the police ranks were transferred for refusing to shoot at protesters during a PNCR organised protest march in the City two Thursdays ago, and that the transfer was a political directive. Corbin also emphasised the move was a grave development which could have serious repercussions for morale and discipline in the Police Force.
But Greene, in a statement yesterday, said the recent posting of two members of the Force to the Interior was done by him in the best interest of the Force, and the ranks themselves. “I make no apology for doing what I am designated to do, and have no responsibility to disclose to any political party the reason for posting/transfer providing it is done without prejudice, malice, ill will or bias,” Greene charged. “Our approach to the job has always been one of neutrality, impartiality, non- partisan, justice and fairness,” Greene said.
Below is the text of a response by Greene to statements made in a recent press release by the PNCR on May 13, 2008. “I wish to refer to Press Release by the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) dated May 13, 2008 in relation to the recent posting of two (2) members of the Force.
The delay in response was due to my absence from Guyana. The Guyana Police Force is an organisation committed to professionalism. Our approach to the job has always been one of neutrality, impartiality, non- partisan, justice and fairness. The statement of the PNCR seems to be an attempt to influence the actions of the Force Administration in relation to managing the Force.
The Commissioner of Police (ag) will not bow to political pressure nor interference in performing his duties. The Commissioner under the Police Act under Section 7 (1) of Chapter 16:01 is charged as follows: The Commissioner shall, subject to the general orders and directions of the Minister, have the command and superintendence of the Force, and he shall be responsible to the Minister for peace and good order throughout Guyana, for the efficient administration and government of the Force, and for the proper expenditure of all public moneys appropriated for the service thereof.
His constitutional responsibilities include power to appoint, disciplinary control and removal from office of persons below the rank of Sergeant. These responsibilities under the Police Act give the Commissioner day to day operational control of the Force.
In discharge of my functions I have not been directed nor have I consulted political authorities in relation to the postings/transfers of members of the Force. I exercise my responsibilities to post ranks based on need, current ability and suitability. This has been the practice in the Force for many years.
The recent posting of two members of the Force to the Interior was done by me in the best interest of the Force and themselves at this time and is an internal matter. I make no apology for doing what I am designated to do, and have no responsibility to disclose to any political party the reason for posting/transfer providing it is done without prejudice, malice, ill will or bias.
Members of the Force should take heed against stooping to any political influences, but discharging their duties with due diligence, neutrality, impartiality and professionalism.” (Guyana Cronicle)
Johnny P., son robbed by gunmen
A South Ruimveldt businessman and his son were robbed at gunpoint while they were closing down their place of business on Wednesday night.
According to a police press release Johnny Pires and his son Johnny Pires Jr. were closing their business premises on Aubrey Barker Road, South Ruimveldt around 9.45 pm on Wednesday when three men, two who were armed with handguns attacked them.
Investigations revealed that the men took away a licensed pistol and ammunition, a sum of foreign and local currency and other articles making good their escape. (Stabroek News)
May 22, 2008
Guyana, Suriname accord takes aim at guns, drugs
In an effort to curtail the movement of criminals and the flow of guns and drugs across their borders, Guyana and Suriname signed a security accord on Monday aimed at strengthening co-operation among law enforcement agencies.
However, no agreement was reached on the extradition of Surinamese nationals to this country in case of any criminal conduct as the former Dutch colony continues to uphold its laws against extradition of its citizens.
Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, signed the agreement with his Surinamese counterpart, Chandrikapersad Santokhi, on Monday in Nickerie, Suriname. He told reporters yesterday that while Paramaribo did not have an extradition treaty with Georgetown, recent agreements reached at the level of the Caricom Heads of Government have made provision for a Caricom arrest treaty and a mutual legal assistance treaty.
He noted that where bilaterally Guyana and Suriname could not cooperate in the transfer of a criminal, through those measures at the level of Caricom, it might be possible. A number of Guyanese fugitives have fled to Suriname in recent years to evade law enforcement authorities here.
Rohee told the media that the two neighbouring states have also agreed to design a bilateral agreement on mutual legal assistance and to pursue active cooperation in the designing of legal instruments and the sharing of anti-crime legislation.
He said the agreements reached would be implemented almost immediately, noting that some of them need only to be activated through telephone and other contacts. However, the two countries agreed to establish focal points of contacts at all levels — policy, executive and operational — to help coordinate the implementation of the agreements reached.
Rohee, noting that matters pertaining to crime and security have found a place of priority on the agenda of Caricom Heads of Government, said with the two countries things are no different. Greater sharing of information among security officials from both countries in the areas of terrorism, narcotics and arms trafficking; money laundering, smuggling of goods and piracy and kidnapping were among the 17 agreements reached.
Rohee noted that as part of the accord, the legal, judicial and law enforcement agencies of both states will be given full policy support by their governments to enhance co-operation in the combating of cross-border crime. He added that all necessary and effective measures would be taken to collaboratively prevent terrorists and criminals from using the territory of either state to carry out their nefarious activities in their country or interests of third states.
Further, the two countries agreed that there would be vigilant and robust efforts to ensure that criminals are unable to use the territory of the other to escape the criminal justice system in the country in which they carry out their criminal activities.
Special focus will be placed on cooperating in order to combat transnational organised crime, with particular attention to smuggling of goods and piracy in the border area. “Co-operation will be strengthened to combat and prevent the production of as well as the trafficking in illicit drugs between the two countries,” the two countries agreed, noting that vital to effecting cooperation in this area will be the implementation of a formal mechanism, taking into consideration their respective laws and legal system.
Additionally, the two countries agreed that within the ambit of the applicable laws all possible means of monitoring persons of interests to the legal, judicial and law enforcement agencies, gathering actionable information and intelligence and garnering evidence to successfully prosecute criminals and terrorists will be employed on a collaborative basis.
This includes the sharing of information on the types and number of crimes committed in each country of criminals as well information regarding suspects and convicts involved in serious offences. “There will be exchanges of officers in order to build law enforcement capacities and lend technical assistance to the respective agencies as is required,” the countries agreed, asserting that the focus of those exchanges will be with regard to prosecutors and law enforcement officials.
Rohee told reporters that consultation on issues of crime and security at the ministerial level will be institutionalized and the two states agreed to meet at least once every year to review cooperation on issues related to crime and security and to explore initiatives to enhance co-operation to more effectively combat crime.
Rohee said he had every confidence that the agreements reached would be implemented, noting that it would be of great benefit to law enforcement officials here as they conduct their duties. “We can only hope that these measures will see greater efficiency among our people while at the same time safeguarding our borders and beating back criminals,” the Guyanese security minister said. (Stabroek News)
Cops ask US for info on Roger Khan ‘murders’
Under pressure to do more to probe the over 200 murders allegedly committed by a squad connected to drug-accused businessman, Roger Khan, the police yesterday said that they had requested information from the US on killings linked to him.
It is not clear whether the US Embassy here has replied to the request, which came in wake of bombshell revelations in a New York court where Khan is being tried for allegedly conspiring to import cocaine into that country.
In a terse statement issued yesterday afternoon, the Guyana Police Force said that consequent to media reports about murders committed by Khan in Guyana prior to his incarceration in the United States, it has requested of the US Embassy in Guyana any information in the possession of the US authorities in relation to the murders.
Earlier in the day, Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, told a news conference that the Bharrat Jagdeo administration was willing to cooperate on the issue to get to the bottom of the matter. He said if the US wanted to share any information about the murders Khan allegedly committed here the law enforcement authorities were willing to accept and investigate.
Asked why it took those revelations by the US to cause the police to investigate Khan, who had admitted organizing a squad of former policemen and ex-convicts to go after criminals in the 2002-04 escapee-led crime wave, Rohee said he did not know that the authorities never investigated those matters.
“I am assuming, because I wasn’t here at that time, that any police force will investigate what Khan had said,” Rohee asserted. He said he was not sure that the files of the countless unsolved murders allegedly committed by Khan’s killing squad were closed, adding that he never heard the police, nor the Director of Public Prosecu-tions declaring those cases closed.
The Jagdeo administration had been under pressure to act, given the disclosures in New York. At a press conference on May 9, Jagdeo told reporters that once evidence was shared with local law enforcement it would investigate.
He said then that no evidence had been supplied to Guyana even though the US prosecution linked Khan to the murders of Davendra Persaud and boxing coach Donald Allison. Jagdeo told reporters that his government did not have information from the United States to support any of the utterances made as that country continued to build its case against Khan.
“If we have any details about how they came upon this evidence or what evidence they have then I think the police should follow it up to the conclusion, although he [Khan] is not here in our jurisdiction,” Jagdeo reiterated. He said the local law enforcement agency was obligated to pursue any evidence about Khan’s involvement in any criminal act.
Parliamentary opposition parties on Saturday told this newspaper that infiltration of the security services by criminals might have prevented the US from sharing information with the local authorities on Khan.
The parties said the revelations that Khan’s squad killed over 200 people should not be taken lightly and added that the seeming non-committal attitude by the Jagdeo administration to such information would raise eyebrows. They argued that an independent probe should also be conducted since the revelations also pointed to some amount of complicity on the part of the government.
Opposition Leader Robert Corbin told this newspaper that he was not surprised that the US did not share information with the local law enforcement officials and attributed this to the current state of the security services in Guyana. Corbin said it was clear that security was compromised and had been infiltrated by drug lords. “There is no integrity here and if information is shared with them it can get back to the drug lords and that could compromise everything,” Corbin insisted.
He said it was pathetic that the local authorities would have to rely on the US’s information to deal with a purely internal matter. “We should have been in a position to give information. So the question should have been not whether they are withholding information but whether we were able to provide any information to them,” he said.
Alliance for Change (AFC) Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan said he felt the non-committal approach by government in this regard must raise eyebrows and noted that the way things unfolded and the way murders were committed over a period, gave an impression of association at a high level.
Guyana Action Party/Rise Organise and Rebuild Guyana (ROAR) Member of Parliament Everall Franklin queried who would carry out such investigations. He said that only an external investigative body could bring any meaning to such investigations, noting that the many mysterious killings, which occurred after the 2001 jailbreak, could not just have occurred without great assistance.
Two weeks ago, New York Eastern District Court Judge Dora Irizarry considered Khan’s criminal history and his alleged participation in a large-scale criminal enterprise in ruling in favour of an anonymous jury for his trial slated for October.
At the same time, a US government source said that the infamous “Phantom Squad” had murdered over 200 persons here. Justice Irizarry’s ruling meant that the names, addresses and workplaces of members of the jury would not be revealed and that they would eat lunch together and be accompanied to and from the courthouse each day by the United States Marshals Service.
In her ruling Justice Irizarry opined that the dangerousness of Khan as alleged by the prosecution, was a fact worth considering since according to one of the government’s confidential sources the “Phantom Squad” Khan was associated with was responsible for “at least 200 extra-judicial killings from 2002 to 2006” in Guyana. She said while he was not charged with crimes considered violent in nature, his involvement with and leadership of a criminal organisation indicates his “propensity for violence.”
Khan is charged with an eighteen-count indictment of distribution, importation, and possession of cocaine and engaging as a principal administrator, organiser, and leader of a continuing criminal enterprise in New York and elsewhere. He is accused of heading a powerful, violent, cocaine trafficking organisation out of Guyana. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted. (Stabroek News)
Judge flays Roger Khan’s lawyers over late subpoenas
New York judge, Dora Irizarry yesterday flayed the defence team of Guyanese drug accused Roger Khan for using dilatory tactics to hold up the case and strongly urged it to get down to the serious business of preparing for the trial slated for October.
The judge’s comments came in her ruling in favour of a request from the US government for an extension of time to file a motion to quash subpoenas issued by the court at the request of lawyers for Guyanese drug accused. The US government had also requested that the court excuse all subpoena recipients from complying with the subpoenas until the motion to quash was decided. Both requests were granted.
In her ruling, Justice Irizarry said the US government’s request for an extension until June 4, 2008, to file the motion to quash various Rule 17 subpoenas issued by the court at the request of the defence was granted for good cause.
“The court is greatly disturbed that defence counsel waited until just a few days before the return date — May 22, 2008 — to serve the subpoenas when the court signed them and returned them to defence counsel on April 28, 2008. Such dilatory tactics are inexcusable and will not be tolerated,” Justice Irizarry said in her ruling seen by this newspaper.
She said the court expected the defence counsel to proceed expeditiously with pretrial matters “because the trial in this matter will proceed as previously scheduled”. In its request for an extension of the time to respond to the subpoenas, the US government had written to the court pointing out that over the last week it had been contacted by numerous federal agencies that had recently received subpoenas from the defence.
These agencies included the State Depart-ment, the United States Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Adminis-tration, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Bureau of Prisons, and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as Knigh-tbridge Mortgage Bankers. According to the US government, the subpoenas were dated April 28, 2008 with a return date of May 22, 2008.
However, most of the subpoenas were served last week, and some were served as late as May 20, two days before the return date. “The government intends to file a motion to quash on behalf of each of these federal agencies and Knightbridge Mortgage Bankers. However, we continue to be contacted by agencies who have received subpoenas.
In an effort to ensure that we include all relevant subpoenas in our omnibus motion, and to give the government and the agencies at issue adequate time to respond to subpoenas that were just received, we request two weeks, until June 4, 2008, to file the motion to quash,” the US government said through Benton Campbell, United States Attorney.
Additionally, the US government requested that the court excuse all subpoena recipients from complying with the subpoenas until the motion to quash was decided. Khan is indicted for conspiring to import cocaine into the US and on 18 superseding indictments, which include continuing a criminal organization. (Stabroek News)
Pit bull scalping victim stable
Calls mount for action against further attacks
The victim of Tuesday’s pit bull attack is in a stable condition in the open ward of the Georgetown Public Hospital, while the owner of the dogs has been released from police custody. Commander of ‘A’ Division Welton Trotz told this newspaper that the police were awaiting a statement from the victim before proceeding with further investigations in the matter. He said the owner of the dogs Joseph Satrohan was released from custody yesterday afternoon.
When Stabroek News visited the hospital yesterday medical personnel were attending to the victim’s bloodied wounds while he appeared frail and in obvious pain.
Meanwhile, a concerned Section K Campbellville resident has contacted this newspaper to voice her disgust that another ferocious dog attack was allowed to happen. Audreyanna Thomas of Dadanawa Street said that since persons in her area owned vicious dogs that were constantly on the road, she understood the fear and cautiousness one must adopt around them.
Thomas said that given the fact that someone had died from a vicious dog attack, one would believe that owners would have taken extra measures to have their dogs secured and kept off the streets. She was astounded that the authorities are not taking any steps to ensure that owners realize the level of responsibility they took on when they decided to own dogs of this breed and to put and keep suitable measures in place.
Thomas emphasized that action must be taken against these individuals. She reminisced on the other dog attacks especially the one where full-blooded members of the pit bull breed were allegedly set loose on a group of children, and where employees of the Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were bitten. Thomas has joined the plea of the Queenstown residents for drastic measures to be taken. (Stabroek News)
May 21, 2008
Pit bulls maul vagrant, tears off scalp
MISSING SCALP’: The man, being assisted by the dog’s owner yesterday in the abandoned plot of land.
An unidentified man was mauled by three pit bulls yesterday afternoon in an abandoned lot on Forshaw Street, Queenstown, Georgetown.
Up to press time, the victim, called “Rawle” (only name given), was receiving treatment at the Georgetown Public Hospital and listed in a critical condition. He is scheduled to undergo surgery.
The man, who residents say is a vagrant, and who frequents the lot to pick fruits, was attacked by the animals from the yard next door. The dogs are reportedly owned by the proprietors of Satro’s General Store. But when approached yesterday they declined to comment on the incident.
The pit bulls ripped open a zinc fence from the yard where they are kept and attacked the man, ripping off his scalp and savaging parts of his body. His screams for help attracted neighbours who rushed to his rescue after they contacted the owners on the telephone. The injured man was conveyed to the GPH by neighbours who expressed disgust at the incident.
They all spoke of the need for the owners of the dogs to be more responsible and contain their animals, a pack of about eight, with pups. A female resident yesterday told the Guyana Chronicle that usually vagrants would frequent the empty lot where there are several fruit trees.
She added that the pit bulls on several occasions manage to get out of their yard and roam about on the streets, until their owners are summoned to lock them up. A black plastic bag with a quantity green mangoes was found under a tree in the yard, and nearby was a pool of blood. Investigators were yesterday conducting investigations when the Guyana Chronicle visited the scene.
A Cops Security Service (Guyana) security guard who was on duty next door recalled the mauling to death of her colleague, Charles Roopchand, 54, of 2 ‘C’ Lusignan Public Road, East Coast Demerara, while walking to work. He was attacked and killed by nine dogs, including pit bulls, at Ogle Airstrip Road on April 16, after the animals got out of the yard where they are housed. (Michel Outridge/Guyana Cronicle)
Pit bulls scalp man in Queenstown
The pit bulls’ owner taking the injured man out of the empty lot, the three dogs can be seen in the background.
The man arrived at the hospital around 2.40 pm, lying at the back of a pick-up and accompanied by an armed police officer. He was screaming in obvious pain and kept saying, “ah thirsty, ah thirsty, I want some water.”
Persons who had gathered at the hospital to await victims of an accident at Mahdia, expressed shock at the extent of the man’s injuries. His entire scalp seemed to have been ripped away exposing his bloodied skull and his right arm was severely injured. Bite marks were visible all over his body. The man was taken to the hospital by a neighbour and the owner of the dogs, Joseph Satrohan.
From all appearances, the dogs, which numbered around three, attacked the man when he went to the empty lot next door to their owners’ yard, to pick mangoes. The mangoes were left on the ground and bloodstains were also apparent, when Stabroek News visited the scene shortly after the attack.
It appeared that the pit bulls entered the empty lot through a slot in the Satrohan fence. This newspaper was informed that vagrants frequent the empty lot to pick mangoes; it was not clear who owns the property.
The mangoes in the man’s shirt at the scene of the attack. The gap in the fence where the dogs apparently entered the empty lot can be seen in the background.
Realizing what was happening, she said, her husband started hollering to get the dogs’ attention, while she attempted to contact the owner via telephone. She said that the owner was not at home but he arrived on the scene in minutes and struggled to get the man away from the dogs.
The woman said she was not sure whether anyone was at home at the owner’s house at the time of the attack and did not know whether the vagrant was in the Satrohans’ yard when he was attacked, as some persons believe. She related that witnessing such an incident was traumatic. When Stabroek News visited Satrohan’s house, persons there offered “no comment” to questions asked. Further efforts to contact Satrohan proved futile.
A resident related that this was not the first time the dogs had attacked someone. She said that some months ago, the dogs had attacked the Satrohans’ gardener and a passer-by was also set upon some time back. However, neither of them was seriously injured in those attacks. She also said that the dogs were often on the street.
She added that a female security guard who works across the road, would often call her when she was a block or two away to ask her to call her neighbour to get the dogs off the road so that she (the guard) can get to her location.
The woman also said that the dogs were a constant nuisance. According to her, the Satrohans own around seven dogs, which include mixed breeds. “They constantly fight and you cannot sleep at night sometimes,” the woman said.
Another resident said the dogs should be put down. She said that once the animals tasted blood it was hard to control them. “We don’t feel safe with them around,” she said. Pit bulls and other dangerous dogs have gained an unsavoury reputation in the country of recent, especially since the last fatal attack by a pack of dogs.
Charles Roopchand, a security guard of 2C Area H, Lusignan, ECD, was killed by a pack of dogs on the Ogle Airstrip road while on his way to work. That same morning, Desire London, the wife of Bishop Philbert London and resident of 123 Goedverwagting, ECD, was bitten on her arms and leg by the same animals.
Earlier this year, full-blooded members of the breed bit two Tucville residents as well as two employees of the Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. That incident had occurred after a woman in the area was alleged to have loosed the dogs on a group of children who had been making a nuisance of themselves.
Then there was the case last year where two pit bulls had attacked a North Ruimveldt jogger, seriously injuring him. He had to undergo several operations to repair his damaged ligaments and was to have gone overseas for treatment. (Melissa Charles/Stabroek News)
Gunmen raid Puruni shop
Four armed men raided a shop at Puruni on the Mazaruni River on Sunday holding three women at gunpoint before escaping with cash and a quantity of raw gold.
Police said that the gang first attacked shop attendant Savita Sooklall, who had responded to call from outside the shop, after it was closed. Sooklall spotted one of the armed men and raised an alarm resulting in the two other women rushing to her.
But after the alarm was raised three other armed men joined the first gunman and they held the women at gunpoint. The group then tied the women up with duct tape and ransacked the building. The group escaped with $175,000 cash and a quantity of raw gold, the police stated. (Stabroek News)
May 20, 2008
Joint Services find,..... ..... destroy ganja fields in Region Ten
An aerial look at one of the marijuana farms which the Joint Services discovered and destroyed in Region Ten over the weekend.
The Joint Services at the weekend unearthed and destroyed large fields of cannabis sativa plants at Coomacka, New England and Wisroc in Region Ten (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice) an operation in which one of the recently acquired Bell 206 helicopters executed reconnaissance and vectoring tasks. As a result of the operation too, a man is in police custody assisting with investigations.
Members of the Joint Services in boats at one of the sites where the marijuana fields were found.
In a statement yesterday , the Joint Services said Operation Greenfield, which was a combination of air, river and ground assets destroyed ten fields of cannabis sativa containing some 14,900 plants as high as 12 feet and with an estimated weight of 3, 305 kilogrammes.
The operation was conducted over a seven-acre wide area and in addition to the plants, 684 kilogrammes of dried marijuana were found along with 14 nurseries that contained some 5,550 seedlings. Eleven camps were destroyed and one person was arrested. The arrested man was found in a house with eight kilogrammes of marijuana near one of the fields.
The statement said the river assets provided transport for the forces to access the sites and the ground forces located and destroyed the fields, executed the arrest and seized equipment. (Stabroek News/Photo courtesy of the Joint Services)
Suspect in Laing Avenue murder nabbed
George Barton
A suspect in the murder of George Barton and wounding of his teenage daughter Anika at Laing Avenue in March was apprehended early yesterday afternoon, a high-ranking police official has confirmed.
While details of the arrest were sketchy, the official assured this newspaper when contacted around 3:30 yesterday afternoon that Aman Lalchand, also known as Randy had been arrested a few hours earlier.The official said too that Lalchand was wanted in relation to several other matters before the court. Police had issued a wanted bulletin for the 22-year-old Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara resident, on April 1.
Law enforcement authorities had said that in the bulletin that he was wanted for questioning in relation to investigations being conducted into the execution-style killing of Barton.
Asked about a call that was received by Barton to go to a Laing Avenue location, the official said GT&T was contacted to have the call traced, but to date there had been no feedback from the company. A relative of Anika told Stabroek News yesterday that the teen was now stronger and that her knee, which sustained three bullet wounds, was working much better.
The relative, who did not want to be named, said that while the teen was walking on the injured foot she could not stand for long. Following the incident, the girl’s relatives had said that they feared for her safety and that fear increased with the issuing of the wanted bulletin.
They had vowed to keep her protected at all cost, even keeping her indoors if necessary.
On March 20, Barton, a Charlestown resident received a telephone call and in the company of his daughter went to Laing Avenue. As the two made their way through the street just after 8 pm, a car with four men pulled up alongside them.
One of the occupants shouted “B”, referring to Barton, before opening fire on him. He was shot in his back, neck and legs. The car drove up a little and turned around and a gunman armed with a much smaller gun fired several rounds at the teen hitting her thrice in the knee and once in the buttocks. Reports are that seconds before she was shot, one of the occupants of the car had said that she had to be killed too.
Relatives took a decision to remove the teen from the Georgetown Hospital after a few days, following a suspicious encounter with a strange man, who went to the ward the teen was in some time after visiting hours had ended.
Relatives had issued pleas to the law enforcement authorities to act swiftly on the information they had so that those responsible could be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. (Stabroek News)
Diamond man was strangled
Diamond businessman Ganga Persaud who was found bound and dead in his car trunk died from strangulation, a post-mortem examination revealed yesterday. Meanwhile, the man’s reputed wife and two other relatives remained in custody up to late yesterday afternoon, a police source confirmed.
This newspaper was also reliably informed that the man’s neck bore obvious marks, which suggested that he had been strangled. Last night relatives told Stabroek News that they had not heard anything further on investigations.
Persaud was discovered a short distance away from his 19th Street Diamond New Scheme home and was last seen in the company of friends having a drink on Friday evening. He had left them at around midnight to head home but never reached. He was found in his car trunk with his hands and feet bound with rubber and scotch tape wrapped around his face. (Stabroek News)
Tiger Bay fatal shooting
Victim’s mother frustrated at sloth in probe
Over three weeks after the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old minibus conductor allegedly by guards attached to the MMC Security Force, the mother of the dead youth said nothing has been heard about the matter and she wants justice to be done.
Michelle Parks, the mother of Travis Parks, who was shot at Tiger Bay on the afternoon of April 27 told Stabroek News yesterday of the frustration she endures as she tries to ensure that her son’s death is not swept under the rug.
She said that since the incident, she has been visiting the Brickdam police station to ascertain the status of the investigation and was told that the file was with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
She said that when she visited the station recently, she was told that the file had returned but the DPP had requested the cause of death report. However, last Friday when she visited the station, she said, she was told that the file had not yet been sent back to the DPP but they would try to send it back that day.
“Is sheer pushing around so far,” the woman said. She said she was unemployed and struggling to make the minibus fare to visit the station. Her son, a 22-year-old minibus conductor was fatally shot in his back on April 27 at Tiger Bay, allegedly by a MMC Security Force guard after being asked about a gold chain, which he reportedly denied knowing anything about.
According to residents after being pulled out of a bushy lot where he had gone to relieve himself and accused of stealing the gold chain, Parks was shot in the back as he was being led to the security firm’s vehicle. He was reportedly kicked and hit by the four guards, who were in brown and green uniforms, before being shot.
A post-mortem examination revealed that he died as a result of a single gunshot wound to his abdomen. Residents said that after Parks was shot, the men picked up the bullet casing and got into their vehicle and drove away despite pleas for them to assist.
Parks was eventually transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital by another vehicle, and he succumbed while receiving treatment. MMC had declined to comment until the completion of the police investigations into the matter. The guard, who allegedly fired the fatal shot had been detained by police but later released on station bail.
Michelle Parks said yesterday that MMC had paid the funeral expenses for her son but that was the end of their assistance.
Stabroek News was shown a letter that was sent to the Sandy’s Funeral Home and which had enclosed a cheque for expenses relating to Travis funeral. The letter was also copied to the family and the chambers of an attorney. In part, it read “the above payment is made ex-gratia and without admission of any liability on the part of MMC Security Force Inc, its agents, officers, employees or contractors”. It was signed by Major (ret) ROC King for the Chief Executive Officer.
Parks said that her son used to assist her, and without him, it was a struggle to maintain her five other children, the youngest of whom is one year old. “So far there has been no justice; the only assistance to my side is Mark Benschop. All the others who speak about injustice… there is no one…at my side and my family side,” she stated.
The woman related that she was told that the guard, who allegedly shot Travis, had said that the shooting was accidental and an official of the company had said the same thing to her. Questioning how is it that could have happened; she said that that justice must be served. “All what I need is justice and so far the law is showing me that there is no justice,” she said.
“Nobody told me nothing, nobody said nothing, they just got me running around, they just pushing me around.” She said enough time had elapsed for investigations to be completed and some action taken. (Stabroek News)
Inspector testifies in Carolan Lynch arms case
The Carolan Lynch firearm and ammunition matter continued last Friday before Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court with testimony from police inspector Cassandra Anthony. Anthony, who is attached to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the second witness to take the stand in the case, testified about being present when the illegal items were allegedly found.
After being led in evidence by police prosecutor Robert Tyndall, she was cross-examined by attorney-at-law Mark Waldron, one of the lawyers representing Lynch. Lynch is accused of having four 9mm magazines, one Beretta automatic pistol and 120 rounds of 9mm ammunition at her Eping Avenue, Bel Air home in November 2006.
She faced those unlawful possession charges with her now dead husband, Farouk Razac, the boss of Swiss House Cambio. When they had made their initial court appearance, they were released on $1 million bail each. Razac was murdered last May and Lynch now faces the charges alone.
During last Friday’s proceedings, the beauty queen, who was freed of her husband’s murder by Magistrate Gilhuys last December, was present in court. The raid on Lynch’s property was said to have followed an earlier search conducted on a house in North Ruimveldt where Rhonda Gomes, an associate of Razac, was living.
Police found an assortment of weapons and cocaine at that house. The woman pleaded guilty to several charges brought against her stemming from the discoveries and was sentenced to three years imprisonment in December 2006. The case will continue on June 5 when a new witness is expected to take the stand. (Stabroek News)
May 19, 2008
Cop shoots self in foot
A policeman attached to the Brickdam Impact base accidentally shot himself in the foot while at the Timehri Police station yesterday and was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH).
The rank was identified as Corporal Johnson. It is unclear how he managed to shoot himself in the left foot. Following the incident, he was taken to the GPH, where he was treated and admitted to Ward A2 of the medical institution. Stabroek News)
Middleton St shooting
Why didn’t police go after gunmen?
Why didn’t the policemen on the scene of the Middleton Street murder on Wednesday night pursue the killers and why was a checkpoint set up on that road at 9.30 pm with one policeman in uniform and another in plainclothes?
These are some of the questions that have been raised by members of the public about the force’s response particularly in light of the heightened security alert and citizens’ concerns about the need for rapid reaction.
Arjune Narine Singh died after he sustained several gunshot wounds in the high-calibre shooting by at least one gunman who exited a car on nearby Drury Lane to carry out the attack. Several other persons were injured. Four vehicles, among them a marked police car, were squeezed together in a section of Middleton Street facing south at the time of the assault.
The police have not said whether Singh was the intended target but went on record as saying that no police rank was the target since according to them, the man who exited the vehicle had a clear shot of a uniformed rank who was standing mere inches away from Singh but did not take it.
Singh’s family who are unhappy with what they described as “irresponsible journalism and unsubstantiated assertions” about Singh said he may have been the target but have dismissed it as nothing more than a case of mistaken identity. They said the life he lived was not consistent with that of a person who people would set out to execute.
They said some people seem to have information about Singh that they were not privy to and are calling on those persons to meet with them and provide same. “Since we wish to preserve Ryan’s (Arjune) memory and remember him for who he was there are things that we will put behind us. He was a good person and what happened to him was just plain wrong”, a relative related last Friday in an interview with Stabroek News.
Based on the accounts of victims of the attack, two police ranks, one in uniform and the other in plain clothes had set up a checkpoint at Middleton Street, a short distance away from Drury Lane, Campbellville. Why a checkpoint would be established on this type of road at this hour has raised questions in the minds of some citizens. The wisdom of having only one uniformed policeman has also been queried.
The rank in plainclothes had returned to the vehicle after the checkpoint was set up and remained there while the uniformed rank was attending to the driver of a car that was pulled over. Inside the car was Campbellville resident, Jean Singh and her son, Mark Semple. The two were asked to produce documents which they did.
At the time, the police car was parked on Middleton Street facing south and Semple and his mother were behind them. Immediately behind was Singh and almost parallel to Singh was Larry Gursahai’s vehicle. Singh had pulled up behind Semple and his mother while the policeman was attending to them and within moments Gursahai had pulled up behind him. Gursahai then made an attempt to pass Singh but was unable to because the uniformed rank checking the documents was in the way and Gursahai therefore remained alongside Singh.
Stabroek News was told that a car carrying a gang of around four men approached the police checkpoint and then turned into Drury Lane. It is unclear whether the gunmen’s car could have been trailing Singh but Singh’s movements did not seem to betray that he felt he was being trailed. The plainclothes police rank was out of the police vehicle at that time and was standing on the road.
A gunman then exited the car that pulled up on Drury Lane and fired at Singh’s vehicle and the other vehicles. The uniformed police rank immediately took cover on the ground while the rank who was in plain clothes jumped into a nearby trench.
The uniformed police rank then made it around to Gursahai’s car and urged him to open the door saying, “Is police, is police open up!” Gursahai complied and sped off as the gunfire ceased. The rank then told him to drive to the Kitty police station but he refused saying that he was injured and needed to go to the hospital. Gursahai and his brother-in-law Salim Alli, who was in the car with him managed to stop a taxi and they went to the hospital while the policeman drove off with their vehicle.
Why the uniformed rank made no attempt to trail the Drury Lane gunmen in Gursahai’s vehicle but only wanted to get to the Kitty police station has been questioned. The plainclothes rank could also have used the police vehicle as it had not been disabled by the gunfire. This was not done.
Lamented
One of the persons who had witnessed the attack said that Middleton Street was no place for the police to set up a checkpoint and also lamented that the policeman who made the interception was not even a traffic rank, raising red flags about whether this had been an authorized operation. “On that tiny little road where the lighting was not all that good they decided to stop vehicles and stop and ask people for documents”, the person added.
Police Public Relations Officer, Ivelaw Whittaker told Stabroek News that the police have the power to stop any vehicle anywhere they deem fit if an offence is committed. He said the police stopped a car that night on Middleton Street because they noticed a defective headlight. He said the ranks working that night were not from traffic but he noted that any police could perform the duties of a traffic rank.
However the lead car that was stopped that night by the police – driven by Semple - did not have defective headlights. It was unclear if there was some other vehicle that had been stopped that night, prior to the Semple vehicle, with defective headlights.
When asked about the police response that night Whittaker said the ranks alerted headquarters and mobile patrols were immediately dispatched but the gunmen managed to evade them. Whittaker said the two ranks on the scene were in no position to pursue the gunmen.
During the interview with Stabroek News, Singh’s relative said they were particularly concerned about the police response since according to them, not much was done. The relative said taxpayers’ money which includes theirs was invested in the helicopters to fight crime yet when gunmen carried out a daring attack and killed Singh they were able to get away without any real effort being mounted to apprehend them. But the relative said this is the typical police response.
Singh, after being shot, was pulled out of his car but the information reaching his relatives was that he was believed to have been dead so there was no immediate rush to get him to the hospital. It is believed that around 15 minutes elapsed before Singh was taken to the hospital by a police vehicle. He died later at the hospital.
Wednesday night’s attack and another on Friday night in which both the WaterChris hotel and the Culture Ministry were shot up have put the police under further pressure because of the view that with major police stations within striking distance they should be able to cordon off sections of the city and hunt street by street to find the attackers. Security sources point out that it means that at least one heavily armed gang – perhaps two – are now on the loose in the city. (Iana Seales/Stabroek News)
Body in car trunk
Reputed wife held
Police are still searching for clues in the Saturday morning murder of Diamond businessman Ganga Persaud and have since detained his reputed wife. The woman, who has been cooperating with police following the discovery of Persaud’s body in the trunk of his car some distance away from his home, was arrested on Saturday night as preparations were being made for a wake.
Persaud was found bound with rubber, and scotch tape was wrapped around his face. He appeared to have been strangled. Persaud’s relatives said yesterday that they have no idea whether she is being treated as a suspect, adding that the police are not saying much to them.
Since the discovery was made on Saturday the family said they have been in the dark as it relates to the investigation and were only informed of the woman’s arrest when Persaud’s older son who arrived in the country on Saturday made some enquiries.
Emotions were still running high at the family’s home at Goed Fortuin, West Coast Demerara yesterday when Stabroek News visited. Friends had gathered at the home to give support, some reminiscing on his life. Yesterday residents at Eighth Street, Diamond where the man’s car was found abandoned said the car had to have been parked there sometime after midnight since no one recalled seeing it earlier.
They said persons in the area usually park cars at the spot where Persaud’s car was found so initially no one thought anything was strange about the car. “You get up and you pass the car without even thinking that someone could have been in there dead. This hit me this morning when I woke up and look outside and see another car park there”, a resident related.
It was sometime after people started asking about the car that someone alerted the police and one rank arrived on the scene. Shortly after, several more ranks turned up and it was only then that many residents recalled noting that something was wrong.
A relative, Normilla, recounted that she received a call from Persaud’s wife around 4:55 am on Saturday after he did not go home. She said there was need for concern because Persaud always made it home, even on days when he had a lot to drink. According to her, it was strange for him not to be home by a certain hour and after they received the call the family started worrying.
But while she was speaking with Persaud’s wife, she informed her that a police van had just pulled up at her home. Normilla later found out that the police had gone to alert the woman that Persaud’s car had been found but he was still missing. It was while they were searching the car that Persaud was discovered in the trunk. (Stabroek News)
May 18, 2008
Diamond man found bound, dead in his car trunk
Ganga Persaud
Ganga Persaud, 52, of Nineteenth Street, Diamond New Scheme was last seen in the company of friends having a drink on Friday evening. However, according to relatives, he left the group some time before midnight and appeared to have been heading for home. He never made it.
Police in the area, responding to a report of a car left parked at Eighth Street, Diamond, made the discovery. Persaud’s hands and feet were bound with rubber and scotch tape was wrapped around his face. There were no visible wounds on his body. Up to last night, the police had no leads to go on, but were questioning persons in the area.
Persaud, who was well known in the area, imported wire ropes, which he sold to businesses across the country. He had returned to Guyana five years ago after residing in the US and started a life at Diamond. 
Ganga Persaud’s car parked in the compound of the Diamond/Grove police station yesterday.
Yesterday relatives were in shock. They said that Persaud had no problems with anyone and was as well liked, as he was well known. “Ganga and everyone live good, no problem.
He was the type of person who don’t like quarrel and them thing so this is a real shock,” a female relative of the man recounted yesterday outside the Diamond/Grove police station.
At the station, police took statements from Persaud’s reputed wife and his brother-in-law, who was among the last persons to see him alive. The wife was in a state of shock yesterday and the relative, who identified herself as Normilla Persaud, related that the woman had been distressed early yesterday morning after Persaud did not go home.
Normilla said she received a call from Persaud’s wife around 4:55 am yesterday after he did not go home. She said there was need for concern because Persaud always made it home, even on days when he had a lot to drink. According to her, it strange for him not to be home by a certain hour and after they received the call the family started worrying.
But while she was speaking with Persaud’s wife, she informed her that a police van had just pulled up at her home. Normilla later found out that the police had gone to alert the woman that Persaud’s car had been found but he was still missing. It was while they were searching the car that Persaud was discovered in the trunk.
Yesterday Persaud’s wife and their young son were inconsolable. The child kept saying, “They kill ma father in he car”. The entire family was taking the news hard with many saying that he was a good person.
The family related that 25 years ago a brother, Seeram Persaud, was also murdered. They explained that Seeram had been mistaken for someone who had been in a fight with another man and his attacker went up to him and stabbed him several times.
“Seeram’s death was painful, now Ganga. We are finding it hard to come to grips with this, very hard and our mother is not doing well at all,” a brother said. Peraud leaves to mourn three children, two of whom are overseas, his wife, his mother and ten siblings. (Iana Seales/Stabroek News/Jules Gibson photo)
Gunmen shoot at Culture Ministry, Water Chris Hotel
Police reported that about 21:20h Friday night gunmen in a dark coloured motor car drove south along the eastern carriageway of Waterloo and Quamina Streets, in the vicinity of Water Chris Hotel and Bar, and discharged a number of rounds at motor car PGG 8912 which was parked along the street, and sped away.
The vehicle, owned by a member of the Guyana Police Force, was damaged by the gunfire. No report has been received of anyone being injured. Meanwhile, Police said that they are also investigating a report that about 21:30h Friday night, an AT 192 Toyota Carina motor car pulled up in Quamina Street on the northern side of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.
Two gunmen exited the vehicle and discharged a number of rounds at the northern side of the building, shattering windows and damaging the wall. They also threw two channa bombs at the building, one of which exploded scorching a curtain at one of the windows.
Police responded promptly to the reports and roadblocks/cutoffs were thrown up at strategic points, while mobile patrols scoured the area. (Guyana Cronicle)
GDF, Police destroy marijuana fields
Six fields of cannabis sativa plants, covering an area of over four and a half acres, were destroyed by ranks of the Guyana Defence Force and the Guyana Police Force yesterday.
The operation took place in the Wisroc, Linden area, and the fields comprised approximately 8,700 plants between one and ten feet high, with an estimated weight of 2,250 kgs. Also, 200 kgs. of dried marijuana, six nurseries containing about 3,250 seedlings and four camps were found and destroyed. (Guyana Cronicle)
May 17, 2008
Two facing charge for raping recently murdered woman
Two men charged with raping recently murdered Deokalie Peters called Tina will know their fate on June 6.
Haroon Pamessar and Cordel Ellis, both of Rosignol, West Bank Berbice, appeared before Magistrate Geeta Chandan, at New Amsterdam Court yesterday, but were remanded to await the tendering of a death certificate for the victim.
The woman was found dead at Tain, Corentyne, Berbice, on May 6 and Police Corporal Joel Ricknauth, prosecuting, was instructed to have a relative of hers tender the document on the next Court date.
Particulars of the offence said Parmessar and Ellis had carnal knowledge of Peters last. Guyana Cronicle)
Police intelligence, rapid reaction capacity upped - UK
The British High Commission is expected to deliver further training and equipment to the Guyana Police Force under the Security Sector Reform (SSR) programme and intelligence gathering and rapid reaction capacities have already been boosted.
The British High Commission said in a release yesterday that following a visit here by UK police intelligence officers in March, a range of recommendations are under discussion with the Force and training is expected to take place over the next few months.
The release noted that in accordance with the Crime Intelligence Section of the SSR Action Plan, binoculars and cameras are now available for the use of the Criminal Intelligence Unit, and a data processing and management computer system has been installed at Force Control Unit to facilitate access to the Guyana Revenue Authority’s vehicles database.
According to the rapid response sections of the plan, GPS navigation and night vision equipment is now available for the use of the Tactical Services Unit; while body armour for the protection of ranks against high-calibre weapons has been procured and will arrive shortly.
Meanwhile, a Memorandum of Understanding to help guide the strengthening of policemedia relations has now been drafted following a Police-Media workshop held earlier this year, and it is under consideration by the parties. In addition four public service announcements aimed at strengthening the relationship between the police and the public are being developed, and should be broadcast on television before monthend.
Meantime, the Guyana Police Force and the High Commission are discussing a range of recommendations from a visit by a UK police expert on media relations, and a visit by an officer with oversight experience on building capacity in the Office of Professional Responsibility.
The release also stated that the High Commission is to support the “crime stoppers” initiative through the funding of a public information campaign. The crime stoppers programme has been hampered by poor public backing.
Other support for the police component of the action plan included a new and expanded Criminal Intelligence Unit which has been set up and equipped with computers and other office equipment. Computers, printers and office furniture were also given to the Operations Room at the Brickdam Police Station, along with telephones that indicate incoming calls, complete with headsets. These were also given to stations in all divisions, the release added.
In order to boost traffic policing, fifty radar guns were given to the Police Force. There was also a training workshop for ranks on the 911 emergency switchboard and those who man the emergency telephone lines at other stations. In addition, guidance was given on the creation of a new criminal intelligence model.
The four-year SSR Action Plan follows the agreement between the two governments for British support to comprehensive security sector reform in Guyana.
In October 2007 a team of security reform experts from Ghana, Sierra Leone, South Africa and India visited Guyana to build on the work done to date, and to advise on a way forward. It was following these engagements, the release said, that the SSR Action Plan was crafted and an interim MoU for its implementation signed in August 2007.
The SSR Action Plan is closely aligned to the Citizen Security and Justice Reform programmes and is designed to build the operational capacity of the Guyana Police Force in terms of providing a uniformed response to serious crime, forensics, crime intelligence and traffic policing. And among its objectives are the strengthening of policy-making across the security sector to make it more transparent, effective, and better coordinated; creating of substantial parliamentary and other oversight of the security sector, and building greater public participation and inclusiveness on security sector issues.
The release also noted that following a National Stakeholder Forum by the government in February, agreement was reached to set up a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Crime and Security. (Stabroek News)
Several CANU Officers fail lie detector tests President Jagdeo says they will be dismissed
President Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed yesterday that several officers of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) have failed polygraph tests conducted on them recently and reiterated that they will be dismissed.
Asked whether the Government is prepared for legal challenges, by those who are relieved of their duties on the basis of the lie detector tests, Mr. Jagdeo responded in the affirmative. He explained that the ranks are employed on a contractual basis and, as such, the Government could terminate their contracts.
The Head of State said polygraph testing has become a standard procedure among law enforcement agencies across the world and it would be a deterrent to those who are inclined towards engaging in unlawful activities.
President Jagdeo also informed the media that Guyana has acquired its own equipment to carry out the tests but has hired an overseas specialist for the purpose. He said the long term plan is to train local personnel in the process which will, initially, be carried out within the law enforcement agencies but, eventually, extended to other critical ones.
President Jagdeo, on Wednesday last, announced that all members of the Customs Anti Narcotic Unit will undergo a polygraph (lie detector) test as the government moves to ensure it has a unit it can depend on to fight drug traffickers.
Mr. Jagdeo told a news conference that the results of the polygraph test will decide the future of ranks of the Unit. “We have to ensure that the people who we have are people of integrity; the best known method to test for integrity is to polygraph,” Mr. Jagdeo said. The government contracted a U.S. firm to conduct the polygraph tests.
The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) of the U.S. cited Guyana as a transit point for cocaine destined for North America, Europe, and the Caribbean, but not in quantities sufficient to impact the U.S. market.
In 2007, domestic seizures of cocaine were three times higher than the previous year due to improved counter-narcotics measures at the working level, although all but one of these seizures was minor in scale. The Government of Guyana (GOG) laid the groundwork for an enhanced security sector by agreeing to a reform programme sponsored by the British government.
Guyana is a transit country for cocaine, and to a lesser degree marijuana. The report said that Guyana’s vast expanse of unpopulated forest and savannahs offers ample cover for drug traffickers and smugglers. In 2007, the GOG signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Great Britain to implement a US$5 million, multi-year programme for reform of the security sector, which includes enhancing the investigative capacity of law enforcement agencies. (Guyana Cronicle)
May 16, 2008
Middleton St shooting Gunmen evaded back-up police patrols
Arjune Narine
The men who raked several vehicles on Middleton Street on Wednesday with bullets killing one man made a clean getaway despite mobile police patrols responding “quickly”, a statement from Eve Leary said yesterday.
None of the survivors has been able to recall seeing any of the gunmen who staged the attack and are just thankful for their lives.Gunmen opened fire at a police checkpoint set up at Middleton Street, Campbellville killing 21-year-old Arjune Narine, a travel consultant, and injuring Larry Gursahai, Jean Singh, and her son Mark Semple.
Police in the statement revealed that twenty-one .556 and eleven 7.62 x 39 spent shells were recovered at the scene. The police have said that investigations revealed that police ranks had stopped the driver of a motorcar along Middleton Street after it was observed that the headlights of the vehicle were defective.
Police said motorcar PGG 3465, driven by Mark Semple with Jean Singh in the passenger seat, which was proceeding in the opposite direction, was also stopped by the police. This resulted in Arjune Narine who was driving motorcar PGG 8089 and Larry Gursahai in motorcar PFF 7586 having to stop as they were travelling behind, the statement said.
While the police were carrying out their investigations, armed men who were along Drury Lane opened fire killing Arjune Narine and injuring Mark Semple who was hit to his right hand, Larry Gursahai who was hit to the upper right side of his back and Jean Singh in the upper right side of her back.
Police said mobile police patrols responded quickly to the report received but the armed men managed to escape. The police also clarified that the rank who was dealing with the motorists was dressed in uniform and not in plain clothes as this newspaper had reported an eyewitness as saying in yesterday’s edition.
Larry Gursahai who sustained a gunshot wound was resting comfortably at his home, though still shaken by the event. He underwent emergency surgery on Wednesday night to remove the bullet and was discharged early yesterday morning. Jean Singh and her son Mark Semple who were grazed by bullets in the back were also treated and sent away from the medical institution.
Recounting the incident to this newspaper yesterday, Gursahai said he left home sometime after 9 to take his friend home and was driving down Middleton Street and was waiting to pass three vehicles which seemed temporarily parked and a police officer in uniform appeared to be verifying the documents of the driver of a Scarlet turbo.
“It seemed as though the police was on a routine check but the distance between that car and the police car parked just opposite was not wide enough for me to drive past and so I hold back so he could turn out,” the man said. “The next thing I see is his head lean backwards and rapid gunfire and I just duck my head and start driving and the policeman come at the side of my car and he told me ‘open, open is police’ and he jump in the back seat and tell me drive, drive to the station.
But I turn into De Abreu Street and I stop the car and come out and he continued driving and he went to the Kitty police station,” the man recounted. He said a taxi then took him and his friend to the hospital. The man’s friend was unhurt. The man said he had no idea where the gunshots came from but stated that he only realized he was shot when he started to feel a burning in his back.
“I didn’t see the gunmen and I can’t tell you which direction the bullets came from because as soon as I hear the sound I just bend for cover,” he said. Gursahai told Stabroek News too that he could not identify the policeman if he saw him again since the place was too dark. His bullet-riddled vehicle is still in police custody.
Over at the home of Jean Singh and her son Mark Semple, there was a sense of calm and throughout the ordeal they too kept their heads down, and are unsure too which direction the bullets came from. Semple told this newspaper that his car was first in the line of two others and the police officer was checking his documents when the gunfire erupted.
“I don’t know where the shots came from but we duck our heads and it lasted for about two to three minutes and we didn’t raise our heads right away,” he said. A bullet grazed his left arm while his mother was grazed in her back. He said after they raised their heads the police officer was nowhere in sight. The victims have given statements to the police and are also awaiting the release of their vehicles. (Stabroek News)
Corbin’s guard arrested in murder, armed robbery probe
Opposition Leader Robert Corbin’s personal security guard was early yesterday morning arrested by police and is reportedly being held in a probe of murder and robbery under arms.
The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) in a press statement yesterday stated that Cyrus Boyce was picked up by joint services ranks following the cordoning off of his Better Hope, East Coast Demerara home at 2 am yesterday. The statement also said that the man’s house was searched by eight ranks, allegedly for arms and ammunition but nothing was found. Efforts by this newspaper to contact police on the party’s assertions proved futile.
However the statement said Boyce’s home was cordoned off by some 30 fully armed ranks and then he was invited to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters to aid the police in an investigation.
It said that Boyce queried the reason for the invitation and indicated that if he was being invited to CID he would willingly report there at 8 am today [yesterday]. It added that Boyce was further informed that he was being arrested and the officer carrying out the arrest indicated that it was for robbery under arms.
Legal counsel for Boyce, the statement said, enquired later yesterday from an officer at CID who indicated that Boyce was arrested for murder and robbery under arms.
This incident comes closely on the heels of the arrest of the opposition leader’s chauffeur on Wednesday. He was arrested for using a loud speaker to drive around the city to announce the cost-of-living march. He was reportedly told by police that his arrest was for using a noisy instrument without permission. The man was later released on $5,000 bail.
The party said it does not view the two developments as unrelated. “Rather they are a clear indication of a campaign of harassment by the repressive PPP/C administration, designed to instill fear and terrorize supporters of the People’s National Congress Reform …,” the statement said.
It added that “Reports have also been received by the PNCR that (Wednesday) evening scores of young men were arrested indiscriminately in the West Ruimveldt, East La Penitence and Albouystown areas and placed in a truck and taken to an unknown destination without any explanation given by the Police for their arrests.
The arrest of these of young men is similar to the exercise conducted last week Wednesday, May 7th, prior to the Cost-of-Living march on May 8th, when dozens of young men were also arrested and later released on Friday, May 9th without any charges being laid.” (Stabroek News)
May 15, 2008
Man dies after gunmen blast police checkpoint
Cop in narrow escape as 20 shots fired
Arjune Narine Singh
Gunmen opened murderous fire at a police checkpoint set up at Middleton Street, Campbellville last night killing a man and injuring three others in a lightning strike that sent shivers through the city.
Riddled with bullets, Arjune Narine Singh called “Ryan”, age 21, of Duncan Street, Campbellville, was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital minutes after the attack that was executed just as a lone policeman in plain clothes had pulled over three vehicles checking for documents in a lit section of the street. Singh died while receiving treatment.
At press time this morning there were reports of gunfire in various parts of the city but there were no reports of casualties or who may have been behind it.
Larry Gursahai of Station Street, Kitty and Mark and Jenny Semple of Campbellville were the remaining patients lifted from the scene nursing injuries. Along with Singh they were pulled over by the police on Middleton Street.
Though he was in plain clothes the police rank was in a marked vehicle that was parked a short distance from where the checkpoint was set up at the corner of Middleton and Drury Lane. Within minutes of him pulling over the three vehicles a car heading south along Middleton, believed to have been transporting a gang of around four men, drove up and unleashed a barrage of gunfire. It was around 9:30 pm and it appeared that the policeman was the target of the shooters.
The individuals pulled over were still in their vehicles waiting on the rank to approach them when the gunfire erupted. Singh was closest to the car with the gunmen and was reportedly hit first followed by Gursahai and then the Semples.
According to residents in the area, they heard rapid gunshots, which they said numbered around 21. They recounted that the rank had stopped a Toyota Starlet with the Semples close to the corner of Middleton Street and Drury Lane.
The resident said that Singh’s car pulled up heading in a southerly direction along Middleton Street and was also stopped. It was at this time, the resident said that the gunmen drove up in a car, headed in the same direction and exited and fired a number of shots towards the vehicles. The witness said that the policeman dived into the Middleton Street drain while the police car sustained several hits.
At the scene last night, a large number of heavily armed police converged. A number of residents had thronged the spot where the Toyota Starlet and Singh’s car were parked. The back screen of Arjune’s car was shattered and blood was visible on the seat.
Shortly after, the police ordered all persons off the immediate area where the cars were parked. Ranks scoured a portion of Drury Lane close to Middleton Street for spent shells. A rank in plainclothes was seen using a light to look in the weeds and in the Middleton Street drain and residents said that his gun had been lost. When this newspaper left the area last night, the police were still there conducting their investigations.
Accelerator
A composed Gursahai said at the hospital last night that he stepped on his accelerator and sped off after the first burst of gunfire fearful that things would have turned out badly. He said his focus was on the officer at the time and he did not even hear when another car pulled up. “I just heard gunshots and that was it I started driving and only stopped after I realise that I was injured. There was no time to think about what to do it was just time to act”, the man recounted.
Gursahai was on his way home to Kitty when the incident occurred and according to him, it was so sudden that it left him confused after a while. He said that from all appearances the men were targeting the police and the persons pulled in for the roadblock were simply in the wrong place.
Salim Alli who was in the car with Gursahai escaped unharmed and was in a state of shock last night. Alli kept asking how Gursahai was and whether everything was okay. He recalled seeing Singh slumped in his car shortly after and according to him, things looked pretty awful then.
The Semples were in their vehicle when the shots were being fired and stayed low. The incident traumatized them and at the hospital they were hardly speaking. They said the focus was on getting treated and going home.
As news of the shooting spread many persons thronged the hospital enquiring about incident and of the injured. Singh’s relatives who were told that he may have been in a shooting rushed to the hospital in a panic.
“Someone called us to say that Ryan’s car was on the road and they even took pictures to show us with their phone so we had no choice but to rush down here, we don’t know anything yet”, a young woman related while struggling to remain calm. Loud wailing erupted when the hospital broke the news of Singh’s death and as more relatives turned up emotions started running high.
They said he had just left a home on Hadfield Street where a friend died and was on his way home to Duncan Street. Many broke down while saying how friendly he was and that he was still so young. A few among them spoke of how his parents who are overseas would take the news. Singh was the younger of two and he was expected to join his parents and sister overseas in another few months. (Iana Seales and Gaulbert Sutherland/Stabroek News)
Man gunned down In Durey Lane drive-by shooting last night
The Police are investigating a drive-by shooting which occurred in the vicinity of Durey Lane, Campbellville, in the City at around 22:00 h last night. Reports reaching this newspaper stated that one man was killed in the shooting, while others were injured - among them a female employee of the State-owned NCN (Radio).
The Chronicle also understands that the gunmen, travelling in a motor car, were apparently trailing and opened fire on the occupants of two other motor cars, an AT 192 Toyota Carina and a black Starlet. The gunmen reportedly exited the vehicle they were travelling in, at a cross street in the area, and shot at the occupants.
The windscreen of the AT 192 motor car was shattered while the body was perforated with bullet holes. (Guyana Cronicle)
Judge finds need for anonymous jury in Roger Khan case
US gov’t source: ‘Phantom Squad’ killed over 200 here
Roger Khan
Judge Dora Irizarry issued the order on Tuesday. This means that the names, addresses and workplaces of members of the jury would not be revealed and that they would eat lunch together and be accompanied to and from the courthouse each day by the United States Marshals Service.
Justice Irizarry is of the opinion that the dangerousness of the defendant, as is alleged by the prosecution, is a fact worth considering since according to one of the government’s confidential sources the “Phantom Squad” Khan was associated with is responsible for “at least 200 extra-judicial killings from 2002 to 2006” in Guyana.
And while he is not charged with crimes considered to be violent in nature, his involvement with and leadership of a criminal organisation indicates his “propensity for violence.”
Khan through his lawyers had opposed the government’s motion and had argued that an anonymous jury was unnecessary as the government failed to establish that jurors needed protection and that such measures, in particular the partial sequestering of jurors, would have an unduly prejudicial effect on him.
However, the judge found that the empanelling of an anonymous and partially sequestered jury was necessary to protect the interest of the public and the jurors.
According to court documents seen by this newspaper in support of its argument for the sequestering of the jury, the prosecution had contended that an anonymous and partially sequestered jury was necessary to ensure the public’s interest in an impartial verdict and to protect prospective jurors.
The judge, in making her ruling, pointed out that there was evidence of Khan’s willingness to tamper with the judicial process since he admitted that in 1993 he successfully evaded federal prosecution in Vermont for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon by absconding to Guyana while on bail. That action, the judge said, indicated his ability to tamper with the judicial process in the US.
The judge added that the government’s confidential sources had indicated that Khan would not hesitate to order the killing of anyone he believed was aiding the US government in investigating and prosecuting him and his alleged criminal organisation. US government sources further alleged that Khan ordered the murder of one of his alleged narcotics associates, whom he believed was cooperating with the government. Justice Irizarry also pointed out that the court had to issue an order prohibiting Khan’s lawyers from making statements to the press to protect cooperating witnesses.
Khan had contended that the government could not rely on conduct occurring outside of the US, but the judge found this to be misplaced since the relevant inquiry was the willingness to tamper and not the location of the tampering.
Inaccurate news sources
Justice Irizarry also found that Khan’s contention that the government relied improperly on inaccurate Guyanese news sources lacked merit and held that the prosecution relied on more than just news articles in support of its allegations of the defendant’s dangerousness. She stated that the potential for juror intimidation by the anticipated media coverage of the trial supported empanelling an anonymous and partially sequestered jury.
Khan had admitted that his case “generated a substantial amount of publicity in Guyana” and this continued up to this day, the judge noted, giving the example of the government’s April 24 letter, which appeared the very next day on the front page of the Stabroek News. “In fact, the Guyanese press reports on most developments as they occur in this case,” Justice Irizarry said.
She added that based on the nature of the coverage to date, the court found that there was a substantial likelihood that the names, addresses, and workplaces of the jurors would be reported immediately.
She said Khan’s contention that the jurors were not affected by media sources disseminating news outside the district lacked merit. “Consistent media coverage, even if minimal, provides support for anonymity as coverage enhances the ‘possibility that jurors’ names would become public and thus expose them to intimidation by defendants’ friends or enemies, or harassment by the public’,” the judge said.
She pointed out that any information published online in Guyana was available in the US and elsewhere. Moreover, the concern is amplified by the fact that the (New York) district is home to the largest Guyanese population living outside Guyana and it would be unreasonable to assume that the case would not be followed by members of the Guyanese community.
Further, the judge said, local sources have covered the case as the New York Daily News has often sat in on status conferences. However, Justice Irizarry said, the court was mindful of its duty to protect Khan’s constitutional rights and in order to preserve the presumption of innocence would provide prospective jurors with a neutral explanation of the reason for their anonymity and partial sequestration.
Khan is charged with an eighteen-count indictment of distribution, importation, and possession of cocaine and engaging as a principal administrator, organiser, and leader of a continuing criminal enterprise in New York and elsewhere. He is accused of heading a powerful, violent, cocaine trafficking organisation out of Guyana. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted. (Stabroek News)
Mother vows to ensure justice for raped waitress
Deokali Peter
The mother of the 18-year-old waitress who died after a suspected gang rape at Port Mourant, Corentyne on May 6 said she would not rest until the culprits are caught and brought to justice.
Cane harvesters found the teen, Deokali Peter, naked on the roadside around 5:30 am obliquely opposite Dusk Till Dawn, a bar at Port Mourant - where she was seen drinking the night before - groaning in pain.
One of them gave her his shirt to cover herself while they took her to nearby residents who assisted her with pants. Peter who was shivering asked the residents for some water and they gave it to her and returned indoors.
The teen who was employed at the Santa Rosa bar on the Corentyne appeared to be dead around 8 am. Eyewitnesses related that she was covered with mud and her clothes which police later found nearby were also muddy. Her mother, Kamaldai “Leila” Bennie, 37, had told Stabroek News (SN) that her daughter’s body bore scratches on her neck and forehead and that there were “black and blue marks on her right side.”
A post-mortem report found that Peter died from “drowning” and that “mud was found in her stomach.” Bennie said that the doctor also related to her that apart from raping her, the attackers apparently pushed her down in a nearby trench.
Pathologist, Dr. Vivekanand Brijmohan explained to this newspaper that the “drowning” was as a result of a “post-immersion syndrome” and that “drowning by itself meant that a person may have taken in some water but may not die immediately [but suffer] the effects of delayed drowning…”
The pathologist said too that the teen’s “body had mud particles all around and it was impacted at the base of the finger nails. On the anterior neck there was a series of abrasions, although there were no injuries to the internal structures of the neck.”
Further, Dr. Brijmohan made it clear that muddy particles were found in Peter’s “voice box and in the airways” while the stomach contained one and half pints of muddy liquid. There was also mud in the upper part of the small intestine,” he pointed out.
Bennie told SN yesterday that “It worrying me to know how my daughter get killed; I really taking it on. I won’t rest until they find who kill she… Just how they do that to me daughter they can do it to somebody else.” She also lamented, “If they get off now they gon feel that they can get off again. I wasn’t there to see what happen and I don’t know who do it; but even if they get off now they won’t get off from God…”
Several persons who were arrested following the incident have been released but police sources said that investigations are still ongoing. Peter who hailed from Skeldon left home two years ago and had no fixed place of abode. She had stayed at the home of a female friend at Hampshire Squatting Area for the past month.
Bennie had told this newspaper that she last saw her daughter when she visited her two days before her demise. The third of six siblings, Peter visited her mother “every two weeks” and would take money and presents for her and her younger siblings.
One of the teen’s acquaintances who works at the Embassy Club bar had told this newspaper that she was drinking at Dusk Till Dawn with two male friends when she saw Peter entering with a group of young men around 11 pm.
She said that Peter who appeared to be intoxicated asked for a cigarette and remained at the bar with the men and continued drinking. The friend said she left to go home and didn’t hear anything about Peter after that. According to police reports, the waitresses at Dusk Till Dawn related that after the bar closed up at 1 am they saw Peter sitting alone on the roadside. (Shabna Ullah/Stabroek News)
Rohee: Police still sorting out Kalamadeen leads
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee says the police are still sorting out issues regarding the brutal slaying of city businessman Farouk Kalamadeen but he reserved comment on reports suggesting that the man’s killing may have been drug-related. Rohee told reporters on Tuesday that there were still a lot of issues and noted that he could not get into specifics, but said they were still being sorted out.
The minister said he felt that the man’s relatives were still traumatized and so he would not make certain comments unless he had information to ‘back-up’. Rohee was unable to confirm whether any ransom calls were made to the family.
Family spokesperson Bibi Shadick told this newspaper on Tuesday that the police had stopped updating them on investigations a little before Kalamadeen’s beheaded body was found on Wednesday, April 30. She said at this point relatives were trying their best to move on. “We are just praying and asking for the strength to accept what has been,” Shadick said.
Farouk Kalamadeen disappeared on April 2 while he was on his usual morning jogging exercise on the Houston Public Road. His headless body was discovered in Cowan Street, Kingston and searches by police and relatives in the nearby trench for his head proved fruitless. His head was found three days later in a North Road canal, a stone’s throw from his business place.
There has been no word from the police on any significant breakthrough in their probe. Kalamadeen was alive for several weeks following his abduction. (Stabroek News)
May 14, 2008
Police Service Commission Chairman sworn-in before President
This composite photo shows Mr. Dennis Balkissoon Morgan Mudlier being sworn in as Chairman of the Police Service Commission before President Bharrat Jagdeo at the Office of the President in Georgetown yesterday.
Dennis Balkissoon Morgan Mudlier was yesterday sworn-in before President Bharrat Jagdeo as Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) in the presence of members of the Guyana Police Force, the Commission, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, his family and friends and members of the media, at the Office of the President, Georgetown.
It can be recalled that Mr. Morgan was sworn-in last year as a member of the Commission which was set up to deal with appointments and other matters relating to the Force. It was expected at that time that the members of the Commission: Harold Martin, Franchot Duncan Clarke and Morgan - would have served for a three-year period.
The Commission had last year also included another member, Ivan Crandon, who subsequently passed away. Following his swearing-in yesterday, Mr. Morgan said he will be contacting other members of the Commission as soon as he could, to meet with them and to assess the status of various matters to be looked into by the Commission in order to prioritise them.
Morgan noted that it is his third appointment as Chairman of the body and pointed to some of the issues that may require the Commission’s attention such as promotions, appeals for redress, acting appointments and retirements. (GINA) (Guyana Cronicle)
May 13, 2008
Security guard bludgeoned to death at Skeldon project site
Suspect held
Mahendi Hussein
A 65-year-old security guard of Rampoor Settlement, Corriverton was discovered dead at around 5.45 am yesterday at his place of work, the Skeldon Sugar Modernization Project (SSMP) and a suspect, said to be of unsound mind, has been taken into custody.
Reports are that another guard who turned up to relieve Mahendi Hussein, who was attached to RK’s Security Services, found him lying in a pool of blood in the guard hut and immediately raised an alarm. A piece of wood with a sharp end was stuck into Hussein’s left temple.Hussein’s bicycle was missing. Police sources surmised that the incident had not occurred too long before the discovery was made as the blood was “still fresh.” Police were in the area at the time investigating an armed robbery when they received reports about the murder. They related that Hussain’s supervisor had visited the site around 2.30 am and had left about half an hour later, leaving the guard alive and well.
Stabroek News learnt that the suspect was arrested after police recovered Hussein’s bicycle at the Skeldon Hospital. A dark blue pouch that the suspect was seen carrying earlier was hooked on the bicycle. Police received reports around 5 am that a man was creating havoc at the hospital, causing nurses and patients to run out in fright.
They visited the hospital and took the man into custody but released him shortly afterwards on account that he was mentally unstable. But when police received reports about the murder and learnt that a bicycle was missing, they promptly rearrested the man.
Police said in a press release that Hussein’s body was found in the guard hut at the SSMP with marks of violence to his head. The release said a piece of wood suspected to be the murder weapon was recovered and that a man was in custody assisting with investigations.
Hussein’s wife 62-year-old Alima told Stabroek News that her husband had only started working with RK’s Security last Saturday after retiring from his job as a guard with the Corriverton Town Council a few weeks ago.
She said he left home around 6 pm to go to work after telling her that he wanted “bread and egg to take.” The woman said she was at the Skeldon Nursery School where she works as a sweeper when the police visited her and broke the sad news to her.
She said they took her to the scene and she saw her husband lying in the guard hut with a “piece of stick over he eye…” Alima said she saw his food bag close to him but told the police his bicycle, which he purchased last year for $12,000 was missing. The woman described her husband as a very kind and peaceful person who “never fight with anyone.”
A neighbour who attested to the woman’s claims told this newspaper that Hussein retired from the city council at age 60, but continued working there because of his honesty. He recalled that the man raised his hand at him while going to work on Sunday evening. Hussein has left to mourn his wife Alima, six children and his grandchildren including a 14-year-old grandson they were taking care of after his mother died at childbirth. (Shabna Ullah/Stabroek News)
Armed bandits terrorise rob Corentyne family
Three armed bandits terrorised a family at Number 79 Village, Corriverton for about an hour before grabbing cash and gold jewellery around 2.30 am yesterday, after faking a fire in the house so the owner could open his sealed bedroom.
Vernon Vishnu told Stabroek News that he was alerted to the smell of smoke coming from his living room and immediately opened his bedroom door to check, only to be confronted by the armed bandits. They had gained access to the building after one of their accomplices used a table to climb up to the kitchen window and prised open the metal grillwork. After entering, he opened the door for the others.
Realizing that they could not get further because the rooms were sealed, the bandits tricked the unsuspecting Vishnu by setting a floor mat and curtains alight. He said the men gun-butted him several times in his head while demanding cash and jewellery. He took them to his bedroom and handed over all he had but the bandits were not satisfied and continued to beat him. They also slapped his wife, Shanta and pulled her hair.
They then ordered the couple to show them where the children’s bedroom was. One of the bandits pointed a gun to his 15-year-old son’s head, forcing him to tell them where the money is and after he insisted that he did not know they dealt him a blow to his head.
In the ordeal, which lasted one hour, the bandits also fired a shot in the two children’s bedroom and bound everyone with tape before escaping. Vishnu said they were traumatized by the incident and needed to visit the doctor for the injuries they suffered. But he is grateful that his four-year-son remained calm as he looked on at what the rest of the family had to endure.
The bandits who had cut the telephone wires also made off with a high-tech cordless phone, a Motorola cell phone, a video camera, cigarettes and important documents including the house transport and passports. He is pleading with the bandits to return his documents, which he said would be of no use to them. (Stabroek News)
May 12, 2008
Mother pressing for inquiry into police killing of son in March
Sheila Solomon is calling for an inquiry into the death of her son who was gunned down by the police and who she believes was innocent of any wrong-doing.
Solomon’s son Kevin Dillon was shot dead on March 1. Police had said that Dillon had exited a car and opened fire on them, to which they retaliated and that they had subsequently recovered a gun and ammunition from his person. However, other persons had told Solomon that her son was walking along the road when the police shot him in the leg. According to the eyewitnesses, the police then stood over him after he fell and shot him in the head.
Solomon has since spoken to President Bharrat Jagdeo and more recently to Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee pressing for an investigation. Until that happens, she is coping in the way she knows best: with prayers and keeping her faith.
“There are days I sit and ask why Kevin, why him? Why my son who had no prior police record, no trouble with law and who… [had] so much promise? And I have asked the police this many times only to be told a story about how he was on a robbery and had a gun,” Solomon said.
Solomon spoke in a hushed tone, her voice breaking every few minutes. She said an inquiry was necessary because of the overwhelming evidence that eyewitnesses at the scene had provided to refute the police’s account of the shooting incident. Though the setting up of an inquiry might take a while, Solomon is patient and hopeful that, “in time the truth will come out and justice [will be] served.”
She related to Stabroek News last week that in the weeks after the shooting she had the opportunity to speak with the President when he turned up at a church service she was attending. The woman recalled approaching him, relaying her concerns and asking for an audience to tell her story. According to her, Jagdeo was warm and he listened for a short while before referring her to his secretary. A meeting was then scheduled for her with Rohee.
She spoke with the home affairs minister recently at what she described as an encouraging meeting since Rohee gave her an extensive hearing and later promised to follow up on her story. Solomon said Rohee was sympathetic and gave her much of his valuable time for which she was grateful.
“The minister was really understanding and he promised to contact me in two weeks’ time to update me on what is happening with respect to my son’s death. I am waiting for call which I am certain will come,” she said.
Solomon said her peace was shattered when her son died and coping without him has been difficult. She struggled to remain calm while reminiscing on his life.
Composed again, Solomon said that of all her children Kevin had been the closest to her. She recalled that his father had walked out when he was still a baby leaving her to be “mom and dad,” and that spiritual guidance was what got them through the years.
Solomon said devotion was an important part of their daily lives and Kevin had hardly missed any. She said her son had been robbed of his life and a future which had appeared bright. “I feel like I must do what I am doing because Kevin meant so much to me and he did not deserve what happened to him,” she said.
When Dillon was shot the police said he had been in a parked car in the company of two other men and that he had exited and opened fire on them when they challenged the occupants of the car. The police said they had fired back, wounding him fatally and a .32 revolver with one spent shell and two live rounds had been recovered from him. They had also fingered him in two robberies that were committed a short while before the shooting.
But Solomon later openly challenged this account saying her son had been walking on the road when the police shot him once in the leg and that they later had stood over him and shot him in the head at point blank range. She said eyewitnesses at the scene had been vocal about the action of the police when she visited.
Stabroek News later spoke with horticulturist Boyo Ramsaroop who called Dillon an ambitious young man with a promising future. Dillon had worked with him and as far as he knew, Ramsaroop said, he was no criminal. (Iana Seales/Stabroek News)
May 10, 2008
Man charged with killing brother over $60
Mother in agony
Taijpaul Nankishore
The 30-year-old Foulis, East Coast Demerara man, who allegedly stabbed his younger brother in the neck with a broken rum bottle over $60 yesterday made an appearance at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court, charged with murder.
Taijpaul Nankishore called `Fatboy’ was not required to plead to the capital offence when it was read to him by Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs.
It is alleged that on Wednesday at Lot 297 Foulis, Nankishore murdered 28-year-old Ramesh Nankishore this newspaper was told was unrepresented at yesterday’s court proceedings.
Reports are the two were sitting under their home consuming alcohol and playing cards – one of their daily routines, when there was a heated argument over $60. 
During the argument, the suspect reportedly broke a bottle which was on a table and slashed his brother on the left side of his neck. Nankishore lay bleeding heavily on the table and died there shortly after.
The suspect who was intoxicated made no attempt to flee and was standing there when the police arrived. At the time of the incident, Ramesh was also under the influence of alcohol. The case has been transferred to the Cove and John Magistrate’s Court and will be heard on May 21.
“I always use to quarrel with them fuh that drinking thing ya know”, the woman said, adding that the now dead son had kicked down her pot. Kowsilla said that to quell her anger she went to her father’s home a short distance away and returned home about ten minutes after.
She said that when she returned the two who were still drinking, were playing cards and had money in their hands. “They were quiet, quiet so I lef and go upstairs. Then I hear a screaming noise and when I run downstairs I see Ramesh on de table and a set a blood”, the woman said before bursting into tears. (Stabroek News)
Murder of US-based Guyanese Relatives still clueless about motive
Twenty-four hours after Vincent Williams was gunned down in his South Ruimveldt business place, his relatives are clueless as to what might have caused his murder.
They remain convinced that robbery could not have been the motive as a bag of money was handed over but tossed aside before Williams was shot in the middle of his chest at close range. The jewellery he was wearing was not taken either.
Up to press time last evening, no one had been held by police in connection with this latest murder. A release from the police yesterday afternoon said they were investigating the murder of Williams, a 67-year-old overseas-based Guyanese, which occurred around 7 pm at Sunflower Circle, South Ruimveldt Park, Georgetown.
According to the police, investigations have revealed that Williams had earlier sold some clothing and other articles that he had brought into the country. “He was in a shop at the lower flat of the building in the company of a female relative when two men entered and pretended that they wanted to make a purchase.
At this stage one of the men pulled out a handgun and demanded cash and jewellery whereupon Williams began to scream and shout and the armed man shot him in his chest after which both men escaped,” the release said. A relative told Stabroek News that Williams and his girlfriend were in the shop – Bebe’s Supermarket and General Store — when the incident occurred.
The relative said that whenever Williams came to Guyana he would bring items to sell and earlier on Thursday many people flocked the Lot 168 Sunflower Circle residence and business place to make purchases. The relative added that at the time of the shooting, Williams would have had a substantial amount of local and foreign currency.
At the scene on Thursday night, curious neighbours and friends of the slain man gathered expressing their shock over the incident which rocked the quiet community. One resident recalled seeing a man running away from the store heading south seconds after two gunshots rang out. Williams, who was also an American citizen, opened the store mid last year and he last visited Guyana last October. His immediate family resides in the US. (Stabroek News)
Three teens remanded over Soesdyke armed robbery
Three teenagers were yesterday charged with the armed robbery committed on a Soesdyke painter during the wee hours of Thursday and they made an appearance before Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Providence Magistrate’s Court.
According to a police press release, Phil Charles Cameron, 19; Devon Romalho, 18, and Harold Critchlow, 19, all of Soesdyke have been charged with robbery under arms committed on Wilson Bacchus. In addition, the release said, Romalho was charged with possession of ammunition without a licence.
The three were remanded to prison and will make their next court appearance on June 9. According to the police, officers, acting on information received, went to a house in Soesdyke on Thursday night and found an unlicensed .22 revolver with five matching rounds and a spent shell.
The firearm, which was concealed in the ceiling, the release said, was believed to have been used to commit the robbery. Around, 2 am on Thursday, Wilson’s wife Alita Bacchus, was awakened by the sound of breaking glass and believing that drink bottles were breaking in the freezer, she woke up her husband. As he went to investigate, he was confronted by three men who discharged a round at him.
The bandits rounded up the couple and their 14-year-old son but Wilson managed to escape and alert neighbours. The bandits later fled with their loot which included cash and jewellery. Police acting on information arrested the three young men in the village, one of whom was found with three rounds of ammunition and some jewellery and cash believed to be booty from the robbery. (Stabroek News)
No evidence provided on Roger Khan’s.....
..... alleged links to executions - President
Roger Khan
President Bharrat Jagdeo made this assertion at a press conference on Wednesday following enquiries from reporters. He also said no evidence has been supplied to Guyana even though the US prosecution linked Khan to the murders of Davendra Persaud and boxing coach Donald Allison.
Jagdeo told reporters that his government does not have information from the United States to support any of the utterances made as that country continues to build its case against Khan.
“If we have any details about how they came upon this evidence or what evidence they have then I think the police should follow it up to the conclusion, although he [Khan] is not here in our jurisdiction,” Jagdeo reiterated. He said the local law enforcement agency is obligated to pursue any evidence about Khan’s involvement in any criminal act.
At the same time, Jagdeo recalled the issue of extradition saying it was “bandied” around that the US had wanted 14 persons from Guyana but no such request was ever submitted by the US authorities. Jagdeo said “Many people thought we were not moving on this but they had never made any requests.”
The president also said he has not asked acting Commissioner of Police Henry Greene about the recent revelations being made in the US, since he felt it was a court matter. “I don’t know of any information shared with us, direct information saying we know he did this and this is the evidence we have supporting the contention that he killed this person or that person or ordered a hit on this person or that person,” he explained.
The prosecution in Khan’s drug trial on Tuesday released a memorandum of law submitted in support of its motion for a pre-trial ruling to admit evidence regarding uncharged criminal activity by Khan. According to the memorandum, Khan, indicted for trafficking of cocaine in the US, ordered the murder of Persaud and Allison.
The document was filed in the New York Eastern District Court on Monday and seeks to have the court admit at trial evidence of Khan’s retaliation against Persaud, who was once a part of his organisation. His retaliation included threats to Persaud and his family, seizing his car and ultimately, ordering that he be murdered.
Khan’s conduct in this regard, the prosecution said, though not charged in the indictment, constituted direct proof of his continuing criminal enterprise and narcotics conspiracy.
Further, the prosecution gave notice that it would seek to offer evidence of Khan’s criminal conduct in Vermont and subsequent bail jumping if necessary to rebut arguments advanced by Khan, including lack of knowledge of drug trafficking, pursuant to Rule 404(b).
The prosecution also plans to establish that Khan was the leader of a violent drug trafficking organisation (the “Khan Organisa-tion”) that was based in Georgetown, from at least 2001 until his arrest in June 2006.
“Khan and his co-conspirators obtained large quantities of cocaine, and then imported the cocaine into the Eastern District of New York, among other places, where it was further distributed,” the memorandum said. “Khan was ultimately able to control the cocaine industry in Guyana, in large part because he was backed by a para-military squad”.
As regard Allison’s murder, the prosecution said it expected to prove at trial, primarily through the testimony of cooperating witnesses and related corroborating information, that Allison, who lived in Guyana, and others, imported cocaine into the United States that was obtained from the Khan Organisation. Some of this cocaine was seized in the US, the document said, and Khan suspected that Allison and his co-conspirators had stolen it.
Khan then tried to recruit Allison, but Allison refused and on at least one occasion insulted Khan in a public place, the memorandum said, and Khan threatened that he would kill Allison. Subse-quently, Allison was shot and killed.
Individuals in the cocaine industry in Guyana, including Khan, the document said, suspected that Persaud was cooperating with US law enforcement. The prosecution argued that the threats to Persaud and his family, the taking of Persaud’s car and his murder and that of Allison, while uncharged, were admissible as direct evidence of the accused’s continuing criminal enterprise and narcotics conspiracy.
It quoted sections of US law under which this was admissible and cited previous cases where such evidence had been admitted. It said that Khan’s alleged ordering of the murders was proof of his leadership role in the conspiracy. (Stabroek News)
May 09, 2008
Canada-based man shot, robbed
Was here for funeral
Alan Jagnarine
Alan Jagnarine came to Guyana on Saturday to attend the funeral of his friend Ronald Bassoo, the businessman who was killed in an accident last week on the Vryheid’s Lust public road.
A relative told Stabroek News that Jagnarine is staying at his cousin’s home at Calendar Street, Albouystown. The woman explained that she, Jagnarine’s cousin Nafeeza Khan and a teenage boy lived at the house. She said she was resting in bed around 11.30 pm when Jagnarine came home and Khan went downstairs to open the gate for him.
She said soon after about eight gunshots rang out and “I hear she come running into the house screaming for help…We thought bandits were attacking us so we just stay quietly in bed and waited.”
Two gunmen had accosted and shot Jagnarine after they attempted to rob him and he resisted. The man sustained injuries to his left leg and his wrist. The bandits took Jagnarine’s cellular phone and made good their escape, leaving him in a pool of blood. Khan “was grazed on her leg by one of the bullets,” the relative said of the 15-minute episode, and Khan watched most of it from her upstairs front window.
Relatives also pointed out four bullet holes left in their front zinc fence. A friend of the injured man said that Jagnarine went to Bassoo’s wake that night and “Is later that night I get the call that he get shot and I rushed over to take him to the hospital.” The man said, “I don’t know what is happening in this country. Imagine he come for his friend funeral and look where he end up.” (Stabroek News)
Visiting Guyanese executedVincent Williams
A 63-year-old US-based Guyanese man was gunned down in his South Ruimveldt business place just before 8 last night by a lone gunman in what appears to be an execution-style killing.
Vincent Williams who at the time of his death was in his supermarket-/general store located at Lot 168 Sunflower Circle, South Ruimveldt Park, was shot once in the middle of the chest. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Hospital at 8:05 pm.
Reports are that Williams, who only returned home on Tuesday and his girlfriend, were in the store when the gunman came. It is not clear exactly what transpired there but the man was reportedly given a bag with money but it was tossed aside. The gunman then shot Williams in his chest at point-blank range. Added to that, the gunman made no attempt to remove the gold rings that Williams was wearing. He then fled on the foot.
When Stabroek News arrived on the scene, curious neighbours, friends and relatives of Williams were gathered outside Bebe’s Supermarket and General Store and many expressed their shock over the killing. The police were already there conducting their investigations while loud wails from Williams’ 93-year-old mother, Rachael filled the air.
At the time of the shooting, Rachael was upstairs. Relatives were attempting to console the grief-stricken woman, who was sitting in a chair in the living room when this newspaper saw her. The man’s girlfriend was too distraught to recount the events of the night, to members of the media.
Speaking to the media, the dead man’s niece Wendy Lindo said that a bag of money was given to the gunman but he refused to take it. She that her uncle had on his rings, but no attempts was made to take them. The distraught woman said that from all appearances robbery was not the motive but she could not give a possible reason for her uncle’s killing.
Lindo said that he only arrived in the country two days ago and that the last time he was here was in November last year. She said too that he was a US citizen and the rest of his family resided there. She could not say how long ago he left Guyana but said that “is years now”.
Williams’ nephew, Kevin told this newspaper that he left home last night to get his little brother and was about two yards away when he received a telephone call. The young man said that he was informed that someone was shot at the supermarket but took it for nothing since he had heard no gunshots. He only became aware that something serious had happened when he saw his cousin and uncle driving past in a speeding mini-bus.
A resident of the street however recalled hearing two gunshots and seeing a man running from the supermarket in a southerly direction. The woman told this newspaper that she had not seen any suspicious vehicles in the area, before or after the shots.
The woman like many others in the quiet community questioned the motive for the killing with many saying that Williams was an easy-going person who is frequently out of the country. One of Williams’ regular customers, Linden Swaving said last evening that this incident now drills fear into residents and goes to show that even the “ordinary people” are not safe anymore.
He added that not much money can be taken from a small business. Several residents called for quick action by the police to find the killer and for Williams’ death not to go down in the crime pages as just another murder. (Zoisa Fraser/Stabroek News)
Cops nab three after Soesdyke robbery
Police held three men after a Soesdyke family was robbed yesterday morning of cash and jewellery. Alita Bacchus told Stabroek News that she was awakened by the sound of glass breaking and thought that her husband had left the freezer in their shop on, causing the bottles to break.
She said she roused him to make a check and as Wilson Bacchus proceeded to the refrigerator in the kitchen first, the sound of breaking louvre windows at the back of the house alerted him to the robbers.
By the time Wilson shouted “thief” the men had already entered the house and fired a shot at him. They then instructed him to “shut up and don’t holler,” as they pushed him into the living room and ordered him to lie on the ground, Alita said. The woman said she had been fast on her husband’s heels when he left the bedroom but retreated when she realised what was happening.
She said her fear caused her to shake and as she attempted to lock the bedroom door her hands could not locate the keyhole so she simply slumped back against the door. Meanwhile, the bandits had spotted the couple’s 14-year-old son Anthony who was coming out of his room on hearing his father’s screams and pulled him into the living room and ordered him to lie on the ground.
Alita said she heard the gunmen instruct her husband to order her out of the bedroom and on hearing them give him a final warning she came out. They then threw a covering over the couple and one of them marched Anthony into his room and ordered him to hand over the valuables. The other gunman proceeded to ransack the Bacchus’s bedroom.
By this time, Wilson had managed to slip out the front door of the single story house unnoticed and he headed over to the neighbours to seek help. When the gunmen realised that Wilson had disappeared Alita told them that he had gone into the shop. When they could not locate him they beat her and left the house shortly after.
Police from the Soesdyke station arrived on the scene minutes after the gunmen had escaped. Neighbours who had heard the gunshot had alerted them to the robbery. “They were very prompt,” Alita recalled, adding that her neighbours had wanted to come to her assistance but were scared away by the gunshot.
The woman said too when the bandits left Anthony was still in shock and she literally had to drag him into the bedroom and lock the door for fear that that they would return. Alita also said she could not determine her losses as police had told them not to touch anything in the bedroom until they had dusted for fingerprints and looked for other clues.
This is to be done today. She also said following some police investigations she recovered an offering basket that held her church’s tithes and offering. Alita said she no longer feels safe in her home and that her relatives and friends have converged on the family to comfort and support them.
A police release last evening said that Wilson Bacchus immediately reported the matter and this allowed the police to nab the three men in the village. One was found with three rounds of ammo and some jewellery and cash believed to be booty from the robbery were retrieved. (Melissa Charles)
May 08, 2008
Murdered over $60
After drunken row
Dead: Ramesh Nankishore
Dead is Ramesh Nankishore also known as Rayburn, 28, of Lot 297 Foulis, East Coast Demerara. Up to press time last evening, the 31-year-old suspect was in custody at the Enmore Police Outpost.
Reports are the two were sitting under their home consuming alcohol and playing cards – one of their daily routines, when there was an argument over $60. During the argument, the suspect reportedly broke a bottle which was on a table and slashed, his brother on the left side of his neck. Nankishore lay bleeding heavily on the table and died there shortly after.
The suspect who was intoxicated made no attempts to flee and was standing there when the police arrived. Almost two hours after the stabbing, Nankishore’s lifeless body was taken away.
At the house, last evening many curious villagers and relatives gathered as the police conducted their investigations. A Criminal Investigation Department (CID) rank arrived on the scene with his crime kit and after collecting his evidence left about ten minutes later. The men’s mother Kowsilla Seecharan called Radika and sister Sonita who were at home at the time of the incident were being consoled. They were later taken away from the area by the police.
Under the house where the stabbing occurred, was covered in blood. Blood was also on the ground and on a bench that the two had been sitting on. Residents gathered, expressed their shock over the incident but pointed out that it was customary for the brothers to drink, gamble then fight all day. Many said that they could be seen with spirits in their hands from as early at seven in the morning.
They said that the two never did much to help themselves in terms of survival and would depend on their mother to look after them. They said that sometimes the victim would do gardening and other “fine fine” work in the area. One of the men’s cousins Jasmattie Persaud told this newspaper that that morning, Nankishore came at her home with a half bottle of rum in his hand. She said that this is his usual behaviour.
“De two ah dem does drink and fight right hey every day”, the woman said shaking her head in disbelief over the incident. Relatives also said that when the body was being removed they noticed a huge curve-shaped cut on Nankishore’s neck and several pointed out that there was no way he could have survived. (Zoisa Fraser/Stabroek News)
Suspected gang-raped waitress drowned Post mortem
Deokali Peter
Cane harvesters found Deokali Peter around 5.30 am on Tuesday lying naked on the roadside obliquely opposite Dust Till Dawn, a bar at Port Mourant - where she had been seen drinking the night before. She was groaning in pain.
Her mother, Kamaldai Bennie, told Stabroek News yesterday that her daughter’s body bore scratches on her neck and forehead and that there were “black and blue marks on her right side.” She said the doctor also related to her that as well as raping her, it appeared that the attackers had pushed her down in a nearby trench.
Cane harvesters found her and one of them gave her his shirt to cover herself and took her to nearby residents who assisted with a pair of pants. The teen, who was employed at the Santa Rosa bar on the Corentyne, appeared to be dead around 8 am. She was covered with mud and her clothes which police later found nearby were also muddy.
Police sources told Stabroek News that Peter, who hailed from Skeldon, left home two years ago and had no fixed place of abode. She had been staying at the home of a female friend at Hampshire Squatting Area for the past month.
Bennie told this newspaper that she last saw her daughter on Saturday when she visited her in the company of a young man who was driving a car. The woman, a vegetables vendor at the Skeldon Market said her daughter told her she was involved in a relationship with the man and was staying at his house. According to Bennie, the two stopped at the market to see her around 2 am and promised to return to visit her at her home in the afternoon and they did.
The third of five siblings, Peter visited her mother “every two weeks” and would take money and presents for her and her younger siblings. She had dropped out of school at age 12 and started selling with her mother in the market. Bennie told this newspaper that her daughter got married at the age of 16.
Three months later, the marriage ended and the teen, whose father died ten years ago, started “following bad company and started to walk late at nights…,” the mother said. She said she had always encouraged her daughter to return home and she kept promising that she would.
Bennie said that on Sunday night, “a boy called me on my cell phone and fooled me that my daughter was dead and I thought it was true. But Tina grabbed the phone from he and tell me ‘no mommy ah dey right here’.” Because of this prank, however, when someone rang her just after 8 am on Tuesday to tell her that Peter was dead she did not believe and told him to “check again”.
It was only after the man called her a second time and told her that he saw the body that she hustled to the scene. However, by then her daughter’s body had already been taken to the Port Mourant Hospital mortuary. Bennie related that when she saw the remains of her daughter she screamed and fainted.
She said that yesterday she gave police the telephone number from which the call had been made on Sunday, but when they contacted him, the young man denied that he had pulled the prank. One of the teen’s acquaintances, who works at the Embassy Club bar, had told this newspaper that she was drinking at Dust Till Dawn with two male friends when she saw Peter enter with a group of young men around 11 pm.
She said Peter, who appeared to be intoxicated, asked for a cigarette then continued drinking at the bar with the men. The friend said she later left to go home and did not hear anything about Peter after that. According to police reports, the waitresses at Dust Till Dawn said that after the bar closed at 1 am and they were leaving to go home, they saw Peter sitting alone at the side of the road.
In addition, the mother of the friend with whom she stayed, related that the teen had been out drinking earlier and had returned home already “tight” (intoxicated).
The friend’s mother said Peter told her she was “going out on the road again and ah tell she don’t go because she de tell me her stomach hurting she.” The woman said Peter insisted on going out and she was shocked to receive the news of her demise on Tuesday morning. Peter will be laid to rest today, following a funeral according to Hindu rites at her grandmother’s house at Skeldon. (Shabna Ullah/Stabroek News)
No info that Colombian help sought in Kalamadeen case
Jagdeo
Farouk Kalamadeen
President Bharrat Jagdeo says he has no information that local law enforcement was looking to request Colombian assistance in investigations into the brutal death of Farouk Kalamadeen, but said help would be sought if the need arose.
Kalamadeen, the owner of Jiffi Lubes, an auto shop, had been missing for about a month before his beheaded body was discovered last Wednesday at Cowan Street Kingston, close to police headquarters. His head was found three days later in a trench about a corner away from his North Road and Albert streets business.Jagdeo was speaking at a press conference held at his New Garden Street office yesterday, to announce a series of measures to address the rising cost of living. He was asked about a state television report which said that local law enforcement was looking to the Colombian government to assist in investigations into the businessman’s brutal murder.
Jagdeo said he knew nothing about the report and added that he did not get involved in the technical aspects of police investigations.
“ I don’t know about that report… I don’t know if the Commissioner of Police had some lead that will possibly require getting help and some co-operation from Colombia… But if leads that take us to Colombia, which I don’t know about at this point in time… require us to seek the support of the Colombian government, we will do so,” Jagdeo asserted. However, he reiterated that the did not have any information to that effect .
Meanwhile, a senior police source close to the investigations told Stabroek News yesterday that the police were now in receipt of additional information with regard to the man’s abduction. The source did not reveal what the information was, but noted that the police had worked on all information it received but came up with nothing.
This newspaper was also told that the police might still go ahead with performing DNA testing on the samples removed from Kalamadeen’s body. The issue of DNA testing was first brought to the fore when only the man’s body was found – as a means of determining identity. Fingerprints were later used to identify the body.
Kalamadeen disappeared on April 2, while he was engaged in his usual morning jogging on the Houston Public Road. Last Wednesday, his headless body was discovered in Cowan Street, Kingston and two searches by police and relatives in the nearby trench for his head proved fruitless. His head was found three days later, in a North Road canal, a stone’s throw away from his business place.
There has been no word from the police on any significant breakthrough in their probe although they questioned four men following the discovery of the body. Kalamadeen was alive for several weeks following his abduction. The kidnapping of Kalamadeen and the discovery of his body generated a lot of interest here and in the Guyana diaspora. (Stabroek News)
CANU officers face the lie detector
President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday announced that all members of the Customs Anti Narcotic Unit (CANU) are undergoing a polygraph (lie detector) test as the government moves to ensure it has a unit it can depend on to fight drug traffickers.
Mr. Jagdeo told a news conference that the results of the polygraph test will decide the future of ranks of the Unit. We have to ensure that the people who we have are people of integrity; the best known method to test for integrity is to polygraph,” Mr. Jagdeo said.
The government has contracted a U.S. firm to conduct the polygraph tests. The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) of the U.S. cited Guyana as a transit point for cocaine destined for North America, Europe, and the Caribbean, but not in quantities sufficient to impact the U.S. market.
In 2007, domestic seizures of cocaine were three times higher than the previous year due to improved counter-narcotics measures at the working level, although all but one of these seizures was minor in scale.
The Government of Guyana (GOG) laid the groundwork for an enhanced security sector by agreeing to a reform programme sponsored by the British government. Guyana is a transit country for cocaine, and to a lesser degree marijuana.
The report said that Guyana’s vast expanse of unpopulated forest and savannahs offers ample cover for drug traffickers and smugglers. In 2007, the GOG signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Great Britain to implement a US$5 million, multi-year programme for reform of the security sector, which includes enhancing the investigative capacity of law enforcement agencies. Guyana Cronicle)
May 07, 2008
Teenager found dead at Tain, Corentyne
Deokalie Peter, called Tina (left) and friend Samantha Lester in happier times
Dead is eighteen-year-old Deokalie Peter, called ‘Tina’. Police sources said the youth, formerly of Skeldon, moved to Hampshire Village, Berbice about a month ago, after leaving her parents home two years ago.
According to an eyewitness, she awoke and discovered the woman lying in a semi-unconscious state on her bridge.
She said based on information received, the young woman had earlier crawled from the opposite side of the main thoroughfare in the vicinity of the Guyana Business School.
The injured woman was first spotted by cane harvesters, who reportedly covered her with a shirt, as she was naked, prior to her creeping across the roadway to a resident’s home, where she was fitted with a pants moments before she grasped the last breath.
The resident said the body displayed marks of violence, inclusive of a slashed wrist and bruises on the nose. Samantha Lester, whom the teenager lived with prior to her death, said Tina was last seen alive around 16:00 hrs Monday, when she left for work. An autopsy will be preformed on the body today. (Jeune Bailey Van-Keric)
Lindener found in shallow grave Three in custody
Aubrey Griffith
A relentless search by relatives of a Linden man who went missing eight days ago, ended on Monday when they discovered his body in a six-inch shallow grave some five miles from where he worked as a logger on the Makouria Trail, Essequibo River.
Dead is 29-year old Aubrey Griffith of Blue Berry Hill, Squatting Area Linden. Two men, who had reportedly threatened Griffith the day before he went missing, as well as a woman, are in police custody assisting with investigations.
Police in a press release yesterday said that following up with investigations into a missing person’s report made on April 30, Griffith’s body was found in a shallow grave along the Makouria Trail. Police also said that the body bore suspected marks of violence to the abdomen and a post-mortem examination is to be performed shortly.
Speaking with this newspaper yesterday, the man’s mother, Amelia Gill, who travelled to Georgetown from Linden with her son’s body, said that the Sunday before her son went missing he was involved in an altercation with two brothers from the neighbourhood over a bicycle wheel.
According to her, he had lent the men the wheel and when he queried about them not returning it, they ended up in a heated argument. She said Griffith then chopped the bicycle wheel into pieces since the men did not want to return it to him.
She said her son did not return to work the next day and was subjected to threats by the men. “They pass and they told him he can’t stay in there forever and he must go to work and they will deal with him. They told him, ‘leh we see how long you will stay in the house’,” the woman reported them as saying.
She said that on Tuesday April 29 her son left home at his usual time and never returned. “Me and his wife got worried because he would usually come home for lunch… We kept looking out for him but he didn’t come home. She left about two the [next] morning and made a report to the police station,” she said.
The woman said her son was not the sort to go sporting with friends or drinking and so his disappearance made her even more worried. She also told Stabroek News that her daughter-in law returned to the station the very next day but did not receive any cooperation from officers.
Contacted for comment on this, Commander Gavin Primo, told this newspaper that once the police were wrong in any of their actions, he would not deny it but said he needed to receive further information from ranks at Linden on the entire incident before he could comment further.
According to Gill, relatives then embarked on searches every day in a bid to find the man. Their search came to an end around 12:20 on Monday afternoon. They had detected a foul smell emanating from a suspicious looking spot where flies had gathered and dry bush was scattered.
Relatives removed the bushes, then moved away sand and mud and spotted a hand. The woman said they immediately returned to the police station, but it was not until about 4 pm that they were able to return and eventually remove the body from a six- inch-deep grave. According to her, her son’s body was clad in a pair of pants and boots and his shirt was just spread over his chest.
Gill said the body had what seemed to be a stab wound at the navel and the head was also smashed in. “I suspect they murdered my son. I feel too that it was advantage because my son was extremely kind to these boys and every time they want a raise or they want anything from him, he would give them because he was very kindhearted,” she said.
Commander Primo, who said he was familiar with the incident, said the police had searched the area where the man worked. He said the police also figured that the body might have been somewhere in the area but had not found it. Griffith was the father of two daughters, ages six and two. (Heppilena Ferguson/Stabroek News)
Roger Khan case ‘heats up’ in the U.S.
The United States government has alleged what has been whispered in the ‘underworld’ for some time now that indicted Guyanese businessman Shaheed Roger Khan, also known as ‘Shortman’, was responsible for the deaths of two persons -businessman Davendra Persaud and former boxing coach Donald Allison.
In a 19-page document filed in the Federal Court late Monday night, the Prosecution lawyers in the Roger Khan case are saying that the U.S. government wants to admit as trial evidence that Khan retaliated against Davendra Persaud by threatening his (Persaud’s) family, seizing his vehicle (a grey BMW) and ultimately Persaud’s murder at a restaurant in Georgetown.
The Prosecution is also contending that Roger Khan ordered the murder of Donald Allison. He was gunned down in Agricola after, according to the court documents, he insulted Khan in front of Khan’s co-conspirators. The U.S. says that although the killings are not part of the current indictment, they point to and constitute direct proof of the charge of continuing criminal enterprise and narcotics conspiracy.
The Prosecution, in its background to the case, is maintaining that Khan was the leader of a violent drug trafficking organization and sent cocaine to New York. The prosecution claimed that Khan used what the U.S. called a para-military organization, (and what the Guyanese called the ‘Phantom Squad’) to murder, threaten and intimidate others at his direction.
The U.S. government also contends that evidence at the trial will show that Roger Khan and his organization threatened Dave Persaud’s wife, Elisabeth, at her family’s home and business in Georgetown. But the Feds were “tapping” the phones of Persaud and his wife, so when she called to complain to Davendra who was in New York at the time, the Feds were onto what was happening. The court document went on to state that Persaud jumped bond and came back to Guyana.
According to other court documents, Persaud vanished on December 23, five years ago, from the New York home of a then BWIA airline employee who was an in-law of Persaud. It is also alleged that while in Guyana, Persaud started to export cocaine in Ghee among other items and primarily used Universal Airlines including a flight attendant and several other unsuspecting couriers to be part of his narcotics business. The current court documents indicate that Persaud was moving Khan’s narcotics and owed a debt for Khan.
In terms of the Donald Allison murder, the U.S. says that Allison also obtained cocaine from Khan’s organization and moved it to the U.S. Some of Allison’s cocaine was seized in New York. From other court documents seen by the Guyana Chronicle source, Allison was in fact a relative of four individuals who were indicted for cocaine shipments, two have been convicted and the whereabouts of the other two are unknown. Allison himself served time in the U.S. and was deported.
According to the current court documents, Allison refused to work with Khan, insulted him and was marked for death as a result. Included in the U.S. governments’ argument is that the threats to Persaud and his family, the taking of Persaud’s car, the murder of Persaud and of Allison, while uncharged, are admissible as direct evidence of the charged continuing criminal enterprise and narcotics conspiracy.
The U.S. government, in seeking to build a strong case against Khan who is expected to go on trial in October, wants to admit all the evidence relating to Khan’s activities in Guyana and even ‘stuff’ from Vermont where the U.S. says he jumped bail because he was trading guns for marijuana, among other things.
The U.S. government has also, according to reports, been successful in its bid to get information from Suriname where Khan, when he fled Guyana following the posting of a wanted bulletin for him to present himself for questioning by law enforcement officials here, was held along with three of his alleged Guyanese bodyguards, Sean Belfield, Paul Rodrigues and Lloyd Roberts.
Surinamese police said the controversial businessman, the other three Guyanese and five Surinamese were held on June 15, 2006 in what they described as the result of a huge drug bust involving some 213 kilos of cocaine. Khan was subsequently deported from Suriname on June 29, 2006, without being charged. He was placed on a flight to Trinidad from where he was nabbed by U.S. Federal agents and taken to the U.S.
His three alleged bodyguards, having spent more than five months under harsh conditions in separate jails in the former Dutch country and without bail, were also deported to Guyana but by way of the Corentyne River on November 22, 2006. (Guyana Cronicle)
May 06, 2008
Woman found with throat slit.......
....... had been ‘running to the police station’ for years
Mother says cops ignored her
Shaneiza Khan
Shaneiza Khan who was found murdered in her former home at Enmore, East Coast Demerara nearly two weeks ago had little luck in love and life, and also with the police according to relatives.
She survived an abusive marriage; struggled after the death of a child; walked away from another abusive relationship and made reports at the police station every day for seven days before she was brutally killed.Prior to those reports, she frequented the station for four years complaining about her abusive reputed husband. Her life was a battlefield, her mother Bibi Hamid said, in an interview with Stabroek News on Tuesday.
She explained that the young mother of 22 years was always under attack in her own home and pointed out that no matter how much her daughter showed up at the station the police were never too concerned.
Khan was found with her throat slit at the home she once shared with her reputed husband. The police are still looking for the man, who went into hiding since the discovery was made. “I can’t blame the police fuh she murder, but I could blame them fuh ignoring we all the time we running there and complaining. Is not yesterday or a month ago, I talking years of running to the station,” Hamid related in a frustrated tone.
Hamid’s irritation with law enforcement echoes that of countless other women and families who have criticized the police force’s domestic violence response and arrest record. Though stretched for resources, the force has had sustained training and sensitization in the area of domestic violence. Still, the level of gravity with which reports of domestic violence are handled remains a sore point.
In a Stabroek News article earlier this year the stories of three women highlighted the lack of action from the police in following up on complaints of domestic violence. The three were Shreemattie Vivekanand, Bibi Alli and Vabita Arjoon.
Vivekenand was hacked within inches of her life at her Chateau Margot, East Coast Demerara home in a bloody episode that ended with her husband taking his life; Alli fled her Golden Grove, East Bank Demerara home with her son after a domestic squabble that culminated with the house going up in flames and Arjoon survived life-threatening stab wounds after she was attacked by her reputed husband at her Philadelphia, East Bank Essequibo home.
To date, the police have said nothing with respect to the women’s complaints and attempts by this newspaper to have an interview with the Guyana Police Force on its record in this area has proved futile.
The most recent police training session was late last year when the United States Embassy in Guyana held a workshop with the force on domestic violence. Police constables, subordinate officers, inspectors and other top tier ranks were trained by Vivian Huelgo, Director of the Community Law Project of Sanctuary For Families Center for Battered Women’s Legal Services, USA.
Hamid told Stabroek News that Khan married at an early age and regretted it soon after because of the repeated abuse she suffered. She said the family intervened on numerous occasions but for some strange reason her daughter decided to stay in her marriage.
Eventually her husband packed his things and left the home without saying a word. According to Hamid, he just walked out on Khan and never looked back until recently. Now the man is fighting Hamid for the child he had with her daughter but the woman said she is not about to give up the child she has reared from birth.
She related that some time after the split Khan met her reputed husband and was carrying on a secret relationship with him for some time before she found out. “She use to come home late and every time she telling me how is work keeping she but I get to find out that she was going around with the man and he family used to hide she in the house,” the mother related.
She said it was only after she complained to the man’s family that her daughter revealed what was going on. Hamid said she was not happy at all and warned Khan not to get involved with the man. Khan continued the relationship and some time after left home to start a life with him.
But it was no life, according to the mother. She said Khan was beaten publicly and at home so many times she now gets confused when recalling which incident happened when. She said the man even attempted to beat her daughter in her yard one day and she had no choice but to scold them both. The mother said she encouraged her daughter to leave the relationship but Khan decided to report him to the police instead with the hope that his behaviour would change.
The woman said her daughter was doused with hot food; beaten and bruised and threatened over the years but she remained in the relationship until recently when she had enough and moved out of the home. Khan returned home and even then, the man would meet her in the streets and make threats. In the days leading up to Khan’s death, Hamid said, she accompanied her daughter to the station but the police simply ignored them.
Four days before she was killed, she said, a police officer showed up at the home and enquired about the man. Hamid said the policeman appeared interested in the couple and later found the man but he was not held. “They got a lot ah things when I remember it does hurt now Shaneiza gone. I try but my daughter had to get help from other places not just me,” Hamid added. (Iana Seales/Stabroek News)
Man held in Maloney shooting death
Christopher Maloney
A Kitty resident was held by police on Sunday night in connection with Saturday’s shooting to death of 21-year-old Christopher Maloney.
He was still in custody up to press time last night. Stabroek News understands that the suspect was picked up at his home, around 7.30 on Sunday night and was positively identified as one of the four men who carried out the early morning attack.
Maloney of Lot 58 William Street, Kitty was shot in the chest just before 5 am on Saturday, while rushing to help his mother Margaret Maloney, the owner of Maggie’s Catering on New Market Street. She had been attacked by gunmen, who were waiting in the yard to rob her.
Police, in a release had stated that Margaret was about to leave for her business place in her motor vehicle when she was confronted by four masked men, one of whom was armed with a gun. They held her at gunpoint and took away her jewellery, the police said. The release added that her son, Christopher, had gone to her assistance and had been shot in his chest by one of the armed men, who all then escaped. Police are continuing their investigations. (Stabroek News)
Cocaine suitcase accused seeks reduced sentence Says relative killed because he cooperated
A relative of Guyanese Gavin Waaldijk, the man who was arrested in the US last year for attempting to import a large quantity of cocaine into that country, was brutally murdered reportedly because Waaldijk was cooperating with lawmen.
Lawyers for Waaldijk, who is awaiting sentencing in a US court, claimed that the man attempted to import the illegal substance after being forced to do so by family members in Guyana one of whom was Viola Weeks, who was a bread vendor on Sheriff Street.
Weeks was brutally murdered in neighbouring Suriname shortly after Waaldijk’s August 1 arrest and according to court papers seen by this newspaper she was killed because he had cooperated with lawmen in the US. The man has since told the court and his probation officer that two men who had accompanied a cousin of his to meet him had assaulted him with pistols.
The court documents, filed by the lawyers in their quest to have the man receive a sentence below the recommended sentence guideline range, said there was no question that the 24-year-old man transported a large quantity of cocaine into the US.
“There are, however, indications that Mr Waaldijk did so under duress or at the very least, strong persuasion by members of his family who live(d) in Guyana. Unfortunately, one of these family members, Viola Weeks was murdered in Suriname following his arrest.
Indications are that this murder was related to Mr Waaldijk’s arrest at JFK airport, and his immediate cooperation after being taken into custody,” the court documents stated. It was revealed that information provided to law agents by the man resulted in them making numerous phone calls in an effort to broaden the investigation into the seizure of the cocaine at the airport.
The man’s lawyers said he has accepted full responsibility for his actions but pointed out that he had no prior arrests or convictions. It was stated that he has extensive ties in the United States and has spent some time in the New York area, after having travelled there on a tourist visa.
The lawyers mentioned Waaldijk’s two aunts, one of whom runs a day care centre, and another who is a nurse. They said he also has other close family members in the area, none of whom have criminal records.
Stating that he was fearful his life, Waaldijk wrote a letter to Judge Carol Amon in which he stated how sorry he was and indicated that his actions had not only caused embarrassment to him but also his immediate relatives who are of good standing from Linden.
His lawyers pointed out that the man did not hesitate to admit his guilt when he was confronted by agents at the airport while adding that the offence was clearly a surprise to his family members including his mother, who has since travelled to the US to attend several of her son’s court appearances.
“…Mr Waaldijk obviously displayed poor judgement, but the contrition he has demonstrated thus far would lead one to believe that he would not engage in similar illegal behaviour in the future,” the lawyers said. Further, the lawyers said that the man has been incarcerated for over eight months and as such a sentence of one year and one day would be sufficient.
“The defendant’s account is credible in that it seems clear that the defendant was importing cocaine for a major drug lord in Guyana. Furthermore, there has been no information from any other source which would call into question these claims made by the defendant,” the documents said.
It was on August 1 last year that the man went to the US on a TravelSpan flight. On arrival in New York, where cargo and passengers are subject to inspection by US Customs officials, a narcotics-detecting dog alerted the authorities to a suitcase bearing his name.
Customs and Border Patrol authorities found 31 brick-shaped objects, identified as cocaine, wrapped in plastic, which when weighed amounted to 35.078 kilogrammes. When the US authorities found Waaldijk he had one piece of carry-on luggage and another suitcase with the corresponding tag. Waaldijk will be sentenced on May 7.
May 05, 2008
Cops were aware Davendra Persaud killing....
.... was drug-related - Source
But had no evidence
Davendra Persaud Roger Khan
In the backdrop of allegations in a US court that drug-indicted businessman Roger Khan had ordered the slaying of cyclist Davendra Persaud, a police source here says they were aware that the killing was related to narcotics but had no evidence.
Local police had previously never mentioned a drug tie during the investigation of Persaud’s murder back in 2004, but police sources said such information was available to investigators from the beginning. Persaud’s execution, like many others in recent years, has gone unsolved by the police and with very little information on the motive behind it.
At the time of Persaud’s killing, Khan was yet to publicly declare himself a crime fighter as he did in mid-2006, but he was suspected to be involved in drug trafficking and had already faced the courts over having in his possession a cache of arms and ammunition in 2002.
Speaking to Stabroek News on Friday, a police officer who was close to the investigation at the time, but has since been elevated in rank, said days after Persaud’s murder at Palm Court, investigators had received reports that Khan was behind the shooting. “But like all other things we had no evidence so there was little we could do,” the officer who spoke under condition of strict anonymity said. It is unclear if Khan was ever questioned in the investigation.
The police source told Stabroek News that from the outset police suspected drugs were involved in the execution of Persaud, who had been previously charged here with drug trafficking. “The talk around was that he did not pay his dues so he was gunned down. …you know how the drugs men behave, if you don’t pay up they take you out,” the police officer said.
Asked whether they knew Persaud was a cooperating witness for the US at the time, the officer said no, but reasoned that his superiors might have been aware. “There were things then I did not know and people do not tell you everything sometimes,” the officer said, acknowledging that the US could have been using Persaud without informing local law enforcement.
In one of the most shocking revelations since Khan’s indictment on drug-smuggling charges, the US government last Thursday alleged that he had ordered the executions of Persaud, as well as several of its informants and other drug dealers. The US did not name the informants, who were described as cooperating witnesses, but sources said they might have been the five men killed on Diwali night on Robb Street in 2002.
The revelations were made in the Eastern District Court of New York after Khan’s attorneys got hold of a sealed confidential document, which contained an interview between Persaud and the US government in relation to a narcotics case against another Guyanese Delven Adams, who was allegedly a member of Khan’s organisation.
In a letter dated April 24, and addressed to Justice Dora Irizarry, US Attorney Benton Campbell said he was apprising the court of an issue that the government will raise at a status conference. Campbell said that as part of Khan’s lawyers’ opposition to the US government’s motion for an anonymous jury, they attached several exhibits.
One of these was a report from the US Customs Service, now Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), of an interview with Persaud. Campbell said this report was an official and confidential internal ICE document, used for investigative purposes, that was disclosed by the government to defence counsel at trial in a case against Adams and others.
Impeach
Adams was busted in the US with drugs in 2004. According to Campbell, the report and some other material were disclosed to defence counsel in that trial pursuant to Rule 806 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, because it could be used to impeach Persaud, whose statements were admitted as co-conspirator statements through other witnesses. Campbell said the US government satisfying its obligations, however, did not entitle defendants to file or otherwise disseminate that material outside the litigation.
He argued that in the Adams trial, the government had serious concerns about witness safety, in large part because Persaud’s testimony as well as testimony from 3,500 material witnesses implicated various individuals in Khan’s organisation.
However, Campbell alleged that Persaud, who was a co-conspirator of Khan, the Adams’ trial defendants, and the government’s cooperating witnesses in the Adams’ case, was gunned down in Guyana on Khan’s orders, as Khan perceived that Persaud was cooperating with the US government.
“In an effort to protect witnesses, Judge Frederic Block ordered the defence attorneys in that case not to disseminate (information on the 3,500 material witnesses) to anyone other than their clients. Unfortunately, Judge Block’s order was violated – as defence counsel in this case has possession of this Customs report. The government did not provide this report to defence counsel in this case, and it was only disseminated in the Adams case,”
Campbell wrote to the judge. He said the US government was writing to inform the court of the issue, and to request the court to inquire of Khan’s lawyers at the next status conference: how, from whom, and when they obtained the report.
The government also wanted to know whether they have obtained any of the statements of the 3,500 material witnesses disseminated at the Adams trial; and whether they had disseminated any of this to anyone else. “We further request that the court order the prompt return to the government of any such material in the defence’s possession – including all copies they have made of such material,” Campbell requested.
He said while Khan’s lawyers might not have been aware of Judge Block’s order, this inquiry was important not only because a court order was violated, but because the potential danger to witnesses and their families in this case could not be overstated. “It is imperative that the government has complete knowledge of the full scope of the information disseminated about its prior witnesses, so as to take necessary safety precautions,” Campbell stated.
Khan’s lead attorney, Robert Simels in a response, told the court that the documents were obtained from the clerk’s office on March 31, this year. Simels said following the court appearance in this case his associate requested an opportunity to obtain a copy of the criminal complaint against an individual named Brentnoll Hooper in the file entitled US vs. Adams.
Fifteen times
Khan is facing 18 charges for conspiring to import cocaine into the US. He had declared himself back in 2006, before he was arrested by US law enforcement officials, as a crime fighter who used his own resources to hunt down criminals. According to one of the several statements, he had issued while on the run from local lawmen, Khan revealed that he employed a network of ex-convicts and former policemen to do his work.
Persaud was gunned down at Palm Court in October 2004. He was shot close to 15 times, in what appeared to be an organised hit, orchestrated by a gang of four.
Persaud had been charged locally in relation to drugs and later became an informant for the US government. Reports were that four men, two of whom were wearing masks, turned up at the Main Street bar in a white Toyota Sprinter car registration number PJJ 1767 a little before 10 pm.
Two men remained in the car, another stood guard at the gate, while one went up to Persaud and shot him. The gunman reportedly stood over him and opened fire at close range. Police had arrested a number of persons for questioning, but they were all released. (Stabroek News)
Hundreds bid moving farewell at KALAMADEEN’S FUNERAL 
Sheikh Moen Ul-Haq leads mourners in offering prayers at the Janaza of Farouk Kalamadeen
The body of businessman Farouk Kalamadeen was yesterday buried at the Eccles cemetery, following a very moving Janaza at the Muslim Youth Organisation (MYO) Headquarters, Woolford Avenue, attended by hundreds of sorrowing relatives and friends.
There was a flood of emotions, and family members wept bitterly as the draped casket was hoisted into the compound and placed before the large gathering of mourners and sympathizers. Among those present were representatives of the business sector, the motor racing fraternity, and hundreds of members of the Muslim body in Guyana, of which he was an integral part.
As the draped casket lay before the gathering with a framed photograph of Farouk Kalamadeen atop, literally hundreds of mourners filed past to pay their last respects. Meanwhile, in his tribute to the celebrated former motor racer who in his life time had participated in many races, Chief Executive Officer of the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG), Sheikh Moen Ul-Haq, referred to the occasion as Kalamadeen’s ‘last race’, adding on a very somber note, “…and we bid farewell to him this afternoon”.
Referring to the period of uncertainty and anxiety following the disappearance of Farouk Kalamadeen on April 2 last, Haq observed that it has been a very traumatic period. It was a month characterised by severe trials, tests and tribulation – not only to the family members, but all those who have been associated with the ‘dear brother’, he said.
He also expressed thanks to God Almighty that they have been able to bring that chapter to a close, and that they were able to recover all parts of his body, adding that nothing escapes the attention of the Maker.
A section of the mourners and sympathizers at the Janaza of Farouk Kalamadeen at the MYO yesterdayStanding alongside the casket, Haq asserted very passionately: “This life is a cycle and what goes around comes around.” He conceded that if justice is not received from mankind, surely it will be received from the best of judges – God Almighty.
The CIOG leader noted that what was witnessed in relation to the demise of the brother, is a reflection of “a society that is Godless”, and described the scenario as an epidemic – one where immorality prevails, removing the border between human life and animal life.
He prayed that “the truth will come to light” in relation to the brutal death of Kalamadeen. And an elder member of the Muslim body – the pain of loss evident as he spoke, trying to build courage, remarked: “We have to die some how, sometime, but I would like to thank God that our brother here died as a Muslim.”
Meanwhile, eulogizing the life of Mohamed Farouk Kalamadeen, his nephew Damon Fung Fook described him as a quiet and kind individual, with two of his hobbies being motor racing and playing pools. He recalled his uncle never liked asking for help, but was always willing to lend a hand where help was needed. He gave generously to the Masjid, and other humanitarian causes in society, but always “did his good deeds quietly,” Damon recounted.
A man of incredible strength, Farouk’s words of counsel to Damon and other relatives, was that they should always be strong in the face of hardships and tragedies. He recalled his uncle Farouk admonishing him not to shed tears if ever he heard that he (Farouk) was dead. Fung Fook expressed confidence that his uncle had lived his life well, and was not afraid to meet his Maker.
Mourners filing past the body of slain businessman, Mohamed Farouk Kalamadeen
Prior to his burial yesterday, the severed head of the City businessman was found in a canal a block away from his Light Street and North Road business place early Saturday morning.
The gruesome discovery was made three days after his headless cadaver was found dumped at another location north of the City.
One relative who spoke with the Guyana Chronicle on Saturday said the family is “certain” that the head is Kalamadeen’s and that now that it could be finally “reunited with the body,” they are in a better frame of mind to continue with arrangements to bury him today (yesterday).”
The Police recovered the head after being alerted by passers-by who saw it lying in a muddy canal at Albert Street and North Road here in the capital, just a street away from Jiffy Lubes, the motor services outlet that Kalamadeen owned and operated. The missing head was examined by Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh who, according to the Police, concluded that Kalamadeen had suffered blunt trauma to the back of the head and injuries to the mouth.
As news of the discovery spread, a large crowd gathered at the site where the head was found just opposite the popular Bakewell bakery. The discovery was made sometime around 08:30 h. Neighbours shuddered on recounting the story, saying the head was “black” when it was fished out of the trench.
Kalamadeen’s headless body was found early Wednesday morning, almost a month after he disappeared, in the Kingston area on a parapet at Cowan Street. Relatives were prepared to go ahead with the funeral Friday without the head, but this was stalled because the Police needed to verify that the cadaver was his from its fingerprints.
Since Kalamadeen had not yet been registered in the current registration exercise, there were no fingerprints of his available at the Guyana Elections Commission to make that comparison. Relatives, however, had said the Police were able to “lift” fingerprints from equipment Kalamadeen used when he would go in the interior. Those fingerprints matched those of the headless cadaver, thus providing further conclusive evidence in the identity of the body.
Kalamadeen disappeared without a trace after leaving his Barrington Apartments home in Houston just outside the City on the lower East Bank on April 2, for his daily jog. He was presumed abducted, but according to the family, there were no ransom demands. The Police are still continuing with their investigations. (Shirley Thomas/Guyana Cronicle)
POLICE FORCE NOT AFRAID....... ........of going after bandits.
Says it will aggressively carry fight against those involved in terrorism, banditry
The Guyana Police Force yesterday declared that it supports the earlier views expressed by Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Clement Rohee, that the Force must be aggressive and carry the fight to those involved in terrorism and banditry.
“The police are not afraid of the bandits and are going after them relentlessly, using the intelligence and other resources available,” the GPF said in a statement yesterday. “However, at the same time, we must apply common sense,” the Police added.
In this regard, the Police said measures taken are not intended to be defensive, but are “part of the strategy in support of our law enforcement posture”. “We have intensified our operations with a number of raids being conducted, based on intelligence, in the city of Georgetown and on the East Bank and East Coast of Demerara along with patrols, roadblocks and searches.”
“Barriers are in place to reduce the possibility of certain strategic locations being targeted and to provide a degree of comfort and security for our ranks,” the Police Force added. It said the measures being used are temporary and have been used as requisite from time to time.
The Guyana Police Force is calling on all members of the public to give their full support in this fight against crime and lawlessness at this period of Guyana’s history. “We intend to stay on top of the crime situation and will do so with great resolve,” the GPF declared. (Guyana Cronicle)
May 04, 2008
Son of Maggie’s owner shot dead
Had rushed to save mother from bandits
The area where Chris Maloney fell after being shot in the chest by bandits who were attempting to rob his mother, Margaret. She was in this car when he was shot.
The 21-year-old son of city businesswoman, Margaret Maloney, was shot dead just before five yesterday morning while rushing to save her from the gunmen who were reportedly waiting in the yard to rob her.
Dead is Christopher Maloney, who had only recently returned home from Canada on vacation. The incident occurred at his mother’s Lot 58 William Street, Kitty, residence.
Police said yesterday that they were investigating an armed robbery that occurred around 4.55 am at William Street, Kitty, during which Christopher was shot and killed by bandits.
A release from the force stated that so far reports had revealed that Margaret Maloney, who is the owner of Maggie’s Catering located at New Market Street, George-town, was about to leave for her business place in her motor vehicle.
She was confronted by four masked men, one of whom was armed with a gun, the police said. They held her at gunpoint, according to the release, and took away her jewellery.
The four armed bandits, who robbed businesswoman Margaret Maloney early yesterday morning before shooting and killing her son, scaled this fence to get away, in the process ripping out a zinc sheet.
Hospital sources told Stabroek News that the man arrived at the institution around 5.10 am, with a bullet wound in the middle of his chest and clad only in his underwear. He was already dead.
When Stabroek News visited Maggie’s Restaurant just before ten, employees had gathered there and some were openly weeping. The business place was locked up and a sign reading that it would be closed until further notice, was hanging outside.
Yesterday’s attack was a well-planned one as one of the gunmen was already seated in the back seat of Margaret’s van which was parked under a house next door, while the others were hiding nearby.
Stabroek News understands that when the woman entered her vehicle she was almost immediately held at gunpoint. It was her screams that alerted her son and a female relative who were sleeping inside. As they rushed to her rescue, Christopher was shot once in the chest while a shot was fired in the direction of the female relative who ran into the house to seek cover. After snatching a piece of jewelley from the businesswoman, the gunmen fled the scene by scaling a back fence.
Steve Maloney, Christopher’s uncle, said he was deeply hurt and outraged at the killing. He expressed disappointment that neighbours had not responded to his sister’s screams for help. He was among several relatives who had gathered at the home, hours after the incident. Stabroek News was unable to speak with Margaret Maloney yesterday.
With the anger evident in his voice, Steve said that it was only recently that his nephew who was studying in Canada, had come back home on holiday. He said according to the information he received three men carried out the attack adding that one had been waiting in the vehicle while two others had been standing outside.
This newspaper was informed that Margaret Maloney would usually leave her home early every morning to go to her kitchen located at Lamaha Street, to prepare for the day. It would appear that she would come out at a regular time and the bandits were clearly aware of this.
Steve said that as she jumped into the car, the man in the back seat “stick she up and she start to scream,” adding that this had alerted her son. The man said that the son and a relative ran downstairs to assist and as they came through the door, two shots were fired, one of which hit Christopher in his chest.
He said the men snatched a chain from around Margaret’s neck and scaled a nearby fence. Christopher fell a few feet from where the car was parked but when Steve pointed out the area, blood spots were barely visible. He said that it had already been washed off but that there had been a lot of blood.
The slow response of the police also came under heavy criticism from Steve. Very upset, he said that “the station didn’t respond and no one ain’t even come out and help.” He said that a resident who lived behind the house under which the car was parked, had jumped over the fence and assisted in getting Christopher to the hospital.
Meanwhile, residents recalled hearing the two gunshots but they said that they hadn’t noticed anything suspicious. One resident who did not want to be named told Stabroek News that between 4.30 and 4.45 am, he had heard a car stop near the alleyway leading to the Maloneys’ home.
He said the vehicle was playing music but it was not very loud. He said a group of men got out of the vehicle and he heard when the doors closed. The group, according to reports, opened the gate and went into the yard. Shortly after, he said, he heard Maggie (Margaret) screaming and this was followed by two gunshots.
The resident recalled that Christopher’s body had later been brought out and the police arrived some 45 minutes after. Those living in William Street, described Christopher as a kind, mannerly young man, who did not have any known problems with anyone. In addition to his mother Christopher leaves behind a sister who resides in Canada. (Zoisa Fraser/'Stabroek News)
Popular restaurateur’s son killed during robberyChristopher Maloney
A son who went to his mother’s aid during a robbery early yesterday morning was shot and killed by bandits in his yard. Dead is Christopher Maloney, 21, of William Street, Kitty.
Police said that about 04:55h Maloney’s mother, Margaret Maloney, the owner of Maggie’s Restaurant on New Market Street in the City, was about to leave home in her car for her business place when she was confronted by four gunmen.
The lad was taken to the Public Hospital but died while receiving medical attention. Police are investigating the matter. (Guyana Cronicle)
Kalamadeen’s head found
Was in North Road trench since Wednesday
A Lyken Funeral Parlour porter fishes out Farouk Kalamadeen’s (inset) head from the North Road trench yesterday morning.
The Jiffi Lubes owner had gone missing since April 2. His headless body was discovered at Cowan Street, Kingston on Wednesday morning.
The discovery was made just after 6 yesterday morning, around the same time his headless body had been found in Cowan Street, Kingston three days ago. Local residents who made the discovery and alerted police told Stabroek News yesterday that the head had been there since Wednesday, but they had not recognized what it was. A police press release yesterday stated that acting on information received from public-spirited citizens, at about 8.30 the police recovered the head in a trench at Albert Street and North Road, Georgetown.
The statement also said that the head had been examined by pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh who was of the view that Kalamadeen had suffered blunt trauma to the back of the head and injuries to the mouth. The police said investigations into this matter were continuing.
Dozens of residents and passersby crowded the area where the man’s head was partly visible. The crowd forced the police to create a cordon with a vehicle at the corners of Oronoque and Albert Streets. The head lay in the corner of the trench closer to Albert than Oronoque Street. Many stared transfixed while police in plain clothes stood in the Meriman Mall and prevented persons from entering since there was a closer view from that vantage point.
As the crowd started to build up and more persons parked their vehicles to join the ranks of the spectators, a policeman in plain clothes started to cordon off the stretch of road just off Oronoque Street with yellow tape. He asked that persons move beyond the yellow line, but this met with much reluctance on the part of the crowd, and persons only moved briefly and then congregated again once porters of the Lyken Funeral Home arrived to fish the head out of the trench.
Farouk Kalamadeen’s head being taken away by Lyken Parlour porters, escorted by ranks of the Guyana Police Force in plain clothes.
As the head was taken out of the water the smell of decomposition permeated the atmosphere, sending several persons scampering away holding their nostrils. The head was placed into the bag and then taken away by the porters.
Residents in the area were heard recounting that the strange object in the trench had been spotted earlier in the week but no one had paid it attention since according to one man, it “look like a turtle back.”
A woman who said she had been one of those who had made the discovery told Stabroek News that the object started to attract extra attention recently and it was only when they ventured closer that they realized that the object was indeed a head.
“We saw the thing since around Wednesday time, but we didn’t really pay it no mind and we even pass it off and say it was a turtle back,” she said. She said too that when they realized what it was, the group of residents alerted a police vehicle, which happened to be passing.
The trench runs east to west and has not undergone any major desilting in a number of years, residents told Stabroek News. They said however that from time to time the Mayor and City Council would do surface cleaning, getting rid of food boxes and other objects.
Residents also said the delay in investigating the object was caused too by the fact that they seldom paid attention to what occurred in that section of the Merriman Mall since many drug addicts and homeless persons normally slept there under the trees.
A few of Kalamadeen’s relatives who managed to look at the head after it had been taken from the water declared definitively that it was his. Three women who were seen crying later told reporters that they were Kalamadeen’s cousins and had only arrived here a day ago for his funeral, which was originally scheduled to have been held on Friday.
One of the women, whom another relative identified only as Bibi, said she and the others were staying at a friend’s house on North Road, and after realizing that a small crowd had started to gather, they became curious and came out.
“That’s when we found out that it was his head, and at first I didn’t have a good look, but then I saw that it is him,” the woman said as she struggled to control her tears. Other family members were also notified and Kalamadeen’s son Irfaan who was on his way to Jiffy Lubes also noticed the crowd and stopped, Bibi Shadick the family’s spokesperson and Kalamadeen’s sister-in-law told this newspaper yesterday.
Added trauma
Even as Kalamadeen’s relatives remained hopeful that the man’s head would have been found, yesterday’s discovery exposed them to further trauma. “This morning [yesterday] it was added trauma because even though we were hopeful that we would get the head, now actually finding it renews the whole trauma, but we just want to get the whole funeral over with. We are thankful that we were able to get it,” Shadick told this newspaper.
A possible motive for the man’s brutal end remains unclear even to the law enforcement authorities, and relatives have acknowledged that many rumours abound. Shadick said hearing of the many different stories surrounding how Kalamadeen met his death had been hard for the family and now that the head had been found many new ones may abound. However, she said, she hoped this put to rest some of the rumours and attempts by some to “feed on people’s trauma.”
According to her, relatives had not yet seen the police’s autopsy report and she maintained that the man’s body bore no obvious bruise marks. According to her, Kalamadeen’s son who witnessed the post-mortem examination said there were two dark spots under one of his arms. She said there were no breakages on the skin although on one elbow there was a little scratch, which was also not an obvious wound.
Farouk Kalamadeen disappeared on April 2, while he was engaged in his usual morning jogging exercise on the Houston Public Road. Last Wednesday, his headless body was discovered in Cowan Street, Kingston and two searches by police and relatives in the nearby trench for his head proved fruitless. Relatives had also checked in the North Road canal, Shadick said, since the area was close to his business place. This search also was to no avail.
There has been no word from the police on any significant breakthrough in their probe although they questioned four men following the discovery of the body. Kalamadeen was alive for several weeks following his abduction.
The kidnapping of Kalamadeen and the discovery of his body generated a lot of interest both locally and in the Guyana diaspora. Kalamadeen’s remains will be laid to rest following Muslim rites today at 2 pm. (Heppilena Ferguson/Stabroek News/Photo by Aubrey Crawford)
Kalamadeen’s head found in canal Discovered by passers-by close to Jiffi Lubes Shade
At the scene of the discovery
The severed head of City businessman, Farouk Kalamadeen, was found in a canal a block away from his Light Street and North Road business place early yesterday morning.
The gruesome discovery was made three days after his headless cadaver was found dumped at another location north of the City.
One relative who spoke with the Guyana Chronicle said the family is “certain” that the head is Kalamadeen’s and that now that it could be finally “reunited with the body,” they are in a better frame of mind to continue with arrangements to bury him today. The funeral service will be held at the Muslim Youth Organisation (MYO) on Woolford Avenue.
The Police recovered the head after being alerted by passers-by who saw it lying in a muddy canal at Albert Street and North Road here in the capital, just a street away from Jiffy Lubes, the motor services outlet that Kalamadeen owned and operated.
The missing head was examined by Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh who, according to the Police, concluded that Kalamadeen had suffered blunt trauma to the back of the head and injuries to the mouth. As news of the discovery spread, a large crowd gathered at the site where the head was found just opposite the popular Bakewell bakery. The discovery was made sometime around 08:30h.
Neighbours shuddered on recounting the story, saying the head was “black” when it was fished out of the trench. Kalamadeen’s headless body was found early Wednesday morning, almost a month after he disappeared, in the Kingston area on a parapet at Cowan Street. Relatives were prepared to go ahead with the funeral Friday without the head, but this was stalled because the Police needed to verify that the cadaver was his from its fingerprints.
Since Kalamadeen had not yet been registered in the current registration exercise, there were no fingerprints of his available at the Guyana Elections Commission to make that comparison. Relatives however said the Police were able to “lift” fingerprints from equipment Kalamadeen used when he would go in the interior. Those fingerprints matched those of the headless cadaver, thus providing further conclusive evidence in the identity of the body.
Kalamadeen disappeared without a trace after leaving his Barrington Apartments home in Houston just outside the City on the lower East Bank on April 2, for his daily jog. He was presumed abducted, but according to the family, there were no ransom demands. The Police are still continuing with their investigations. (Neil Marks and Michel Outridge/Guyana Cronicle)
May 03, 2008 Head Found
The head of a man thought to be that of Farouk Kalamadeen has been found in Georgetown. The police have not confirmed this report. More details to follow later today and in tomorrow’s edition.
Kalamadeen funeral delayed
by post-mortem
The cause of death of businessman Farouk Kalamadeen was given by a pathologist as possible decapitation and a late police decision to perform the post–mortem examination disrupted yesterday’s planned funeral. It was only yesterday morning that relatives were advised by the police that fingerprints had to be taken from the body prior to the autopsy.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that following some amount of bewilderment by the relatives with the police resulting in several trips to the hospital mortuary by the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour’s hearse, the post-mortem was finally completed sometime after 4 pm. Late yesterday, Police Public Relations Officer Ivelaw Whittaker told Stabroek News that the post-mortem examination revealed that Kalamadeen died from “possible decapitation.”
The Kalamadeens had planned the burial according to Muslim rites and had hoped that the post-mortem examination would have been early yesterday morning but at around 12:30 pm the family had to postpone plans. Relatives told Stabroek News last evening that they were meeting with their moulvi to look at another possible date for the funeral and tomorrow seemed more likely.
This newspaper was informed that the police were undecided about conducting the examination yesterday and then finally made a decision following some amount of confusion and negotiations with the family’s attorney. It is not clear what caused the police’s hesitancy.
The man’s sister-in-law, Bibi Shadick told Stabroek News yesterday that the man’s body was without a scratch and said that relatives were mostly interested in having the examination completed and did not think of asking the police about the cause of death.
Kalamadeen’s family still remains hopeful that his head would be found. On Thursday morning the man’s sons and others had returned to Cowan Street, Kingston where his body was found early Wednesday morning to look for his head. Kalamadeen disappeared on April 2.
There has been no word from the police on any significant breakthrough in their probe although they questioned four men following the discovery. Kalamadeen was however alive for many weeks following his abduction.
From the time he was abducted to the day his body was found, the drama surrounding Kalamadeen generated a lot of interest both locally and in the Guyana diaspora.
(Heppilena Ferguson)
May 02, 2008
Station attack linked to slaughters
Police
Police have matched the spent shells found at the scene of the attack on the East La Penitence station on Tuesday night to those found at the scenes of the Lusignan and Bartica murders, providing for the first time a link between the two massacres.
In a press release issued last night, the force said, ballistics tests carried out on the twenty-three 7.62×39 spent shells recovered from East La Penitence revealed they were from rounds fired from two firearms and that the shells further matched those found that the scenes at Lusignan and Bartica.
The results also linked the shells to a robbery/murder at Canal Number 2, West Bank Demerara during 2006, the release added, and investigations are ongoing into the attack on the station.
Prior to this, there had been no police statement in relation to ballistics evidence linking the Lusignan killings - thought to be the work of the Buxton/Agricola gunmen - to those at Bartica in February. However, President Bharrat Jagdeo had taken the leap in announcing two days after 12 persons were killed in Bartica that the murderers were the same men who had slaughtered 11 people at Lusignan in January. Jagdeo later repeated the statement that the two killings were linked.
The only official ballistics evidence of the Bartica slaughter previously provided was by Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee in the National Assembly in March. Contrary to what Jagdeo had said earlier, Rohee announced that ballistics tests conducted on spent shells found at the crime scene at Bartica firmly established that the same weapons had been used to commit killings and robberies at three other locations last year, namely, Better Hope on August 21, 2007; Sheribana on October 1, 2007 and at Triumph on December 16, 2007. He did not mention the Lusignan slayings of January 26, 2008.
When asked about the contradiction between his comments and those of Rohee, Jagdeo had said that the minister perhaps inadvertently omitted to mention the Lusignan-Bartica connection, and insisted that the two incidents were linked.
Questions have been raised over the credibility of the police ballistics results in the past and detractors have further argued that despite the presentation of the information the police have been unable to use it in capturing criminals and winning prosecutions in court.
On Tuesday night, the shooters left several bullet holes on the outer walls of the station, located on Mandela Avenue.
When Stabroek News visited the station several police officers were there, but were unwilling to speak about the incident. Stabroek News was told that the gunmen attacked the station from both the eastern and southern ends.
A taxi driver told this newspaper that he was on Mandela Avenue in that area, when he heard rapid gunfire. The taxi driver, who asked not be named, said he and several of his colleagues from the same service, immediately came off the road.
He said he was not certain where the gunfire was coming from and could not imagine it was an attack on the police station.
A security guard at a building next door to the station said she was in the guard hut when she heard the gunshots and fearing for her life, she stayed in. “I ain’t going out there to see anything,” the guard commented. She said when the shooting subsided and she went outside to have a look, she saw some police officers frantically looking around.
Over the years, gunmen have routinely targeted police stations on their way to committing serious atrocities, as happened in the January and February slaughters at Lusignan and Bartica. (Stabroek News)
Kalamadeen beheading
Family renews search for head
As police struggle to find clues as to who abducted and subsequently beheaded city businessman, Farouk Kalamadeen, relatives yesterday returned to Kingston where his body was found to look for his head.
Kalamadeen disappeared on April 2. His headless body was found early Wednesday morning near a trench on Cowan Street, Kingston. Up to press time the police had not made any significant breakthrough in their probe although they questioned four men on Wednesday following the discovery.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, sister-in-law of the dead man, Bibi Shadick said that relatives’ odyssey to the Kingston scene yielded little. “There was no word on the sighting of the head, but relatives remain hopeful that somehow the missing part would be found,” Shadick said.
Asked about how the family was coping, Shadick said, “We are kind of numb and for his wife it is still unreal to her because we are trying to think of all kinds of things as to what really happened. It’s like we are baffled about everything,” Shadick, a former government minister said.
She noted that relatives were also concerned about what kind of message is being sent in the way he was killed. “The whole ordeal is tough for the family to bear,” Shadick said.
The Member of Parliament told Stabroek News that the dead man’s mother and other relatives were expected in the country last night.
Meanwhile, she said relatives were also hopeful for an early post-mortem examination today so the body could be handed over to the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana for burial according to Muslim rights. Shadick said that Kalamadeen’s body will be wrapped in the traditional cotton cloth but the box would have to be completely covered.
From the time he was abducted to the day his body was found, the drama surrounding Kalamadeen generated a lot of interest both locally and in the Guyana diaspora. Some readers of Stabroek News’ articles online have commented that they were almost sure the businessman would not have returned alive once it took so long for him to be found. Relatives had said there was no ransom demand. Kalamadeen disappeared while jogging on the Houston Public Road around 6 am on April 2.
Police said in a statement on Wednesday evening that his headless body was found on Cowan Street, Kingston clad in a red jersey and black pants and was barefooted. The police noted that by its general appearance, the body was later identified by his son, Irfan Kalamadeen. The discovery was made by persons heading to work in the area sometime after 6 am and the police were notified.
The body, according to investigators, may not have been there for long as it had what appeared to be fresh blood on the chest. It appeared that the man’s head had been neatly and clinically severed. Significantly, there was no blood close to or around the body, which lay a few yards away from the nearby trench, indicating that Kalamadeen was killed somewhere else and his body dumped in the area.
For several weeks there had been endless speculation, reports and arrests over the businessman’s abduction, but no one knew for certain where the former motor racer was. Eyewitnesses had reportedly told police that he was picked up by men in a dark-coloured vehicle.
Last week Wednesday, a member of the Special Constabulary was among four persons arrested by the police during a search at a Princes Street house in connection with Kalamadeen’s abduction. An unlicensed .32 pistol and five matching rounds were also seized from the house, a police statement had said.
Stabroek News had been told earlier that Kalamadeen had been abducted by foreigners with whom he had problems, but his wife, Nariman Kalamadeen, had said that was not so. She however said it was clear he was being held against his will, but for reasons she did not know.
In addition to operating Jiffi Lubes automobile service centre, Kalamadeen was involved in gold mining. Back in 2002 at the height of the crime wave gunmen believed to have been the prison escapees had attempted to rob a house in Section ‘K’ Campbellville. Kalamadeen had told this newspaper that he responded to the attack. At the time, he was residing in the area. (Stabroek News)
May 01, 2008
Kalamadeen beheaded
Police question four men
A search conducted yesterday morning in the Cowan Street trench for the head
Police up to late yesterday were questioning four men in connection with the abduction and slaying of city businessman, Farouk Kalamadeen whose headless body was found near a trench in Kingston early yesterday morning.
The men were called in for questioning by the police on claims that they knew about the businessman’s disappearance, a police source said last evening. It was not clear up to press time last night whether the men were still being questioned.Family members yesterday placed a full-page announcement in today’s Stabroek News announcing the death of the Jiffi Lubes owner and details about his burial according to Muslim rites.
Kalamadeen disappeared while jogging on the Houston Public Road on April 2. He was not heard from since neither was there a ransom demand. In a terse statement issued late last evening the police said that the headless body of a man was found on Cowan Street, Kingston. The body was clad in a red jersey and black pants and was barefooted, the police release said.
“By its general appearance, the body was later identified to be that of Farouk Kalamadeen by his son Irfan Kalamadeen,” the release added. Asked for a comment on the discovery, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said that it was very unfortunate. He however declined to comment further, noting that he had not received a full report from the police on the matter as yet.
It appeared that the man’s head, which had not been located up to press time last night, had been neatly and clinically severed. Signifi-cantly, there was no blood or any trace of it close to or around the body, which lay a few yards away from the nearby trench, indicating that Kalamadeen was killed somewhere else and his body dumped in the area.
When this newspaper arrived on the scene, a police car parked conveniently to create a cordon was present and several onlookers were gathered at the scene. Minutes after the discovery, relatives of the Jiffi Lubes owner arrived on the scene and viewed the body. Residents occupying the Railway Embankment said they did not see or hear any strange sounds late Tuesday night or early yesterday morning.
One woman who lives just opposite where the body was discovered told Stabroek News that she owns several dogs and they would alert her if there were any strangers around. She said she usually woke up at 6 each morning and did the same yesterday.
“I come outside and I see four men in all over black clothes standing at the end there and I say must be a dead dog because sometimes people throw dead dogs there. But then I hear them saying that is a body they find,” she said. The woman said she did not see any vehicle or anything strange.
Her neighbour said she too did not hear anything and only learnt that a body was there when she awoke this morning to see a group of persons assembled.
Since his disappearance, the man’s business place has never really been closed. However, the doors to the usually busy auto shop were shut tight yesterday morning; several vehicles were lined up outside the shutters.
Two black flags hung on the eastern and western sides of the building and a few workers stood around. Queries by this newspaper revealed that staffers were told that the owner’s body was found and that the business place would be closed until further notice. Anti-kidnapping squad Yesterday’s discovery of the businessman’s body ended almost one month of speculation, reports and arrests. Ironically, the body was found around the same time that the man disappeared exactly four weeks ago.
His abduction and subsequent decapitation raise serious questions about the police’s ability to solve these cases and whether Eve Leary had activated its anti-kidnapping squad. “We are accepting that the body is his because his son has seen the body and knows his father,” Kalamadeen’s sister-in-law Bibi Shadick said yesterday morning. However, she said relatives would ensure that DNA tests were done for confirmation.
The discovery of the body was preceded by an attack on the East La Penitence Police Station on Tuesday night. Two days after the businessman’s disappearance, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud when asked whether the police had activated its anti-kidnapping squad, said there was no need to do so as there was no certainty that Kalamadeen had been kidnapped. He later confirmed that the businessman was abducted.
Eyewitnesses reportedly told police that he was picked up by men in a dark-coloured vehicle. The relatives of the 54-year-old former motor racer and the security forces had conducted numerous checks in and around the Houston neighbourhood, but other than apprehending a few suspects they had collected no substantial evidence. During several interviews with this newspaper, the businessman’s relatives had expressed optimism about his safe return.
Meanwhile, only last week Wednesday, a member of the Special Constabulary was among four persons arrested by the police during a search at a Princes Street house on Tuesday night in connection with Kalamadeen’s abduction. An unlicensed .32 pistol and five matching rounds were also seized from the house, a police statement had said.
According to the statement, about 8:30 last Tuesday night, while conducting investigations into a report of abduction, ranks searched a house on Princes Street, Georgetown, where the weapon and ammunition were found. Four men were arrested. Prior to last week, the police had arrested three men, but later released them.
Stabroek News had been told earlier that Kalamadeen had been abducted by foreigners with whom he had problems, but his wife, Nariman Kalamadeen, had said that was not so. Kalamadeen left his D’Aguiar Park, East Bank Demerara home around 6 am on April 2 to go on his daily jog. He was last seen wearing a blue sweat suit, track boots and a cap. Family members said they had checked every corner in the Houston, Mandela Avenue area and interviewed almost all the security guards in the block but no one had a clue as to where the former motor racer might be.
Mrs. Kalamadeen told this newspaper in an interview on April 3 that it was clear her husband was being held against his will, but for reasons she did not know. The businessman’s wife said that when he had left his home that morning he did not have his cellular phone with him but this was not strange, as he did not usually carry it when exercising. She said it normally took him 30 minutes to complete his exercise.
Mrs Kalamadeen said then that from all appearances her husband might have been snatched as soon as he exited the gated Barrington Place, D’Aguiar Park community, noting that none of the security guards along the route he walked every day had seen him that morning.
Two weeks ago, Shadick had told this newspaper that the people who were holding him were confused. She asserted that relatives were not giving up hope. Shadick also had said that in Guyana whenever someone wanted to kill you they would do it.
Reacting to reports that Kalamadeen might have been held over some transaction, Shadick, an attorney-at-law and member of parliament, said such rumours abounded but the man’s relatives had not given them any credence. She told this newspaper that they had received a telephone call from overseas where the caller informed them that an official working on behalf of the government said that Kalamadeen was being held by a local drug enforcement agency. Shadick said too that there had been rumours that he was being held by the US.
Stabroek News was told that Kalamadeen, apart from operating his automobile service centre, was also involved in gold mining. Back in 2002 at the height of the crime wave gunmen believed to have been the prison escapees had attempted to rob a house in Section ‘K’ Campbellville. Kalamadeen had told this newspaper that he responded to the attack. At the time, he was residing in the area. (Nigel Williams and Heppilena Ferguson/Stabroek News)
Headless body found Relatives believe it’s Kalamadeen
Police following several leads
Police are said to be pursuing ‘several leads’ following the shocking discovery early yesterday morning of a headless body believed to be that of businessman Mohamed Farouk Kalamadeen.
Hours after the discovery of the body at Cowan Street, Kingston, relatives of the businessman paid for his “death announcement” to be placed in the newspapers and started to make funeral arrangements – a clear sign that they had accepted that the body found was that of Kalamadeen.
However, Ms. Bibi Shadick, a relative, said that DNA samples of the body had been taken to Eureka labs in the city for confirmation of the identity of the body. A post mortem is due to be conducted tomorrow morning, she said in an invited comment. While the body has been found, mystery now surrounds what has happened to Kalamadeen’s head, as it was not found where his body was.
The body – found a stone’s throw away from the headquarters of the Guyana Police Force - was reportedly clad with the same blue garments and boots Kalamadeen was wearing when he went missing on April 2, 2008. Kalamadeen, 54, left his home at Barrington Apartment, D’Aguiar Park, East Bank Demerara, at around 06:00 h on April 2, 2008 to go on his daily jog but was never seen or heard from again.
Jiffi Lubes closed yesterday
The businessman, who once helped run the popular Kalamadeen’s Supermarket in Alberttown, Georgetown, had left Guyana for the United States but returned and established a vehicle repair outlet, Jiffi Lubes, at Light Street and North Road in the city.
The Police were summoned at the site of the daybreak discovery of the body and soon a large, curious crowd gathered.
It is believed that the businessman was killed elsewhere and his remains dumped at the spot during the early hours of the yesterday morning, minus its head. The man’s family maintained that he did not have any problems with anyone as far as they were aware. They said there had been no demand for a ransom.
Kalamadeen is survived by his wife Nariman, children Irfaan and Faraz. A funeral service, according to Muslim rites, has been set for tomorrow at the Muslim Youth Organisation (MYO), Woolford Avenue, Georgetown. Meanwhile, the police, in a brief statement last night, said: “At about 06:00 h today (yesterday) the headless body of a man was found on Cowan Street, Kingston. The body was clad in a red jersey and black pants and was barefooted.
By its general appearance, the body was later identified to be that of Farouk Kalamadeen by his son Irfan Kalamadeen. Farouk Kalamadeen had been reported missing on Wednesday, April 02, 2008, after he had left for his morning exercise and had not returned home. Investigations are in progress.” (Guyana Cronicle)
Drive-by shots hit East La Penitence Police Station
‘SHOT UP’: The East La Penitence Police station that gunmen ‘shot up’ on Tuesday nightA drive-by shooting, shortly before midnight Tuesday, left bullet holes on the East La Penitence Police Station, at Mandela Avenue and Arapaima Street, Georgetown. But, fortunately, the gunfire, concentrated in the eastern and western walls of the building, injured no one.
Reports said occupants in an unidentified vehicle opened fire in the latest attack on the Police, which stirred concern among ranks who declared they were lucky to have survived, considering the number of rounds discharged. “We were really caught off guard and it surprised us who worked that shift. It has left me shocked,” said one policeman. Some female ranks, who were on duty at the time, scurried for cover and a few burst into tears after realising their situation.
The Police, in a statement last night, said that about 23:45 h Tuesday night, “armed men in a motor vehicle drove along Arapaima Street and discharged rounds at the East La Penitence Police Station, damaging three glass windows on the lower flat and the walls on the western and southern side of the upper flat of the building.”
The Police confirmed that no rank was injured in the attack. The ranks on duty claimed that the attack took place very quickly and by the time they had taken cover with a view to responding, the firing had stopped. “They could not say by what means the attack had taken place and no information was immediately available in relation to the mode of the attack and the perpetrators,” the Police statement said.
It added that several police patrols responded and after diligent enquiries were able to ascertain some time later that the station was attacked by persons in a motor vehicle. The Police also indicated that the “informants had conflicting information on the type and colour of the vehicle”. Twenty three 7.62 x 39 spent shells have been recovered at the scene as investigations continue.
Meanwhile, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon told reporters yesterday afternoon that if the aim of the gunmen was to “sap the will” of the Joint Services, this is “doomed to failure” given the enthusiasm coming out of the recent officer’s conferences of the Police and the Army.
Last January 26, a guard hut on Young Street, at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, also in the city, was fired on by a group of unidentified men in a passing motor car, ahead of the Lusignan, East Coast Demerara massacre, in which 12 persons, including five children, were murdered in the first of two terrorist attacks this year.
That was followed by the killing of three policemen at Bartica Police Station, in February, when gunmen stormed the precinct and also carried away arms and ammunition. Nine other persons were killed in the mining community that night. (Michel Outridge/Guyana Cronicle)
Station fusillade shows terrorists back - Rohee
The gates to the East La Penitence Police Station closed yesterday morning following last night’s strafing.
Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee says that the country’s lawmen had to take the fight to the criminals noting that the assault on the East La Penitence police station on Tuesday night shows that the armed gangs have resurfaced with a plan to create terror and instability.
He said the nation’s security forces could not afford to be complacent at this time, urging the lawmen to go on the offensive and not the defensive. “It is clear that the criminals have resurfaced with a plan to send certain signals and we have to be more on the offensive,” Rohee said in an invited comment last evening.He told Stabroek News that it was clear that police stations are now targets for armed gangs and criminal elements. “Since that is so the police have to do more to protect life and property at all stations. A more offensive and aggressive posture has to be adopted because this is not the time to be complacent and defensive,” Rohee declared.
He noted that co-incidentally the attack on Tuesday night fits in with a plan advocated by some to create instability and discomfort in society, making reference to the PNCR’s stated plan to make the Caribbean Festival of Arts unmanageable if certain things did not change.
“We will go all out to thwart the efforts whether politically or militarily combined or otherwise of those who have intentions to disrupt the peace and good order,” Rohee asserted. Asked whether the security at police stations were adequate for police ranks, Rohee acknowledged that more could be done and more should be done.
Commander of ‘A’ Division, Assistant Commissioner, Welton Trotz told Stabroek News that ranks were on duty at the station when gunfire rang out. He said the policemen took evasive action and at the same time alerted other ranks who responded, but by that time the gunmen had already disappeared. Trotz said that checks downstairs of the two-storey building revealed broken glass windows and warheads.
According to the police officer the western and southern parts of the building were riddled with bullets. Trotz confirmed that investigators collected spent shells on the road as well as in the compound of the station. Asked about the motive of the criminals, Trotz said he had no idea, but assured that a thorough investigation was being conducted.
In a statement late last evening the police said that 23 7.62 x 39 spent shells were recovered from the scene. According to the police statement about 11:45 on Tuesday night armed men in a motor vehicle drove along Arapaima Street and discharged rounds at the East La Penitence Police Station, damaging three glass windows on the lower flat and the walls on the western and southern side of the upper flat of the building. No rank was injured in the attack.
The statement said that ranks on duty said that the attack took place very quickly and by the time they had taken cover with a view to responding, the firing had stopped. They could not say by what means the attack had taken place and no information was immediately available in relation to the mode of the attack and the perpetrators, the police statement said.
It added that several police patrols responded and after diligent enquiries they were able to ascertain some time later that the station was attacked by persons in a motor vehicle. “The informants had conflicting information on the type and colour of the vehicle,” the statement added.
Gunmen rained bullets on the police station located on Mandela Avenue, destroying several glass windows and leaving police ranks scampering for cover. Hours after the shooting the decapitated body of missing businessman Farouk Kalamadeen was discovered in Kingston – in the same ward as the Police HQ. The attack on the station appeared to be another case of diverting the police’s attention while, in this case, the dumping of the headless body occurred.
When Stabroek News visited the station yesterday morning, several police officers were there, but were unwilling to speak about the incident. A taxi driver told this newspaper that he was on Mandela Avenue in that area, when he heard rapid gunfire. The taxi driver, who asked not to be named, said he and several of his colleagues from the same service immediately came off the road.
He said he was not certain where the gunfire was coming from and could not imagine it was an attack on the police station. A security guard at a building next door to the station said she was in the guard hut when she heard the gunshots and fearing for her life, she stayed in. “I ain’t going out there to see anything,” the guard commented.
She said when the shooting subsided and she went outside to have a look, she saw some police officers frantically looking around. Stabroek News could not ascertain whether the police had responded to the gunfire. Over the years, gunmen have routinely targeted police stations on their way to committing atrocities, as happened in the January and February slaughters at Lusignan and Bartica.
Gunmen operating out of Buxton have also targeted the Vigilance Police Station in the past. Back in January, in one of the most brazen attacks in recent history, gunmen blasted three policemen manning the western gate at the Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, hitting two in their legs and leaving the force scrambling to protect its base. Shortly afterwards, gunmen stormed Lusignan killing 11 people including five children.
Since then police have maintained a cordon around the Eve Leary headquarters and had also erected barriers on Brickdam. Police had believed the attack was the work of the country’s most wanted man, Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins who was said to have upped the ante against the security forces following the alleged abduction of his girlfriend, Tenisha Morgan. A man purporting to be Rawlins had contacted Criminal Inves-tigation Department headquarters one day before the attack at Eve Leary warning officers there that if his girlfriend was not returned he would create mayhem.
Acting Commissioner of Police, Henry Greene, had said then that the carload of gunmen pulled up at the corner of Parade and Young streets, Eve Leary in front of the canon at the TSU base. He said the men stopped their vehicle and fired several shots, hitting two policemen, who were keeping the company of the sentry at the time. The gunmen’s assault also saw bullets drilling several holes in the wall of the fence. Greene said the gunmen escaped along Carifesta Avenue. Police had recovered several 5.56 rounds which are used in M-16 rifles.
The gunmen who murdered the 12 people in Bartica on February 17 had also used a similar tactic: attacking the police station there first. Using speedboats, around 20 gunmen stormed the township of Bartica, located some 80 miles from Georgetown on the night of February 17. They overran the police station and murdered three policemen and then nine civilians.
The gunmen first attacked the station killing the three officers and seriously wounding two others. They then carted off several firearms and ammunition from two strong boxes. Days after the attack, Greene had told reporters that the policemen were not alert enough and as such, he encouraged his charges to be more vigilant. (Nigel Williams/Stabroek News)
Conductor shot in Tiger Bay died from abdomen wound
Travis Parks
The post-mortem examination on the body of 22-year-old Travis Parks, who was fatally shot on Sunday, has revealed that he died as a result of a gunshot injury to his abdomen.
Parks, a mini-bus conductor was shot in his back on Sunday allegedly by a MMC Security Force guard after being asked about a gold chain, which he reportedly denied knowing anything about.
According to residents after being pulled out of a bushy lot where he had gone to relieve himself and accused of stealing the gold chain, Parks was shot in the back as he was being led to the security firm’s vehicle. He was reportedly kicked and hit by the four guards, who were in brown and green uniforms before being shot.
The post-mortem examination yesterday revealed that he had died as a result of a single gunshot wound to his abdomen. Residents said that after Parks was shot, the men then picked up the bullet casing and got in their vehicle and drove away despite pleas for them to assist.
Parks was eventually transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital by another vehicle, where he succumbed while receiving treatment. MMC has declined comment until the completion of the police investigation of the matter. (Stabroek News)