January 29, 2009
Man who killed son critical after suicide attempt
Clive Gall
An inmate of the Georgetown Prison, who was found guilty of killing his son and sentenced to 20 years in prison was up to last night in a critical condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital after an apparent suicide attempt.
Clive Gall, 51, was on Tuesday sentenced to 20 years imprisonment after he was found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter; he had originally been charged with the June 2007 murder of his son, Clive Gall Jnr.
Contacted last evening, Director of Prisons Dale Erskine told this newspaper that between 1 pm and 1.30 pm yesterday, prison officers were alerted that there was a prisoner in the bathroom bleeding.
Clive Gall junior
On investigating they found Gall, who was observed to have several stab wounds about his body, which were apparently self-inflicted. The weapon used was an improvised one, Erskine told this newspaper.
Gall was immediately rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery. Meanwhile, the police are investigating the circumstances of the incident, including how the man was able to acquire the improvised weapon.
Gall killed his son on June 21, 2007 following an altercation at their home. In the midst of an argument Gall had apparently wielded a knife and stabbed his son several times. The son succumbed to his injuries the following day. (Stabroek News)
January 26, 2009
'The memories still haunt us'
‘MIRACLE SURVIVOR’: Roberto Thomas, who miraculously survived after being wounded in the Lusignan massacre that claimed the lives of his father, a brother and sister.
There was a flood of emotions when the Guyana Chronicle visited the homes of the affected families at "Tract A" Lusignan, East Coast Demerara last week. Some of the family members were at the time attending services at their mosques and could not be reached. However, others freely expressed their feelings and were glad to be remembered by persons outside of the community.
"The memories still haunt us. We still feel the pain of their loss, and we continue to cry. Just yesterday I cried, as I remembered my daughter Mohandai and her two sons Seegopaul and Seegobind," related Basmattie Budhu, trying to hold back the tears as she recounted the horrific tragedy. The anguish was evident.
The three were killed just nine days after Mohandai's husband Rajkumar Harrilall (also called Bobby) had travelled to Trinidad to work and provide a more comfortable life for them, she said. In remembrance of the slain, the families have held memorial services. 
Howard shows the gunshot wounds he suffered during the slayings.
With her were 19-year-old Howard who suffered several gunshot wounds to the arm and shoulder from high-powered rifles; Mark who was in Bartica at the time of the incident and her mother who, along with other relatives, travelled from Mahaicony to Lusignan for the service.
Howard who spent about six months in hospital for treatment of his wounds, is doing much better, but says one of his hand has still not healed properly internally, and sometimes bleeds. He is expected to return to the hospital for further medical investigations.
Roberto, now five, who survived gunshots to the abdomen, and still referred to as "Miracle Baby" has made a dramatic recovery. According to his mother Gomattie, “nothing comes across him” and he is doing well at school. Roberto sustained a ruptured intestine, a gunshot wound to the stomach and more to his buttocks.
Meanwhile, Rhajkumar Harrilall 33, who had only nine days earlier left for Trinidad to do construction work, has not returned to Trinidad since. On the morning of the tragedy, he received an emergency call from Guyana, telling him to drop whatever he was doing and travel home immediately. Moments later at the Piarco International Airport, he received the details of the message and fainted.
At the time of the shooting, Harrilall's family occupied a house opposite the Thomas'. However, his mother Rosie said the loss has dealt him such a devastating blow, that he could not bear to remain in the house, and has moved over to her home. "He only grieving, he can't even work, and crying all the time for his wife and sons. Now that it’s de one year, I don't know what he would do," she related.
Lamenting that so many things 'pop up' ever so often to bring back haunting memories of the tragedy, Harrilall told the Chronicle that a few weeks after returning home, he was cleaning the house and found warheads and fragments of bullets fired in the home. Fearful for his sanity, he abandoned the house and moved over to his mother's home.
Also in that home when the gunmen invaded, was 10-year-old Arjune Bhim (Mohandai's nephew) who, along with his cousins Seegobind and Seegopaul, hid under a bed when the onslaught erupted. However, when the two brothers realised that their mother was trapped and about to be killed by the gunmen, they ran out towards her, begging the men not to kill her, and were slain as well. Little Arjune, who remained under the bed until after the men had left the home, was the only one who survived.
Both Arjune and Roberto were at school when this newspaper visited last week. Back at Bhim's home, his grandmother Basmattie Budhu said the family was trying hard to cope with the loss of the three relatives, but were thankful that little Arjune survived the ordeal. (Shirley Thomas/Guyana Cronicle)
January 21, 2009
Letter T caretaker shot dead
Muneshwar Paragass
Three gun and cutlass-wielding men yesterday morning shot and killed a Mahaicony coconut estate caretaker and assaulted his wife in front of their one-year-old son before escaping with a shotgun, cash and jewellery.
It was just after 11 am yesterday when 31-year-old Muneshwar Paragass was interrupted from putting his son to sleep reportedly by gunmen who blasted him to death as soon as he opened his door at the Letter T Estate.
The men then tied up his wife Shrimattie, known as ‘Nadia’, and escaped with $30,000, jewellery and the man’s 12-gauge shotgun. The murder, which has thrown residents of the Airy Hall, Mahaicony community into mourning, happened just days after the couple’s home was raided by unknown persons while they were out.
Police in a release said that the man was murdered at around 11:55 am and according to the lawmen the man and his wife were alerted that something was wrong when they heard their dog barking. The husband went to investigate and shortly after his wife heard a loud explosion and her husband of ten years screaming.
The release said that the woman was later confronted by three men, two of whom were armed with guns and the other with a cutlass, who proceeded to tie her up and then took away the cash, jewellery and shotgun. The woman eventually managed to free herself and upon checking she found her husband had been shot and killed, a bullet piercing his chest.
When Stabroek News visited the home yesterday afternoon Shrimattie was sitting in a hammock slipping in and out of consciousness. Relatives said she had to be rushed to the Mahaicony Hospital for treatment earlier in the day. Blood was seen on the platform of the house indicating where the man fell after he was shot.
Several shocked residents had gathered at the home, along with the owner of the estate, businessman Vic Oditt. He told Stabroek News he was still attempting to get the details of the incident from the police. He said that the estate was “a relatively safe area” and it was the first time something like this had happened. Police were still on the scene conducting investigations and were reportedly scouring the bushy area around the house for clues.
At the home of the man’s mother, Chandrowtie in Airy Hall, the couple’s two children, one-year-old Nishall, and eight-year-old Manisha who was away at school when her father was killed, were being comforted by relatives. “Me son father dead when he was four-year-old and he never get to know he and now he come and dead and he son go never know he,” the woman lamented.
She told Stabroek News that her daughter-in-law related that the couple was putting the little boy to sleep when they were interrupted by a rapping on their door. Her husband left to open the door and she was following him when she heard a gunshot.
“She say she tun back and bolt up the room door but dem keep banging on the door and tell she to open it and she say before they kick it down and kill she and she son she open deh door,” the woman said. The men then bound and gagged the woman before escaping with the items. Minutes later the woman managed to untie her hands and called her mother-in-law.
However, she did not immediately inform the woman, who had seen her son about an hour earlier, that he had been shot. “She ask fuh me husband and I tell she he ent deh and she say alright and hang up. But I hear like she crying and I know it was something to do with me son but I thought he was in an accident because he get a bus.” But it was about half an hour later her daughter gave her the shocking news that her only son had been shot and killed.
A sister of the woman lamented that her sister “walk and sell sugar cane” to support her two children after their father died and now bandits had cruelly snuffed out the life of her son in the prime of his life. Relatives of the young man, who said he was working at the location since he was 16-years-old, said they were all concerned for his safety because of the distance of the estate from the nearest community, Airy Hall.
While there are four buildings on the estate, most of them are dilapidated and the house Muneshwar and his family lived in was the only one occupied. The coconut estate is overgrown with bush and the area is desolate but there is a watchman at the location during the night.
Persons said that Muneshwar never liked to leave his wife and children alone at home because of its isolated location. It is believed that because of his fear he was planning to move to Canal Number 2 to oversee farmland and a relative’s business.
“He tell me this morning how he moving and I tell he a go bring me family to spend a day with them,” a cousin said. They said the young man worked his bus for special hire from time to time and he would also drop many of the school children in the area to school. When Stabroek News was leaving the area residents were erecting a tent for a wake at the home of the man’s mother. (Oluatoyin Alleyne and Sara Bharrat/'Stabroek News)
January 20, 2009
Pensioner found bound, gagged .....
..... dead in South Ruimveldt home
Hector Fitzroy Marshall
A 64-year-old pensioner was found dead yesterday; bound and gagged in his South Ruimveldt Gardens home. The lifeless body of Hector Fitzroy Marshall, a former public servant of Powis Close, South Ruimveldt Gardens, was discovered by his neighbour’s son around 7.10 am yesterday.
Aubrey Jordan, the man’s neighbour, told Stabroek News that his family shared a close relationship with Marshall and he would spend a lot of time at the family’s home.
Jordan’s wife Bernadette Todd said that every morning when she left for work around 7 am, she would call for Marshall and he would respond from where he would normally sit on the verandah. Yesterday morning when she called she got no response and when she looked up he was not sitting in his usual spot.
She decided to send her 11-year-old son Jason to check on Marshall. The child came back and reported that he had seen Marshall gagged, his feet and hands bound and lying in a bed that he did not usually sleep in. Not believing what the child said, she went to check herself and found the man dead. The house was ransacked. However she could not say what was missing.
The police were called in and the body subsequently removed. Todd said that she was shocked to make the discovery and did not understand who would have done such a thing to Marshall. The couple described the man as a fellow who “liked to take his drinks every now and again”, but never had problems with any of his neighbours.
Todd said that up to Friday, which was her birthday, Marshall spent the entire day at her house. He was even there on Saturday and Sunday. Jordan said the man was close to his family. Since he lived alone they paid special attention to him and would cook meals for him. Jordan said he had known Marshall for about 30 years; the time lived in the community.
Other neighbours to whom Stabroek News spoke, said they did not notice anything suspicious the previous night, but surmised that robbery was the motive for the murder. Meanwhile, a police press release said that the police were investigating the suspected murder and a post-mortem examination will be conducted soon to determine the cause of death. (Staff/Stabroek News)
January 14, 2009
Canadians tracking cocaine links hereOfficials from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are here tracking links in the interception in Canada last month of huge cocaine consignments hidden among pepper sauce bottles shipped from Guyana, sources said yesterday.
The Canadians have charged Guyanese Mahendrapaul Doodnauth, 45, of Seguin Court in Toronto, with importing cocaine, conspiracy to import cocaine and possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and are in Guyana to follow leads they have uncovered, the sources said. They are collaborating on the case with Guyana Police and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), a senior source told the Guyana Chronicle.
The first cocaine consignment was found last month in a container in Canada and another was uncovered in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, on Dec. 24 by United States Drugs Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents acting on information from Canadian investigators. Since the find in Canada, CANU agents here have grilled Doodnauth’s brother, Indarpaul Moninlall Doodnauth, also known as Teddy, 48, a businessman of Lusignan West, East Coast Demerara.
Doodnauth turned himself in to CANU after Police issued wanted bulletins for him and Amalek Orlando Watson, 31, a self-employed man of Annandale West, East Coast Demerara. They were allegedly middle men in the shipment of the two consignments of cocaine concealed among the pepper sauce bottles from Guyana. Evidence the Canadians may have gathered after the busts of cocaine smuggled from Guyana could be crucial to investigations here and more suspects in Guyana are to be questioned, one source said yesterday.
CANU agents and police are looking for Reginald Rodrigues, 55, a central suspect in the case who owns Rodrigues Tropical Export at 141 Victoria Street, Albouystown, Georgetown. He was deported from the U.S. in 2001 after a three-year sentence in jail for conspiracy to import cocaine, a source said.
Investigators believe Rodrigues slipped out of the country after a wanted bulletin was issued here for him in connection with the seizure of the two consignments of cocaine. The cocaine shipments, amounting to 376 kilos with an estimated street value of CAN$54.5 million, were destined for Caribbean International Food Distributors, a company run by Doodnauth.
Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, on Monday praised CANU for the stepped-up battle against the narcotics trade and announced that joint operations involving the Police and Army against traffickers are imminent. He said the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), which is on the task force launched against illegal drugs and arms, will also be looking into the assets accumulated by suspected narco dealers and some recommendations are on the table for action.
In addition, the U.S., Britain and Canada have been asked to collaborate more with local agencies, the minister told the Guyana Chronicle after a meeting of the task force. He commended CANU for an “excellent job” in following up here on the overseas interception last month of more than 500 kilos of cocaine shipped in containers of pepper sauce and nibbi furniture from Guyana.
“These investigations should go wherever the leads take them…let the chips fall where they may”, Mr. Rohee declared. “We have no interest in covering up for anybody in this drive to grapple with the narco trade -- wherever it may be festering”, he stressed. He said there were “serious discussions on greater collaboration” among the agencies against the drugs trade at the task force meeting.
Rohee said the Americans, British and Canadians were briefed mid last month on issues the local agencies are addressing aimed at greater collaboration and these discussions are continuing. He said the government is also looking at beefing up CANU resources, including more manpower and resources. CANU has confirmed that the shipment of 373 pounds of cocaine intercepted in nibbi furniture in Miami by the DEA was sent by a well-known businessman on the West Demerara, the source said.
A central suspect in the Miami case, Nymrod Singh, 37, of 123 New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, was held by police in Bartica and has been interrogated by CANU and police officers. The shipment of the cocaine in the furniture consignment was arranged by a customs broker through a ghost firm, a source said. Others questioned include Robin Barakat, 37, a Canadian citizen named as a suspect who turned himself in to CANU. Barakat’s business partner Keith King, a deportee, also turned himself into CANU, the source said. (Sharief Khan/Guyana Cronicle)
January 5, 2009
Cocaine coming mainly via Venezuela - CANU
Pepper sauce, furniture probes intensifying
Doodnauth Watson Rodrigues Singh
Most of the cocaine being exported from Guyana is likely coming from Venezuela via the Pomeroon, the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) says and the nexus between that trade and gun-running is increasingly clear, sources say.
In the wake of three large busts in Canada, the US and the US Virgin Islands of cocaine-filled shipments which originated from Guyana, questions have been raised about where the drugs are coming from and about the repackaging operations here.
CANU sources tell Stabroek News that around 60% of the cocaine that enters Guyana comes from Vene-zuela and transits through the Pomeroon. There is a lot of unmonitored boat traffic between Guyana and Venezuela which also accommodates gun-running. Drug trafficking, transport of guns and smuggling of fuel are intertwined in these areas and complement each other.
A portion of the drugs that enters the country from Venezuela goes farther east to Suriname by go-fast boats and there is an easy convertibility between the drug and gun-smuggling trades. For instance, in Suriname the going rate today for two Chinese-made AK-47s is a kilo of cocaine. Questions linger over how and where the exporters in Guyana are packaging their drugs in these big shipments.
On December 8, officers found 276 kilos of high-quality cocaine at the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick, aboard a ship, Tropic Canada. The Toronto Star reported investigators as saying that the vessel in New Brunswick was confirmed to have been carrying 77-79 per cent pure cocaine, which was found inside the cardboard dividers of boxes of hot sauce.
They removed all but two kilos of the cocaine and performed a controlled delivery of the container to its original destination in Etobicoke, Ontario. It was received by the owner of the company, Mahendrapaul Doodnauth, who unloaded the boxes at a rented storage facility on Rexdale Boulevard in Toronto. As a result, Doodnauth, of Toronto, was charged with importing cocaine, conspiracy to import cocaine and possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
A second major drug shipment was traced back to Guyana after US federal agents on December 24 seized 100 kilos of cocaine found inside pepper sauce cartons aboard a ship in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The US agents had been tipped off by Canada.
Then on the heels of two major pepper sauce busts, customs authorities at the Port of Miami, on December 29 acting on a tip off unearthed 373 pounds of cocaine hidden in furniture aboard a vessel, whose last stop was in Georgetown.
CANU sources yesterday said that both investigations are making headway. In relation to the pepper sauce shipments, a significant amount of information has been exchanged with Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police and CANU is preparing to reel in more suspects. One of the suspects that CANU issued a bulletin for, Indarpaul Doodnauth, made himself available to the agency for questioning.
Doodnauth, an East Coast-based businessman is the brother of Mahendrapaul Doodnauth, the man held by Canadian authorities in connection with both shipments of the pepper sauce cocaine. Canada is proceeding with its investigation and staying in touch with local law enforcement agencies.
Another man sought by CANU, Reginald Rodrigues, who was thought to be the shipper of the pepper consignment seized in Canada went underground after the bust became public and was able to evade an attempt to arrest him here. It is believed he has since fled to Suriname via the backtrack.
Another man wanted for questioning in relation to the pepper sauce, Orlando Watson has been in touch with the authorities here but is yet to turn himself in. He is thought to be connected to the second shipment. CANU sources say they are actively seeking two other businessmen who participated in the pepper sauce cocaine shipment and based on information from their lawyer they may turn themselves in for questioning. The two are associated with a business in Georgetown.
CANU sources say that the pepper sauce shipments were financed by a coterie of shady characters and persons with criminal antecedents who were looking to make a whopping profit from their Christmas operation. With the crushing of the operation some of the suspects are not only being sought by CANU but also by their financiers.
A suspect in the shipment of the cocaine furniture to Miami, Nymrod Singh, was nabbed in Bartica on Saturday after his photograph appeared in the newspapers. He spent his second day in custody yesterday and sources say he is saying that an acquaintance asked him to ship the furniture to Miami. The furniture was allegedly picked up by Singh on November 1 and next appeared containerized on November 25 at a city wharf for loading onto the MV Rio Para.
This bust involved 194 packages valued at US$5.5M which was concealed in 72 pieces of furniture packed into the container. According to NBC6.NET, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers inspecting the containers at the Miami seaport were alerted by a CBP K-9 to a specific container loaded with furniture.
The officers, attached to the Anti-Terrorism Contra-band Enforcement Team, proceeded to examine the furniture and discovered three packages concealed within one of the pieces of furniture. One of the packages was tested by the officers and the substance was positive for cocaine. More packages of the drugs were discovered in 71 other pieces of furniture.
According to the Canadian press, the pepper sauce busts are part of a major anti-narcotics initiative dubbed “Project Falcon,” which sought to identify the sources of the criminal network that transported cocaine to street gang members and drug abusers in the Durham region. The local investigations have also unearthed weaknesses in customs operations which enable the illicit shipments.
In one of the pepper shipments a fake Taxpayer Identification Number was used and the name of a non-existent company provided. Documents for the second pepper shipment appeared to be a copy of that provided for the first.
In relation to the furniture shipment, it was discovered that containers are being packed and sealed at locations where there isn’t adequate inspection. These containers are then taken to the wharves and shipped without any further checks of their cargo. (Staff/Stabroek News)
January 2, 2009
Greene sworn in after confirmation as Police Commissioner
President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday confirmed the appointment of Mr. Henry Greene as Commissioner of Police.
Greene, who has been acting in the post since July 2006 on the retirement of Mr. Winston Felix, was sworn in at the Office of the President in the afternoon.
After taking the oath, he was congratulated by President Jagdeo in the presence of a gathering who included his family, heads of different divisions within and other senior officers of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), Guyana Defence Force Chief-of-Staff, Commodore Gary Best, Ministers of Government and members of the Private Sector Commission (PSC).
The Head of State told the Commissioner he is pleased with his performance and the Government continues to expect him to perform at the highest level of his office as the confidence and trust placed in him by citizens of this country is vindicated.
Mr. Jagdeo also encouraged continued cooperation and collaboration between Greene and Best and the strong alliance evident with the Joint Services. Greene told reporters he is very thankful for being appointed and the confidence and support invested in him by the Government and people of Guyana now and since he has been acting and promised to justify it.
“I will continue to work assiduously with my team of Police officers, a dedicated team, which I know will be able to keep Guyana safe,” he offered. Greene also asked that the support and mutual respect between the media and the GPF continue and strengthen with his confirmation.
“I hope we can maintain the dignity of work and working as a group. I’m not saying that you should work in my favour. When we do wrong, you should say so and, when we do right, we also expect you to say so,” he said. The confirmation follows much consultation between President Jagdeo and Leader of the Opposition and People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Mr. Robert Corbin.
Greene, asked about the United States (U.S.) revocation of his visitor’s and diplomatic visas in 2006 and alleged links to certain members of the drug trade in Guyana, and maintained that he was never involved in any such activity. However, the top cop has, in recent times, been granted U.S. visas for to travel on official duties for specific periods. (Delana Isles/Guyana Cronicle)
