March 31, 2010
Canal girl dies after ‘exorcism’
Residents demand probe
Sangeeta Persaud
Saying she was demon possessed, a pastor and several church members on Sunday “treated” a 14-year-old girl for hours by pounding her stomach until she bled. The teen died hours later at the West Demerara Regional Hospital.
Sangeeta Persaud called ‘Sheena’ had celebrated her birthday a few days ago, angry residents who gathered at her Canal Number Two, West Bank Demerara home yesterday, recalled. They demanded an investigation into her death saying the police have shown little interest. An autopsy is scheduled for today.
Persaud lived with her grandmother; Chaitranie Ramotar called ‘Leila’ in a little one-room home at Lot 26 Canal Number Two. Ramotar said she looked after Persaud since the girl was nine years old.
On Sunday, she said, they were having breakfast when Persaud suddenly put down her cup of tea and grabbed her. “She ah skin she eye and ah do so”, Ramotar said, shaking herself. Ramotar said she asked her granddaughter what was wrong with her, querying if her stomach or head was hurting but the girl, who had jumped on the bed, said no. This was at about 7:30 am.
She gave Persaud the tea and the girl drank it. However, after doing so Persaud began shaking again. “She jerk up the whole house”, Ramotar said. The girl then began vomiting and not knowing what was wrong with her granddaughter, Ramotar rubbed Limacol on her. “Me call pon she. Me tell she me never see you do so. Me ask if she catch fits”, recalled Ramotar. Neigh-bours heard the commotion and rushed over. Persaud was placed on the floor with a pillow and sheets, with her grandmother unsure if she was having a seizure.
At 8am, the pastor for the Christ Ambassadors Church, located a short distance away, turned up. “He sey the girl demon possess make she behave so”, Ramotar recalled. She said that the man spent three hours in the house “teking out jumbie from the girl”. At 11 am, saying that the church was a better place to “take out the demon”, the girl was taken there by the Pastor, Ramotar said.
Sunday service was over at this time and the pastor was joined by his wife and another “brother” and the man’s wife. The mother of the teen had also turned up. They locked the church and the men and women held the girl’s stomach and squeezed and pounded, Ramotar, who had gone with them, said. “How they ah ramp the girl belly to tek out the jumbie”.
Ramotar told this newspaper that lime and salt and “anointed oil” were forced down the girl’s throat. According to her, the “brother”, who she named, and his wife also placed their hands on the teen’s private parts and pounded, in their efforts to “take out the demon”. She said they also squeezed the girl’s neck.
When she began to say something to her daughter, Persaud’s mother, the woman told her to go home, Ramotar said. She recalled that the pastor also told her to go home and get something to eat. “Me couldn’t say nothing”, Ramotar added. She said that with all the pounding, the girl began to bleed through her privates. “Cold and slime” also trickled from the teen’s mouth. At 6pm, the girl was washed and the pastor took her to the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH). She died at 10 pm that night.
Neighbours said they heard groaning in the locked church but did not call police at the time because they didn’t know “it was so serious”. “By the time, they finish with the child, she ah been heavy, heavy”, one said. The mother of the teen reported her daughter’s death to the Wales Police Station and was questioned then sent home. Several neighbours said after the incident, they had also called the police but no one turned up.
The angry women called for a police investigation. They told this newspaper that the pastor has been preaching at the church for over a year now and held sessions twice or thrice weekly to “take out demons”. Ramotar said she has attended the church for 20 years and never had such an experience. The residents said they hope the findings of the autopsy will force the police to investigate.
Ramotar said her granddaughter had suffered from a constant cold and took medication. She said three weeks ago, she took the girl to the WDRH for medication and an x-ray was also done, and Persaud was given medication. “Me mine she from nine years and me never know she do any odd thing”, Ramotar said. (Stabroek News)
Lethem woman stabbed to death
A Lethem woman was stabbed to death yesterday while on her way to work by an unidentified assailant who remains at large.
Donna Williams, age 27 years, of South Rupununi was crossing the Tabatinga Creek in the company of her mother and 7 year-old son when she was attacked around 7:30 am. The mother told police that Williams was some distance behind her and the child when she heard her calling out for help. She looked around and reportedly saw the man stabbing Williams.
The man fled into Brazil after the attack. Police said yesterday that Williams’ mother found her with stab wounds to the upper part of the body. She was taken to the Lethem Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
The police press release on the incident did not provide any details on a motive, but the resident said Williams might have known her attacker. Williams worked in Lethem at a restaurant, but resided at Bon Fim, Brazil. This newspaper was told that she made the journey from Bon Fim to Lethem every day.
William’s mother did not recognize the man who stabbed her daughter, but residents in the area said he might have been an old boyfriend. Williams reportedly ended a relationship recently. (Stabroek News)
Coal man murdered, four held
A coal burner was discovered dead on Monday night on a bridge about one mile from his home with marks of violence to his head and neck. Four persons including his wife have since been taken into police custody.
Dead is Lambert Patrick Clarke, 58 years of Emerald Tower Road, Soesdyke/Linden Highway. Police said in a release last evening that the man was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Hospital hours after he was found on a bridge along the Emerald Tower trail with marks of violence to his head. The discovery was made around 19:30 hours.
According to police officials and residents of the area, there was a visible injury on the neck suspected to be a slash and that area along with his head was covered in blood.
This newspaper was unable to reach the man’s home which is located more than five miles off the highway due to the poor state of the trail. According to several residents, this newspaper encountered at the front section of the community, Clarke and his wife lived alone as their two children were staying with a relative somewhere in the East Bank Demerara area.
Hours before, the incident, the couple had been at a shop, about four miles from their home and later left in good spirits.
Joyce De Freitas, the mother of the shop owner recounted to Stabroek News yesterday that around noon on Monday she saw them sitting there. Shortly after, her daughter indicated that she was going to the creek to do some washing. Clarke’s wife, who De Freitas identified as Barbara said that she wanted to go and the two women left.
This newspaper understands that Barbara was intoxicated. De Freitas recounted that Clarke left to visit a friend nearby and when he returned he questioned when his wife would be returning from the creek. While he was sitting at the shop, the resident said there were discussions about his bandaged foot – he was experiencing some pain in that area, among other things. The two women returned around 3 pm, and after consuming some cake and drink, they left.
De Freitas told this newspaper that around 8 pm she was informed of Clarke’s death. She said that according to what she was told, some neighbours were passing, when they saw the couple on the bridge- Barbara was standing while Clarke was lying covered in blood with “ants taking over he”.
The woman said that the news came as a shock to her because the two of them left “good good”. She said that there was never any violence or argument between the couple in her presence. According to her she would see the couple every two weeks when they would visit the shop to buy groceries.
Meanwhile another resident, Augustus George said that the couple has been living in the area for more than ten years and never once has he seen them fighting. He recalled that it was his sister who woke him out of his sleep to inform him of the murder. The couple did coal burning together, he said.
George described Clarke as an “easy going man” who liked to make lots of jokes. Several other residents also expressed their shock over the killing and were questioning what could have sparked it. (Zoisa Fraser/Stabroek News)
March 10, 2010
Guyana and Suriname meet to grapple with cross-border crime
Chandrikapersad Santokhi
Security experts from Guyana and Suriname were yesterday engaged in their second bilateral meeting as the two countries attempt to grapple with the emerging crimes that transcend borders and affect citizens of both nations.
Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee led Guyana’s team, while Justice Minister Chandrikapersad Santoki led Suriname’s team at the Pegasus Hotel engagement.
Minister Rohee said in opening remarks that meeting is, among other things, aimed at “thwarting would-be criminals from taking advantage of our separate jurisdictions, bringing to justice those engaged in cross-boundary criminal and other illegal enterprises and engendering a general atmosphere of peace and security in out two societies.”
Yesterday’s meeting, which is a follow-up to a similar one that was held in Suriname in May of 2008 that resulted in the Declaration of Nieuw Nickerie, was last week Friday described by Minister Rohee as one of the ways Guyana is fighting the scourge of drug trafficking.
Minister Santoki sees the bilateral talks as an important means of combatting cross-border and other crimes that threaten the security of the two nations and the rule of law. He underscored the fact that transnational organised crimes are considered a huge threat to the economy, social and political development in society.
Clement Rohee
Tangible testimony
According to Rohee, the one-day engagement is tangible testimony to the strong commitment made by the two countries as they collaborate in combatting crime in all of its facets, whether it is in relation to the drug trade; the smuggling of goods, illegal trade in small arms or the apprehension of those who flee criminal justice in either state.
The minister said that since Guyana is “striving to make all of its communities” safer it is necessary to promote closer cooperation with all of its neighbours to address the various law enforcement issues that confront it.
“In an era in which criminals and which criminal organisations are joining forces in pursuit of their illegitimate aspirations, it is indispensable that neighbouring states combine their intelligence and law enforcement capabilities if criminality is to be successfully defeated,” the minister said.
He said the two countries must continue to find means of jointly meeting the challenges posed by criminal operatives as criminality is one of the “key impediments to growth and development.” The minister said both countries must enhance their cooperation in terms of policy initiatives and development when it comes to issues related to crime and security.
Rohee mentioned that both countries are party to the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters pointing out that it is imperative that the convention be looked at not only in terms of what it helps the countries to cooperate on within the OAS, “but how Guyana and Suriname can adapt it to meet our own peculiar needs as neighbouring states.”
Bilateral assistance
Meanwhile, Santoki stressed that combatting and eliminating the various kinds of threats of organised crimes cannot be done by one country but rather with bilateral assistance among sister nations.
“These threats cannot be tackled in isolation since most of them are interrelated and have transnational… character. And these characters and developments are constantly changing the landscape of the international security in which new threats are emerging… [There is] a new transhipment method of drugs, the introduction of new types of drugs and also the sophisticated illegal transhipment and smuggling of firearms,” the Suriname justice minister said.
He said such developments are seriously affecting global security and are having an impact on all nations. “It is of great importance for us as neighbouring countries to cooperate equitably in order to combat and minimise these threats,” the minister said. However, he pointed out that each country also has its own responsibility and sovereignty to take action to protect its citizens and communities to eliminate common threats and increase common security.
“We have no other choice we have to cooperate effectively against the international, hemispheric and the regional threats. We have to fight the common threats and we have to assist each other in the fight against the local threats which don’t have any borders, which [do] not respect any law… [And] which affects border security,” Santoki said.
“…We have a strong political willingness as two nations for strong cooperation… We have a joint strategy. We have a strong commitment to enhance the cooperation and security and nothing, let me express this clearly, and nothing, no crime, no criminals and no other issue will divide us in this approach which is beneficial to both nations and both communities,” Santoki stressed.
And Santoki later told the media that on a regular basis there is exchange of information between the two countries about wanted persons; often wanted persons in Guyana find their way to Suriname, which has led to the arrest and expulsion of those persons from his country.
Santoki had played a major role in drug kingpin Roger Khan being arrested in Suriname from where he was later deported via Trinidad where he was nabbed by US authorities. He said it is the path that has to be taken as it is fundamental that intelligence information be shared confidentially to maintain proper cooperation between the two nations.
“I am very pleased to say that there was some positive development in certain areas of cooperation; that there is a better understanding [between] the law enforcement and intelligence officials of both nations. But more important that the two governments, on a high level, are cooperating,” the minister said.
Rohee said the 2008 declaration was a result of the two countries’ decision to cooperate more fully to combat common challenges associated with crime and security. He said a mechanism was established in 2008 to facilitate enhanced security cooperation and coordination between the two countries.
He described the mechanism as being born out of the realisation that Guyana and Suriname were separate legal jurisdictions and criminals and would-be criminals would seek to take advantage of that fact to escape punishment for their crimes and to maximise gains from their criminal actions. (Stabroek News)
March 1, 2010
Man stabs reputed wife to death, escapes
Okemo Todd
Okemo Todd suffered years of abuse at the hands of her reputed husband and early yesterday morning was brutally stabbed to death during a heated argument.
The 20-year-old mother of two was stabbed several times and she bled to death outside Ketley Primary School in Ketley Street, Charlestown, opposite her home.
Todd was forced to flee her home around 2 am yesterday after she was wounded and according to reports, she jumped over a six-foot high zinc fence to escape the assault.
Police are hunting Todd’s reputed husband who fled the couple’s Charlestown home minutes after the incident. The man escaped leaving his lifeless reputed wife lying on the roadside and their two infant daughters alone in the house. Reports are that the four-month-old and two-year-old were covered in their mother’s blood.
“They does fight a lot in deh,” a neighbour said yesterday. But no one in the immediate area of the couple’s home recalled hearing the fracas which led to Todd’s death. Based on the sequence of events, the couple had settled in when an argument erupted early yesterday morning. It might have raged on for a while before it escalated.
It was close to 2 am when an injured Todd jumped over the fence of her home crying out for help. She noticed a security guard in the school compound opposite and ended up also jumping over the school fence to get to the guard.
The guard went to her assistance and Todd was reported to have held onto him, refusing to let go. At this time, her reputed husband, who was pursuing her, had also jumped over the fence, but when he saw the guard he fled the scene.
The security guard called out for assistance and a resident in the area called the police. Todd was placed on the ground outside the school and it was there that she took her last breath. The police showed up at the scene within minutes and they rushed her to the Georgetown Public Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Todd’s blood was still visible outside the school when Stabroek News visited yesterday and neighbours were gathered at the scene discussing the couple’s turbulent relationship.
A neighbour recalled that just last month Todd’s reputed husband had beaten her severely forcing her to flee and seek refuge at her house nearby. “I was home when this person came bolting inside the house and then I hear me bedroom door shut. I didn’t know it was Shenell,” the neighbour related. Todd is popularly known in the area as ‘Shenell’.
The neighbour recalled that Todd was bleeding from the head and she was trembling in fear of the man she lived with. She said Todd refused to leave her room even after the police showed up, saying at the time that she did not want any police story.
According to the neighbour, Shenell only left her home after her mother-in-law visited and talked with her. She said Todd then left the home for a few days, but returned to continue living with the man. She said couple appeared to be going good until now.
Stabroek News spoke with Todd’s sister, Oninco Leacock, who confirmed that her sister was a victim of domestic abuse. She said Todd worked as a vendor at Stabroek Market and recalled that a short while ago a nasty fight had erupted between her sister and the man at the market.
She said the man had threatened to throw Todd into a building nearby and the row had escalated to the point where he almost threw her to the concrete on her head. The sister, who was composed, said Todd moved away from the family’s Sophia home several times to go back with the man.
She said arguments would break out and her sister would move back home only to go back with the man a little while after. She could not say whether her sister had filed any police reports against the man, but she said Todd always went back.
“She wanted her children to know their father and to be near him,” the sister said, in an attempt to explain why Todd endured the abuse. She said the family was devastated by the death of her sister and added that her mother was not taking it too well. (Stabroek News)
