Gunmen attack couple, escape with car

 Oct 10, 2017  News 0 Comments

At around 20:30 hrs on Sunday, three gunmen attacked a young couple at Grove, East Bank Demerara, and escaped with the Toyota Premio motorcar that the female had borrowed from her mother to run an errand. The vehicle bears registration number, PPP 6167.
Nikita Khan said that she and her husband had just got home and were taking some items into the yard when three armed men attacked them. Her husband was gun-butted.
“We had borrowed the car from my mother to go by a relative up the East Coast, so we came home to empty the car to take it back,” Khan recalled. She added that her husband started taking items into their yard and she subsequently joined him.
“I took some things into the garage and when I look out I see someone with my husband and I thought it was a friend helping him out, but then I saw the gun,” Khan recounted. She said that the men took her husband’s phone and cash and drove away with the car.
“One of them pushed his hand in my husband’s pocket and collected the car keys and gone with the car,” she noted.
A report was made to the Grove Police Station.
Two Mondays ago, Deputy Superintendent Lonsdale Withrite, who was heading the Guyana Police Force’s SWAT team, was attacked at gunpoint by three men, who hijacked his car. The officer, who was subsequently moved from his post, also lost his service revolver in the robbery which occurred at Industry, East Coast Demerara seawall.
The vehicle was subsequently found abandoned at Ogle Airport road.
On September 16, last, a Guyana Defence Force Lance Corporal, Pernell Gordon, said that he was a victim of a carjacking. He recalled seeing two men waving for a taxi at Providence, East Bank Demerara, and decided to pick them up.
He said that the men asked to be stopped off at Second Bridge, Mocha. When he arrived at the destination, he saw two other men standing on the bridge. Gordon said that he stopped to drop off his passengers and the two men approached his vehicle and snatched the keys while the other three tried to block him from escaping.
However, the rank said he managed to exit the vehicle after the men relieved him of his wallet, licence, and valuables. They escaped with his Toyota Premio, licence plate PVV 7706.
Early in September, gunmen assaulted a 65-year-old taxi driver, after which they made off with his Toyota Premio which he hired to operate as a taxi at Kitty Public Road, Georgetown.
Percy Busey, a driver attached to Eddy’s Taxi Service, had arrived in Kitty in the car bearing registration PRR 3295, to pick up a passenger. He said that he was at the time reversing on the Kitty roadway while awaiting the arrival of his passenger when two men pounced on him.
According to Busey, one of the men held a gun to his head and threatened to shoot him if he did not comply with their demands, while the other opened the door and attempted to drag him out by his shirt. He was hit in the face by the men who then escaped with the car and the victim’s valuables.

No bail for duo accused of stealing $25M in items from ‘Chicka D’

 Oct 10, 2017  Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News 0 Comments

Two men who allegedly broke into the ‘Chicka D’ restaurant and carted off over $25M in articles, were yesterday remanded to prison by Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman after they made an appearance in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Forty-seven-year-old handyman Seon Clarke, and 41-year-old Gary Grant, a mechanic of Lot 24 Norton Street, Lodge, Georgetown, both denied the charge which alleged that between September 20 and October 5 at Vlissengen Road, Georgetown, they broke and entered the ‘Chicka D’ restaurant and stole one ice cream machine valued $2M and other items, totalling $25.2 M, property of Deonarine Singh.
It was further alleged that on the same day in question, Clarke behaved in a disorderly manner and assaulted a police detective who attempted to arrest him.
Police Prosecutor Adunni Inniss objected to bail being granted to the defendants citing the serious nature of the offence and the penalty the charges attract.
Facts presented by the prosecutor stated that on October 6, police received information about a burglary and when they showed up at the restaurant they observed the defendants inside.
The court heard that when a police officer attempted to arrest Clarke, he pulled out a knife and made an attempt to stab him. The man then dealt the police officer several punches to the face and fled. The prosecutor added that both men were apprehended by public-spirited persons who chased after them.
The prosecutor’s objection was upheld by the magistrate and both defendants were remanded to prison.
Clarke was also ordered to post $60,000 bail on the assault charge.
Both men were instructed to make their next court appearance on October 30.

NY-based Guyanese remanded for guns and ammunition

 Oct 10, 2017  Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News 0 Comments

An overseas-based Guyanese, who was being investigated after officials at the Guyana National Shipping Corporation (GNSC) found two high-powered guns and matching ammunition, stashed in bike parts in a barrel at the wharf, during

Dwayne Phillips

a customs check, was yesterday remanded to prison on two charges of illegal gun and ammunition possession.
Forty-five-year-old Dwayne Phillips, of 77 Robb Street, Bourda, Georgetown, appeared before Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, and denied the charge which alleged that between January 1, 2016 and July 11, 2017 at GNSC wharf, Lombard Street, he had one 9mm Glock pistol and one 9mm Taurus pistol in his possession when he was not a licenced firearm holder.
It was further alleged that between January 1 and July 11 at the same wharf, he had in his possession 56 rounds of 9mm ammunition, when he was not a licenced firearm holder.
Phillips was represented by Attorney-at-Law, Keoma Griffith. The lawyer asked that his client be released on bail. He told the court that Phillips is a driver in the United States and he came to Guyana to visit his 10 children. The attorney said his client had cooperated fully during the investigations.
Police Prosecutor, Arvin Moore objected to bail being granted to the defendant citing the serious nature and prevalence of the offence as well as the penalty the change attracts.
The prosecutor also told the court that if bail is granted to the defendant he would not return to the court for the trial.
Phillips was then remanded and instructed to make his next court appearance on October 16. According to reports, the barrel was shipped to Guyana from Brooklyn, New York, and the guns and several rounds of matching ammunition were found stashed in bike parts.

Baby boy and girl 12 sodomised

 Oct 15, 2017  News 0 Comments

-girl’s step-dad, mother, relative in custody,

The Childcare and Protection Agency and police are probing two separate cases of sexual abuse, in which a 12-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy were sodomised by close relatives.
The attacks on the victims were so severe that both had to undergo medical treatment. The two-year-old remains hospitalised.
The girl’s stepfather and another male relative have reportedly been sodomising her, with her mother’s consent, for over a year, ever since she was eleven.
The two men and the girl’s mother, have been in custody since Friday. Reports indicate that the mother was herself repeatedly sodomised by her partner. She reportedly suggested that the partner turn his attention to her daughter.
The suspects are likely to appear in court on Monday.
Describing the case as ‘sickening’, Childcare officials confirmed that they are also probing the rape of a two-year-old boy, allegedly by his great-grandmother’s partner.
The matter was reported by the victim’s mother. Kaieteur News understands that the alleged culprit has gone into hiding, even as the infant remains hospitalised.

Driver chopped to death, father’s fingers hacked off

 Oct 16, 2017  News 0 Comments

• in brawl over banana plants

A driver was brutally murdered while his father is in a critical condition after a man went berserk, chopping them during an argument over some banana plants at Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara yesterday.
Dead is Harrinarine Ramawaj, 31, a driver of Estate Road, Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara.
His father, Chanderpaul Ramawaj, 59, had two of his fingers hacked off during the brawl.
Investigations revealed that the man and his father went to their cash crop farm—which has been in operation for over 40 years—where they discovered some of their banana plants damaged and a wooden structure erected. A 43-year-old labourer of Sawah, Cane Grove East Coast Demerara, was in the structure.
An argument broke out between the farmer and the labourer, who dealt them several chops about their bodies.
Harrinarine and his father were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, where Harrinarine succumbed.
The suspect, who sustained injuries during the confrontation was treated at the Mahaicony Cottage Hospital and taken into custody.

Finally this regime that condones buggery jailed the buggerer.

Cops arrest City Constable who had sex with detained juvenile

 Oct 18, 2017  News 0 Comments

It took almost two months, but the city constable who forced a detained 15-year-old boy into a sexual act last August has finally been fired and arrested.
Police took the disgraced lance corporal into custody yesterday at Brickdam, some hours after the Mayor and City Council dismissed him for “gross misconduct.”
Kaieteur News was told that a policeman went to City Hall to arrest the accused city constable, only to be informed that he was no longer there, since he had been fired. He was eventually located and taken into custody.
In a letter signed yesterday by Town Clerk Royston King, the rank was informed that he had been dismissed “with immediate effect…due to your gross misconduct, between Tuesday August 22, 2017… at the Regent Street Outpost, where you engaged in a sexual act with a juvenile.”
But it was just a day earlier that King had said at a statutory meeting that “nothing has been proven,” against the lance corporal, and that the accusation was “one of mere allegation.”
King had also said that based on the preliminary investigations, “there are certain missing links in the case.”
But the City Constabulary corporal who witnessed the sex act, and reported it, was also given the boot yesterday.
The Town Clerk’s letter informed the rank that he was being dismissed for “dereliction of duty.”
“You stated that you saw Lance Corporal (name given) engaging in a sexual act with a juvenile in the custody of the City Constabulary, but took no action. Further, you made no entry of the occurrence in the station diary,” the letter stated.
Explaining further the reason for the dismissal, City Mayor Patricia Chase-Green told Kaieteur News that the corporal had “failed to protect a juvenile.”
“You see something like that, you take control of your station. You don’t allow an unnatural act to happen.” She added that officials received “new information,” on the case, and this led to the dismissals.
Refuting any part in a cover-up, Chase-Green again stated that it was she who had insisted on an investigation, after learning of the allegation.

The dismissal letter for the senior rank who witnessed the incident

“The Chief Constable lapsed. It was not until I brought the matter to the Full Council, and gave the Chief Constable 24 hours to give a report or be sent home (that action was taken),” Mayor Chase-Green said.
She also hinted that “may more officers” may be disciplined when the investigation is completed.
Although the incident happened in August, City Hall only investigated the matter after Kaieteur News broke the story.
But even then, the probe had appeared to be stalled.
Mayor Chase-Green had said that the alleged victim had given a statement, but a guardian who was present refused to sign it. She also said that the alleged victim “has not been presented to the Legal Affairs Committee.”
But the investigation gained momentum last week after officials from Childcare and Protection Agency located and interviewed the victim.
An official said that a birth certificate revealed that he was 15, and not 16, as was claimed in reports by City Hall.
In the statement he gave to a City Constable, the juvenile, of no fixed place of abode, said he was arrested on August 22, for loitering and placed on the prisoner’s bench at the Regent Street Enquiries Outpost at City Hall.
He alleged that around 23:00 hrs, a male constable took over, and about 02:30 hrs, the constable woke him and told him to lie on his back, which he did. Shortly after, the male rank told him to stand by the washroom. Another rank then came in and requested a firearm, which the first rank handed over. The two men sat watching a movie for awhile. Eventually, the officer with the firearm left, while the other returned and unbuttoned the juvenile’s pants, placed a condom on the juvenile’s privates and let the teen have sex with him.
According to the teen’s statement, the officer who had collected the firearm returned shortly after. The rank allegedly pointed at the teen and said that he would “speak to me seriously in the morning.’
It was this same rank that stated that he saw the incident. He alleged that he was sitting at his desk when he heard someone moaning. He peeped through a vent and saw his colleague, a Lance Corporal, having sex with the prisoner. After, the lance corporal went to the washroom with a condom he had removed from the teen’s privates.
The rank then reported the matter.
Mayor Chase-Green confirmed that the same Lance Corporal was previously investigated for a similar act. She said he was placed on close arrest for seven days and a report was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The Mayor said that the accused was reinstated, however, after the DPP indicated that there was insufficient evidence to lay charges.

Man on the run after setting wife’s house on fire

 Oct 19, 2017  News 0 Comments

Up to press time yesterday, the police were trying to locate a man, who allegedly tried to kill his 38-year-old partner before setting her Lot 182 Da Silva Street, Newtown, home on fire around 21:30 hrs on Tuesday.
The fire not only destroyed June Cato Jervis’s home but it damaged her neighbour, Adunni Orderson’s house which is located at Lot 182 Da Silva and D’Abreu Streets.
The suspect has been identified as Kerwin Jervis. He was reportedly physically abusing his wife Tuesday night—just before he allegedly set the house on fire.
Kaieteur News was informed that the suspect reportedly stabbed his wife and then set the house on fire. The woman reportedly managed to escape just after her husband ran out. Neighbours reportedly told the police that they saw the woman with her bloody clothes.
Reports are that she was taken to the hospital for treatment but the police were unable to locate her at the hospital yesterday. “We look everywhere but we couldn’t find her,” a police source said.
The victim’s brother, who asked for his name to be withheld, said that he was heading home from church when he received information that his sibling’s home was on fire. The property is owned by him and his sister but Jervis has been living there.
The sibling said that he went to the scene of the fire, hoping that he would have seen his sister but did not. He got information that she was taken to the hospital but when he got there; his sister was not a patient there.
He even received information that the mother of two died as a result of her injuries but could not confirm the news. “Her children’s father was here looking for the two boys but no one has any idea where they are,” the brother said.
Neighbours yesterday claimed that the woman was a victim of constant domestic violence. “He (suspect) does beat her a lot. Almost every day he beating her and neighbours cannot intervene because she does turn back and curse them.”
Anyone with information on the victim’s whereabouts is asked to contact the nearest police station.
Meanwhile, Orderson, who has been living at the property for the past 42 years, said that she was asleep when she heard her children screaming. “I heard the children screaming for me and I started screaming myself.”
Orderson said that it was only when she got out of her bedroom that she realized that her neighbour’s house was on fire.
“It was confusion. I had to run in back to get my baby and then we had to jump the fence because we weren’t finding the gate keys.”
The lower flat of Orderson’s home was not destroyed.

Businessman whose car broke down shoots would-be teen robber

 Oct 24, 2017  News 0 Comments

A would-be teen robber appeared to have picked the wrong victim last Sunday night. He is now nursing a bullet wound and thanking his lucky stars.
According to police, the 17-year-old suspect of ‘D’ Field Sophia, Georgetown was shot in the left thigh, and is receiving medical attention at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Police said that a 40-year-old city businessman had stopped at the Turkeyen Public Road, East Coast Demerara, around 21:30hrs on Sunday after his vehicle had developed mechanical problems. Seeing the man’s dilemma, the teen seized the opportunity to pounce, but was shot for his efforts. Police said the businessman is a licenced firearm holder.
The suspect is under guard at the hospital and an investigation is in progress.

Cop allegedly takes $1M inducement to raid strip club

 Oct 25, 2017  News 0 Comments

– Transferred to Mounted Branch to facilitate probe

It seems like the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is having another embarrassing month.
Shortly after Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan, admitted that the force was having a bad month with the robbery of Lonsdale Withrite, former SWAT leader and the disappearance of cocaine from the office of the head of the Police’s narcotics, another rank is in hot water.
This time a Police Corporal is being investigated for allegedly taking $1M bribe from one strip club to raid another.
According to reports, on Saturday night the Corporal and a team of policemen went to one of the strip clubs and carried out a raid. They interrogated all the entertainers about their travel documents. It is unclear if any of the female workers were detained for overstaying.
Kaieteur News was informed that someone who witnessed what was taking place saw the ranks leaving in a vehicle belonging to the owner of the competing strip club. The incident was immediately reported.
Reports are that investigators checked the number plate of the vehicle that was used to transport the ranks to the Strip Club and confirmed it is owned by the strip club that allegedly recruited the ranks.
The ranks who participated in the raid were then reportedly questioned and they revealed that the raid was actually organized by the Strip Club owner. They allegedly revealed details of the raid to investigators.
It is unclear if all the ranks were transferred but the Corporal was sent to the Police Mounted Branch.
Investigation is being carried out by the Police’s Office of Professional Responsibility.

Nine held hostage, suspects escape with victim’s car

 Oct 25, 2017  News 0 Comments

Three men on Monday night stormed the business place and home of a family, where nine were held hostage and robbed of valuables. The Police have since been able to put their hands on surveillance cameras that were situated in the business, where the identities of the men are likely to be discovered since they were not masked.

One of the men caught on camera

According to a victim, she left home in her red Toyota Runx, PPP 8667. She arrived at the shop around 21:00hrs when she saw a man lying flat on the ground. She said she was of the opinion that he was drunk and proceeded until she saw a man coming out with a gun. The woman said she tried to run back to her car but was dragged into the shop by one of the four men.
She recalled that three of the men were armed with guns and one was outside “looking out”.
Nine people were on the floor, including the shop owners, according to her. The men sped off in one of the victim’s car with cash, jewellry and shop items.
“Nobody was injured but they just pull we hard,” she said.
Ranks from the La Grange Police Station arrived at the scene 15 minutes after the incident occurred.
The victim said that she wishes for her name to be withheld.
She informed that the shop keeper would have noted that there is usually a gang of boys that would “lime at the shop”. However, on the evening of the episode, they were not present.
The men were all unknown to the victims who included three women and six men.
Investigations are ongoing.

Prison officer nabbed with smart phones, ganja in sting operation

 Oct 26, 2017  News 0 Comments

The seized smart phones

Police and prison officials have thwarted what appears to be a massive smuggling racket at the Mazaruni Prison.
A release stated that a 27-year-old prison officer was arrested at around 09.00 hrs yesterday in the prison’s bachelor’s quarters.
At the time, he was in possession of nine new cell phones with chargers, a SIM and a memory card, and 403 grammes of cannabis sativa. The items were in a haversack on the rank’s bed. He was reportedly nabbed during a sting operation.
Last August, a Chief Prison Officer was arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle a quantity of marijuana to an inmate in the Timehri Prisons.
The drug was concealed among the prisoner’s meals. The accused rank is in his fifties and has some 20 years service. Police are still seeking legal advice on the matter.

Foreign nationals among nine arrested at Barima River

 Oct 26, 2017  News 0 Comments

– as high-powered rifles, ammunition, ganja and bullet proof vest found in their boat

Some of the items that were recovered

A Jamaican, a Cuban and a Venezuelan are among nine persons in custody, after two high-powered rifles with 19 matching rounds, 1.5 kilogram of marijuana and a black bulletproof vest were found in a boat in which the men were passengers.
They were detained at the Mabaruma Police Station and are expected to be brought to the Criminal Investigation Department in Eve Leary, Georgetown, where they will be interrogated by the Major Crimes Unit ranks.
According to information received, ranks from the Guyana Police and Defence Forces intercepted two boats—one towing another, around 14:00 hrs on Tuesday.
A party of lawmen went to Barima River, North West District, after receiving intelligence that foreigners were in the area with illegal weapons.
Kaieteur News was informed that the ranks were immediately deployed to the area where they intercepted a metal boat measuring 25 feet in length powered by a 40- horsepower Yamaha engine, captained by a 62-year-old man, with three occupants.
That vessel was towing a blue and grey fibreglass boat measuring 23 feet in length powered by a 250-horsepower Yamaha engine, and carrying five passengers. A search was carried out on the fibreglass boat and the two high-powered rifles with ammunition and the bulletproof vest were found under the bow.
A further search was conducted around the stern area of the vessel and a black handbag was found with a quantity of leaves, seeds and stems suspected to be cannabis. It was later tested, weighed and amounted to be 1.5 kilogram.
The suspects were identified as Junior Jack, 19, a sailor of Mabaruma; Donstant Rodrigues, 38, a captain of Mora Moruca; Cuban National Samuel Alvaroz, 25; Shawn Phang, 49, a miner of School Road, Port Kaituma; Dexter Valenzuela, 44, a captain of Lot 8 Bent Road, Crane, West Coast Demerara; Corvin Griffith, 48, a captain of lot 187 Grove Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara; Jamaican National Delroy Mairs, 53, a mason of Albouystown; Venezuelan National Rafael Ramon, 33, and Carrigon Khan, 62, a boat captain of Jacklow, Pomeroon River.
Recently, there have been a series of attacks on mining camps in the North West District by foreign- speaking gunmen.
This newspaper has been informed that ranks will question the men to determine whether they are linked to any of the robberies.
Investigations are ongoing.

Looks like the PNC freed one of their own traffickers. 

Vendor freed of cocaine in fish charge

 Oct 26, 2017  News 0 Comments

Magistrate Rushell Liverpool yesterday dismissed the case against a fish vendor who was charged for trafficking over 18 pounds of cocaine in frozen fish at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
Mohammed Alli, 51, of Jalousie, West Coast Demerara, was accused of having 9.044 kilograms of cocaine in his possession on June 8, last, for the purpose of trafficking.
According to reports, ranks of the Police Narcotic Branch intercepted and seized the cocaine in a cargo shipment of frozen fish at the airport. Court facts revealed that the defendants declared 33 boxes of fish to be exported.
Routine checks were done on the cargo by the ranks and the cocaine was found concealed inside of the seafood.
Magistrate Liverpool ruled in favour of the defendant, citing that the prosecution had failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.
The defendant was represented by Attorney-at-law Bernard DaSilva.
In June, last, the defendant’s two children Shafur Alli, 27, of Lot 27 La Jalousie, West Coast Demerara and Lazena Imrazie, 22, of Lot 8 Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara, who were accused of having 9.044 kilograms of cocaine in their possession on June 8, last, for the purpose of trafficking, had the matter against them dismissed by Senior Magistrate Leron Daly in the Georgetown Magistrate’ Courts.
Both siblings were represented by Attorney Bernard DaSilva. The attorney had always claimed that his clients had no knowledge or possession of the prohibited drug.