Former treason accused, Philip Bynoe abuses, threatens KNews reporters

- report made to police

Seemingly incensed and ready to put Kaieteur News in its place, Philip Bynoe, attended a press conference hosted by the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) Kingston yesterday afternoon.

Bynoe noticed KNews’ reporter taking photos of him and decided to pose

The press conference was called to refute the recent exposures in the media regarding the operations of Bai Shan Lin and other Asian logging companies servicing Guyana.
Bynoe was not the only non-member of the media fraternity and non-employee of GFC that attended the press conference.
In fact, a minibus load of Lindeners was brought to Georgetown and the passengers were in attendance.
During the media conference, Bynoe and the other Lindeners shouted in agreement with the responses by various GFC officials to the press and sought to distract reporters as they posed questions.
But Bynoe was the only one who attempted to ask a question and he was obviously peeved when he hadn’t the chance to do so.
The press conference saw representation from most of the media houses across Guyana but mostly Kaieteur News and Stabroek News made use of the opportunity to pose questions to GFC officials.
As a result, the moderator, Attorney-at-law Jacy Archibald, opted to cajole other media entities into asking questions so as to break the chain of inquiries coming from the two newspapers.
Bynoe indicated that he wished to ask a question and was given permission by Archibald to do so. However, this was objected to by Stabroek News reporter, Gaulbert Sutherland, who sought to ascertain which media house Bynoe represented.
The Stabroek News reporter noted that the event was a Press conference and not a consultation session.  Of course, Sutherland was backed in his position by Kaieteur News and other media operatives, including Dennis Chabrol of Demerara Waves.
However, Bynoe insisted that he had the right to ask the question and said that he was from “small loggers media house, but I am not accredited.”
After similar back and forth exchanges of this nature, Archibald told Bynoe that he should withdraw his question so the press conference could continue. Bynoe complied.
Bynoe then decided to hurl inappropriate remarks and interrupt Kaieteur News’s reporters whilst they were posing their questions.
He said, “Kaieteur News troops out today; we will deal with the troops just now, we will deal with them properly.”
But Bynoe didn’t stop there. As he wagged his index finger in the direction of Kaieteur News’s reporters, he said “I gon deal with aya, I will surely deal with aya.” And so he continued throughout the press conference.
When the media conference ended and Kaieteur News’s Abena Rockcliffe got up from her seat, there was Bynoe in her face shouting, “Shame on Kaieteur News, Shame!”
The reporter asked, “Why are you throwing tantrums here?” To this he responded, “I will deal with Kaieteur News and Kaieteur News reporters, individually…Watch and see.”
The reporter walked away, but Bynoe continued his rants.
A few minutes later as the reporter was making her way out the building, Bynoe was up in her face again yelling, “I will deal with Kaieteur News.”
The reporter endured the task of dodging globs of saliva that escaped his mouth throughout his almost crazed utterances.
The reporter responded by telling Bynoe that he should be ashamed of himself.
Bynoe then turned his attention on another reporter, Latoya Giles, also of Kaieteur News, and started taking her photograph, something he had earlier done to Rockcliffe.
After taking Giles’s photo, Bynoe shouted in her face, “Shame on Kaieteur News, I will deal with you individually; is just time.”
The reporter then asked Bynoe, “Are you threatening me?” He responded, “You can take it however you want to take it.”
The reporter then replied, “Okay, I take it as a threat.”
She immediately proceeded to GFC’s boss, James Singh, and expressed her discomfort.
The reporter made the point that Singh shouldn’t call a press conference and have the likes of Bynoe there “attacking people.”
However, she failed to get a satisfactory response from Singh.
Bynoe then continued his rampage. He told another of Kaieteur News’s staff, Kiana Wilburg, that he is going to arrive at the media house today to picket the entity. He said that he will arrive with “400 strong”.
Wilburg told Bynoe that he was free to do so. He then responded, “Oh trust me I will, I will picket y’all individually…I will deal with y’all individually.”
The three females, uncomfortable with Bynoe’s threats, have decided to lodge a report with law enforcement authorities.
In 2008, six years after being slapped with a treason charge, Bynoe was granted a pardon by the then President Bharrat Jagdeo.
A Government Information Agency (GINA) statement indicated that Bynoe had been writing to Jagdeo for a pardon for at least one year.
GINA noted that, in his appeals, Bynoe expressed his remorse over the invasion of the Office of the President, and the destruction of public property.
In 2002, Bynoe campaigned throughout the country, urging citizens to protest against what he called atrocities against the people by the PPP/CIVIC Government.
His campaign led to a massive march on July 3, 2002, which culminated in the storming of the Office of the President, leading to the shooting death of two persons, and injuries to several others, as presidential guards opened fire on the intruders.
GINA, after Bynoe’s release, reported that Bynoe recognized that the event was an attack on a democratic institution of the state and not directed at the President.
By 2011, during the last General Elections, Bynoe was on the PPP campaign trail and was recorded making a passionate plea to Lindeners to vote PPP.