Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 18, 2009 News
– COI discharged from hospital; security tightened at home
Police have detained a Georgetown resident whom they say might be the lone gunman behind last Thursday’s brazen attempt on the life of Commissioner of Insurance, Maria van Beek.
A top police official confirmed that a man fitting the gunman’s description was taken into custody yesterday and said reports indicate that he is a resident of Leopold Street.
Police said that they are also looking for the second suspect who assisted the gunman to escape on a Honda CG motorcycle into Leopold Street after van Beek was shot.
Investigators have also questioned several other people, but Kaieteur News understands that they are still to take a statement from Mrs. van Beek, who was discharged from the Woodlands Hospital at around 16:00 hrs yesterday afternoon after doctors removed the bullet from her chest.
A close relative said that the 36-year-old woman was resting comfortably at her Eccles, East Bank Demerara home. The relative disclosed that security personnel have been placed at the residence.
“She seems quite alright and she is glad that it’s over,” the relative said.
“It was a real shock. I just can’t believe that this has happened.”
Asked whether relatives have urged van Beek to relinquish her position as Judicial Manager of CLICO (Guyana) after the attempt on her life, the source said that such a decision was in Mrs. van Beek’s hands. “It was her decision to return to Guyana and work.”
Van Beek was shot in the chest while driving along Lombard Street in heavy traffic.
Eyewitnesses said that the gunman struck in the vicinity of Lombard and Leopold Streets, standing in front of van Beek’s car before firing a bullet into her right front window.
An eyewitness has told Kaieteur News that he saw a man, with one hand tucked under his sweater, walking ‘calmly’ from Lombard Street into Leopold Street seconds after the shot was discharged. He described the suspect as a short, dark-complexioned individual of medium build, who was wearing a cap, jersey and three-quarter pants.
The injured woman managed to drive to Mohamed’s Enterprise on Lombard Street, where she sought assistance from staff who drove her to the Woodlands Hospital in Carmichael Street.
A police statement confirmed that the gunman and his accomplice made no attempt to rob van Beek.
Manager of Mohamed’s Enterprise Ameer Mohamed said he heard a loud gunshot around 08:15 hrs on Thursday morning.
He said that they then heard someone screaming and shortly after a woman, later identified as van Beek, drove up to his store and began screaming for help, repeatedly asking them to call the police. He recalled that she was bleeding profusely from a wound to her upper body.
Van Beek’s sister Dionne Fries told reporters that the shooting might be linked to the contentious issue of the CLICO debacle but could not understand why her sister, in her role, was a target.
She described the attempt on her sister’s life as “an eye opener for the entire family”, adding that security arrangements would be put in place to prevent any further attack.
Fries stressed that although van Beek was integrally involved in the CLICO issue, she was not personally responsible for the debacle that the company found itself in.
Government officials and opposition party leaders have issued statements of condemnation regarding that attack on Mrs. van Beek.
Van Beek was appointed Judicial Manager of CLICO (Guyana) on February 25 last and was tasked with assessing the entity’s financial position.
On Tuesday last she presented her report to the High Court, declaring the company insolvent, adding that in a worst-case scenario the company’s liability outweighed its assets by some US$60M.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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