Latest update December 2nd, 2024 1:00 AM
Aug 19, 2015 News
Two police constables are likely to face murder charges for the fatal shooting of a mentally ill man at Mahaica, East Coast Demerara a little over a month ago.
Chairman of the Police Complaints Authority Cecil Kennard will soon proffer the recommendation to institute the capital charge against the two cops, after a complete review of the file which was sent to him by the police Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).
“I had a brief look at the file and my preliminary view is that both policemen be charged with murder,” the PCA Chairman told this newspaper via telephone from Canada yesterday.
Following Kennard’s recommendation, the file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions for her advice, which is likely to go along the same line.
The two cops, who were attached to the Cane Grove Police Outpost, are still under open arrest and have been confined to barracks at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary. This followed the July 4th shooting of 30-year-old Junior Gulliver at Strathavon, Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara.
The ranks had opened fire on Gulliver, when they responded to reports that he was threatening villagers.
The ranks are maintaining that they were attacked by Gulliver, who was armed with a cutlass, which resulted in them resorting to the use of force. However, relatives and neighbours of the dead man are insisting that the cops murdered an unarmed person.
On the day in question, the police first responded to a report that Gulliver was threatening persons in the village.
Upon arrival at the scene, the policemen, who were unarmed, came under attack from Gulliver, who had a cutlass, and they had to hastily retreat. In the process the vehicle they came in was damaged by Gulliver who had struck the window with his cutlass.
The ranks went back to the station, and after receiving another report that Gulliver was still acting in a threatening manner, they armed themselves and returned to the area to confront him.
Eyewitnesses said that Gulliver, aware that the police had returned with guns, went into hiding.
After a while, when he felt that the ranks had left the area, Gulliver emerged from his hiding place and went into his shack.
The two armed ranks subsequently emerged and confronted Gulliver and shot him.
A post mortem examination performed on Gulliver’s body by Dr. Nehaul Singh revealed that he was shot twice, from two different calibre weapons, the larger of which inflicted the fatal wound.
The PM found that Gulliver died from perforation of the lung and spinal gunshot injury.
According to a police source, the fatal bullet which was fired from a rifle, passed through his lungs and spine from the front of his body. The other bullet, fired from a smaller calibre weapon, struck his left shoulder, causing minimal damage.
Within the past few months, there have been confrontations between the police and mentally ill persons, some of which have ended fatally.
In February this year, police on the East Coast of Demerara shot a mentally challenged Sherwin Jack at Nabaclis, while going after a criminal suspect in the village. On that occasion the police had also claimed that Jack attacked them with a knife. But residents disputed this, claiming that Jack was in his yard when a party of policemen, who were hunting a robbery suspect, pulled up in a vehicle and one of the ranks mistook him for the suspect and opened fire.
That matter was also investigated by the police OPR, but despite assurances that the findings would have been made public, nothing has been heard from the police.
And two months ago, another mentally ill man disarmed a Police Constable and shot him in his head while he was being placed into the lock-ups in Linden. The mentally ill man was subsequently tracked down by the injured policeman’s colleagues and shot dead.
A few weeks ago, police had to discharge a round in the compound of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation in order to restrain another mentally ill man, despite the presence of medical personnel who are supposed to be trained to deal with such situations.
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