Alleged gang rape after night club outing…Three questioned, cops seek legal advice

Oct 31, 2016 News 0 Comments

Police have questioned three young men who allegedly gang-raped a 20-year-old girl while taking her home from a Berbice night club a week ago.
A senior police official said that police are seeking legal advice to ascertain if the trio can be charged.
The girl, who was not fully dressed,  ran into a police station early last week Sunday and told a police rank she had been sexually assaulted.
Ranks from the Force’s Sexual Offences Unit investigated the case.
Residents in the vicinity of the station helped clothe the victim, after hearing her screaming outside the building. They took her first to a hospital, and then to two other police stations.
According to reports, the 20-year-old had visited a popular Berbice night club on Saturday night. She told relatives she then left with three male friends, who had a vehicle and had promised to drop her home. Kaieteur News understands that she was in an intoxicated state at the time.
However, during the journey, the men allegedly said that they had to take someone to the Corentyne. Then, instead of taking her home, allegedly took her to a house, where they threatened and sexually assaulted her.
She claimed that she managed to flee from the house and flag down a truck driver, who took her to a police station.
A police official said that the young woman recounted that she came out of the night club at around 04.30 hrs. She was reportedly under the influence. Her three male friends, who were going further up the Corentyne, offered to drop her home.
“They (allegedly) drove to the Corentyne and had sex with her against her will. She reported the matter, and we are making efforts to locate the suspects.”
A resident who lives near to the station where the alleged victim made a report said that he heard her screaming in the station at around 06.00 hrs. She had apparently become hysterical after the lone rank there indicated that he could not leave the station.
According to the resident, the young woman, who was not fully dressed, ran out of the station. Two women helped to ensure she was decently clothed before assisting in taking her to a private hospital. Staff there informed them that they would have to take her to a public hospital, and this was done. She then made a report at another police station after being medically examined.

Looks like the PNC punishing PPP supporters via "mo fiah slow fiah" a slogan coined by the PNC during their time in opposition when they used fire as a tool to terrorize the Indian population.

Arsonist may have started Cummings Street drug store fire

Oct 31, 2016 News 0 Comments

– cops say man in black fled scene

An arsonist is believed to have started Saturday night’s fire, which gutted several businesses housed in a building on Cummings Street.
Police and fire fighters shared this view, after finding evidence of forced entry at the building.
Reports have revealed that persons in the vicinity smelled gasoline, just before the fire started at Ram’s Pharmacy. ‘A’ Division Commander, Assistant Commissioner Clifton Hicken said police ranks chased a man dressed in black who was seen running away from the building. The man escaped.

Several business destroyed by Cummings street fire

Ram’s Pharmacy where the fire originated

Police Officials said there is evidence of forced entry to the lower flat of the building as two holes were found in the concrete wall aback Ram’s Pharmacy and another leading from the drug store into a clothing store.

The hole where lawman believe alleged arsonist gained entry.

Kaieteuer News spoke with the owners of a cell shop which was also gutted by the fire. This business is also housed in the same building. The owners said the fire started around 23:00 hrs Saturday night. The owner added that she was unable to estimate her losses at the moment and revealed that the business was uninsured.
“This is the second time we have had a fire, the first one was a small fire,” the business owner lamented.
Operations Officer at the Guyana Fire Service (GFS), Compton Sparman said the GFS responded with four tenders and were able to extinguish the blaze. Sparman commended the Guyana Water Incorporated which increased water pressure to the area.

Carpenter found dead on Berbice public road

Nov 02, 2016 News 0 Comments

– Relatives suspect foul play

A 26-year-old carpenter was found dead yesterday afternoon on the No 70 Public Road.

Dead: Faiyaz Narinedatt (inset) and the clothes reportedly worn by the carpenter.

Dead is Faiyaz Narinedatt, of 36 No. 70 Village, Berbice. Narinedatt reportedly left his home early yesterday morning.
According to reports reaching Kaieteur News, the victim’s lifeless body was found at approximately 15:45 hrs, with what appeared to be marks of violence about the body and head.
Kaieteur News during a visit to the dead man’s home, spoke to his grieving mother, Bibi Shakera Aziz, who told this publication that her son left home yesterday at approximately 11:35 hrs, and she saw him later in the day at a shop nearby.
The woman stated, “meh son get up and ask meh wha wrang and me seh nothing na wrang ,and he go away, but me see am later at the shop opposite me hay, and after that me nah see he back”. She stated that she received a call stating that her son ‘met with an accident’ and was dead.
Meanwhile, Chandra Datt, an uncle of the now dead man, told Kaieteur News that his nephew’s death was not caused by an accident as they were told previously by police. According to Datt, his nephew was at a party in the village where a fight broke out, he disclosed that his nephew was allegedly beaten with pickets and thrown in a nearby drain located one lot away from where the party was being held. He stated that his nephew was allegedly beaten and then dumped on the public road.
When this publication visited the area where Narinedatt was allegedly beaten, some neighbours were tight-lipped on the situation, while expressing fear if anything was said.
One neighbour stated that “they beat the man and dash he pon the road”. He stated that he heard arguing outside the house where the party was being held, but didn’t think much of it.
As the investigation continues, there are rumours that persons who were at the party, hosted by an overseas-based businessman, could be responsible for the death of the young man.
During further investigation by this publication, broken pickets were seen thrown nearby a drain located not far from the businessman’s home. A shirt allegedly belonging to Narinedatt was also discovered on the parapet nearby. However, one of the businessman’s bodyguards is claiming that the shirt belongs to him, but relatives of the dead man are denying it is, as they indicated that it was the said shirt Narinedatt left his home with.
The body of the father of two was found on the public road, located a street away from where the alleged beating took place.
Meanwhile Divisional Commander Kevin Adonis confirmed that no-one has been arrested, as investigators are still taking statements. He also divulged that they are awaiting a Post Mortem to be conducted to determine whether or not it was a murder or it was indeed an accident.
Investigations are ongoing.

Gunman trails and robs woman outside Grove home

Nov 02, 2016 News 0 Comments

A Grove, East Bank Demerara woman was left in a state of shock after a gunman in a heavily-tinted car robbed her in front on her home at around 19.00 hrs on Monday.
Dolores Thompson says she was held at gunpoint minutes after exiting her vehicle outside her Block Y residence. The robber relieved Thompson of a bag containing $90,000, her driver’s licence, bank card and other documents.
Thompson works in Georgetown, and had driven home from her place of employment. She is unsure whether the robber trailed her from the city.
It was when she was in her street that she realised that a vehicle was behind her. Thompson said that when she arrived home, the occupants of the heavily-tinted white Toyota Premio drove past her and stopped on her neighbour’s bridge.
Thompson said she opened her gate and drove into her yard. She was about to close her gate when a slim, brown-complexioned man, with a flop-hat pulled down in his face, exited the parked car. The man walked up to Thompson, pointed a gun at her, and ordered her to hand over her valuables.
“I was caught off-guard. I never expected to be robbed. I was cold, I was numb,” Thompson said.
The robber then headed back to the car and escaped. Thompson said that the bandit had an accomplice, who was driving.
She said that police later told her that the vehicle was fitted with false number plates.
The attack on Thompson occurred even as police officials insist that there has been a drop in serious crimes.

Cattle farmer survives home invasion

Nov 02, 2016 News 0 Comments

A resident of Catherina’s Lust, West Coast Berbice, is happy to be alive after what is believed to be an attempted robbery, was thwarted by his neighbours on Monday night last.

A wounded Raymond Walters (inset) and his house.

Fifty-year-old Raymond Walters, a livestock farmer, who also works as a security guard at the Blairmont Sugar Estate, lives alone at Catherina’s Lust South, aback of a rapidly developing Hopetown Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society housing scheme.
According to Mr. Walters, it was about midnight when he went outside to use his detached toilet and was returning to the house. He was nearing the top of the stairs when three men suddenly pounced upon him, raining blows, while one man held him by the throat as they dragged him into the house and demanded money.
Walters recalled being bitten on the ears by the man who was choking him, and he was able to push him away during the struggle to be able to shout for help.
His neighbours responded promptly, and the approaching lights were enough to force the attackers to beat a hasty retreat, leaving their victim bleeding from the head and the ear.
The matter was reported at the Fort Wellington Police Station, and Walters was taken to the Fort Wellington Hospital where he was kept overnight.
A traumatized Walters disclosed that he was robbed twice before in recent times, but the police were never able to solve the cases. He however claims that he was able to recognize one of the attackers in this reported incident.
The police are investigating.

Brazen bandits tie up, beat, rob Black Bush gas station owner

Nov 05, 2016 News 0 Comments

Two brazen bandits yesterday terrorised a Yakusari North, Black Bush Polder, Berbice businessman before escaping with cash and phone cards.

The robbed business place at Yakusari North, Black Bush Polder, Corentyne, Berbice.

According to residents of the farming community, the businessman was tied up and badly beaten and left in his shop during the high noon ordeal.
The businessman, 71, whose name was given as Jhodan but is known as ‘Django’, operates a gas station, drinking spot and general store. He apparently lived alone.
A resident who went to the business to purchase gas found the place deserted.
After calling for several minutes, the resident reportedly heard muffled sounds and pushed open a side door and found the businessman tied up and on the floor.
He was gagged, his hands were tied behind his back and he was bloodied from having been badly beaten on the face.
According to reports, the two young bandits had a cutlass and a knife.
They escaped with over $150,000 in cash, phone cards and cell phones.
Residents expressed surprise at the brazen act as the business place is located on a busy road that is traversed by vehicles all day long.
Yakusari North, Black Bush Polder, is located about seven miles in from the Corentyne Public Road at Number 43 Village.

Robbed three times in four months…La Grange gas station offers reward for information on bandits

Nov 06, 2016 News 0 Comments

The D and L Gas Station at La Grange, West Bank Demerara (WBD) Public Road is

The two bandits (in hoodie) harassing the two pump attendants.

offering a reward for any information that would lead to the arrest of two bandits who pounced on two staffers at the company last Thursday.
Surveillance footage showed one man, armed with a firearm entering the Gas Station. He grabbed a bag from a female pump attendant and then started to punch a male employee, who was standing in front of the pump.
By this time, another gunman entered and grabbed the female’s chain and took the cap that the male was wearing.
Both men then ran out of the gas station.
Kaieteur News was told that the gas station opened last June and was robbed twice in that same month. Last Thursday’s attack was the third since the gas station opened.

Bandits attack car importer office, escape with $15M cash

Nov 08, 2016 News 0 Comments

Bandits, in an early morning raid, yesterday, attacked the head office of a car importer in Kingston, escaping with millions of dollars in local and foreign currency.

The robbed headquarters of Yokohama Trading, Kingston.

Staffers of the Yokohama Trading were left traumatized during the 10 minute ordeal in which the security guard was gun-butted.
Yokohama, a prominent Suriname-based car importer that set up operations here several months ago, had only recently opened a stockyard on the Rupert Craig Highway, East Coast Demerara, signlling intentions to expand operations here.
According to police sources as well as staffers, the Barrack Street headquarters had only opened for business for a few minutes when the bandits struck yesterday.
It was around 08:15hrs.
A security guard had left his post to get a cup of coffee in the outside office located in the lobby area when he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head. He had been using the water cooler. As he slipped to the floor, he saw a gun man hovering over him threateningly.
Another staffer, who acts as a cashier, was reportedly attending to her duties when she heard the commotion.
Suspecting something was amiss, she ran into the inner office to inform other staffers. They came back hurriedly and saw a man with a gun pointed at the head of her colleague, a Customer Service representative.
He demanded she open the door leading to the cashier area.
The two bandits, who were not masked, appeared to know what they were doing. They locked the entire office and it appeared as if a third person was outside on the lookout.
They demanded cash and led one of the staff members to a safe. The cash, said to be almost $15M in local and foreign currencies, was dumped in a bag and the staffers were ordered to lie on the ground.
The bandits, said to be in their 20s, quickly exited the Barrack Street building into a waiting car, said to be a Toyota NZE sedan.
The escape was reportedly captured on surveillance cameras.
Kaieteur News was told that the bandits may have cased the office on Saturday as two men were seen acting suspiciously in the office. One had been seen peering into the cashier cage and around the customer services area.
He had wanted a quotation on a vehicle but later changed his mind after receiving a call.
The police were yesterday called in and were said to be investigating the matter.

Berbice joiner beaten, robbed

Nov 08, 2016 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News 0 Comments

Mohamed Azad Boodram, called “Haribold” 56, a joiner and father of three of No 19, East Coast Berbice was on Sunday brutally attacked and robbed by three men, one of whom he knew. This occurred around 14:30 hrs.

Beaten and robbed: Mohamed Azad Boodram

He was badly beaten about his body with a cutlass and relieved of the money he had.
Boodram identified the mastermind as someone of mixed ancestry with whom he has been acquainted for about two year and had spoken to a few minutes earlier. The man’s parents also bought furniture from him in the past.
According to Boodram he would deliver furniture on a ‘hold over’ basis. Persons would subsequently deliver money to his home or he would go around and make collections on weekends.
He left home around 12:30 hrs to make some collections and was in the Fyrish area when he encountered the mastermind on the road. They had a conversation and he left to go into the village to collect money from debtors.
Whilst in the village he saw the same suspect and two other guys sitting on a stall. One had a cutlass. He did not pay them much mind since he knew the mastermind. He subsequently stopped to buy a snow cone from a vendor when he felt a hand in his pocket. He held on to the hand and upon looking around he noticed it was the same suspect.
Thinking it was a joke, he asking the man if he needs a ‘small piece’. With that the man began broadsiding him. He was struck several times about his body including his head, back and belly.
He was then relieved of the $35,000 he had collected so far as the culprits made good their escape.
Boodram collapsed and was subsequently assisted by a resident to the Albion Police Station where a report was made. The police subsequently arrived and scoured the area, but the suspects had disappeared.
Boodram, who also cultivates a cash crop farm behind his home, saw his entire three acres of cultivation completely destroyed by fire. The man, who has been planting and cultivating the area for over 10 years, grew permanent crops that included oranges, tangerines, limes, lemons, guavas and sugar apples. He had over 500 bearing trees.
That fire had emanated from the rice field behind the farm owned by one Ravi of No19 Village. Boodram had made a report to the relevant authorities including the police, fire service and the Ministry of Agriculture, but got no help.
Again this year his entire crop was burnt by the said perpetrator and nothing is being done.
Boodram, who lost a son in 1994 in a road accident on the No19 Public Road due to the careless use of the road by a recalcitrant driver, said he received nothing from that incident.
The man plans to contact the Commissioner of Police with his plight.

Man busted with 130lbs ganja

Nov 08, 2016 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News 0 Comments

… Thought he was transporting dry coconuts
-court hears

One of two men, who were allegedly held with almost 130 pounds of marijuana concealed in (salt) bags, after police intercepted a car at Kitty, Georgetown, during a high speed chase, is claiming that he thought dry coconuts were in the bags.
The man, Fawad Hamid, also known as ‘Not Nice’, 22, of Blairmont Estate, Berbice and Mark Douglas of Number Three Village, West Coast Berbice, are accused of having 58.843 kilogrammes of marijuana in their possession for the purpose of trafficking on March 12, at David Street, Kitty, Georgetown.
Hamid and Douglas who are represented by Attorneys Mark Waldron and Clyde Forde respectively are out on bail.
Police acting on information travelled to the vicinity of Subs and Salads, Sheriff Street, Georgetown, where two vehicles were seen. Hamid, who was the driver of one of the vehicles, turned into David Street, Georgetown after seeing police ranks. Ranks intercepted the vehicle after an exchange of gunfire and conducted a search during which a quantity of compressed marijuana was found in five bags in the trunk of the vehicle.
Last week, Hamid was called on to lead a defence after trial Magistrate Judy Latchman ruled that a Prima Facie case was made out against him based on evidence led by Police Prosecutor Vishnu Hunt.
Guided by his Attorney, the defendant elected to give a sworn testimony, during which he told the court that Douglas had given him five white salt bags and told him that dry coconuts were inside.
According to Hamid whilst leaving his home on the day in question, Douglas approached him at a park at Rosignol, Berbice and asked if he wanted a taxi to Georgetown. Hamid recalled that Douglas told him he had some bags to take to the city. He said that Douglas left and returned with five salt bags and placed them into the trunk of the vehicle.
“He (Douglas) tell me the bags got to go to Georgetown and he gave me a phone number to call somebody. I put it (the phone number) in my cell phone. He said when I go on Sheriff Street call the (phone number) and a man will come and collect the (salt) bags.”
The witness said that he drove the car from Berbice and called the cell phone number given to him while on Sheriff Street, but got no answer which resulted in him calling Douglas who told him he would be there in two minutes.
Hamid said, “When Mark Douglas arrived he parked behind my car. When I stepped out my car to talk to Douglas I see a burgundy 212 (motorcar) pull up alongside Douglas car with four plainclothes policemen.”
The defendant stated that he rushed into his car and sped off after police ranks with guns approached his co-accused. He stated that police chased after him firing gunshot and he surrendered; stepping out of the car.
Hamid told the court that he was taken to Police Narcotics Branch, Eve Leary, Georgetown, where police ranks opened the salt bags in the presence of Mark Douglas and disclosed that the bag contained marijuana.
Hamid related that he told police that the drug belonged to Mark Douglas and they promised to send him home if he testified against Douglas.
In spite of the promise, Hamid told the court police later informed him that he would be charged for the offence.
This matter is continuing.

Bandits snatch Alesie payroll in Harbour Bridge ambush

Nov 09, 2016 News 0 Comments

The Ruimzeight Rice Processors Incorporated (Alesie), is once again counting its losses after one of its staffer and a taxi-driver, were robbed at gunpoint yesterday afternoon in the vicinity of the Demerara Harbour Bridge Bus Stop on the eastern side of the link.
According to reports, the staffer – who requested anonymity – had just uplifted the company’s payroll from a City bank. The staffer hailed a known taxi driver to transport her to the company’s headquarters on the West Coast of Demerara.
It was some time around 16:30hrs at the bridge when the duo was robbed. An eyewitness reported that a motorcar bearing licence plate number PSS 7213 pulled up to the taxi where a lone gunman exited the vehicle and began his assault on the taxi-driver.
The driver was reportedly gun-butted several times to the head as the gunman specifically requested the “envelope with the US$”.
The matter was reported at the Vreed-en-Hoop Police station and investigations are still ongoing.
Back in April this year, six heavily armed gunmen managed to gain entry into the Alesie compound minutes after midnight, overpowered the two on-duty guards and carted off $3M and other valuables. The guards were duct-taped and beaten during the ordeal.