THE tomb of 26-year-old Winston Hinds, the prisoner who was shot dead at the Timehri prison on August 4, was on Tuesday night vandalised and Hinds stripped of the fake jewellery he was buried with.

The discovery was made on Wednesday by family members, who were informed of what happened.

When they turned up at the Christianburg Cemetery, the newly constructed tomb was broken open, while Hind’s body remained in the casket. The fake gold chain and ring that he was buried in were gone.

Mother of the deceased, Vanessa Bess, told Guyana Chronicle that her son was buried with the jewellery but it was not real. The family just wanted to send him off the way he used to dress. The thieves, however, forgot the proverb, “All the glitters is not gold” and will soon find that out upon trying to sell the jewellery.

Bess said what is more heart-breaking is the Linden Mayor and Town Council (LMTC) requested $40, 000 from her to have the tomb redone.

“Sweet heart, I don’t have a cent, I don’t know where I will get $40, 000 from. I am a poor woman, I just bury my son,” the frustrated Bess explained.

Fortunately, however, upon visiting the LMTC after such a request was made, to make her plight known, a decision was made by the Council to drop the monetary request.

In addition, Bess is refuting claims made in some sections of the media that she received compensation from the Guyana Prison Authority after the death of her son.

She said that no compensation was given to her but she did receive assistance with the burial of her son. Bess is also calling for a thorough investigation to be done into the death of her son, claiming that the post-mortem findings contrtadict the explanation given by the prison authorities.

The grieving mother said she witnessed the post-mortem of her son and the findings show that he was shot to the abdomen, while the prison authorities are saying that he was shot while trying to escape.

Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels had noted that the murder accused had repeatedly ignored all warnings issued by prison officers. Samuels said several prisoners, who were armed with improvised weapons, were involved in ‘a serious physical altercation.

Hinds was remanded to prison on January 2016, for the February 2015 killing of Richard Remington at Cholmondeley Hill, Wismar. Remington’s decomposing remains were found in a clump of bushes along a track in the vicinity of Matthew’s Lane at Christianburg, February 12 last year.

Bess, however, is professing her son’s innocence in the matter, since she claims he was not even in Linden at the time.