A convicted prisoner who along with other inmates were playing steel pan at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri on Saturday managed to escape and was only discovered missing when prison officers were preparing to take the group back to the Camp Street prison that night.
Shaw Yhap, a 32-year-old resident of Middle Road, La Penitence, was serving a 12-month sentence for larceny of a motor cycle and was scheduled for release in November. It is unclear at what point the convict escaped. A search has been launched for the prisoner but up to press time last evening he had not been found.
In an invited comment yesterday prison director Dale Erskine told Stabroek News that Yhap was a member of the Prison Services Steel Pan group and on the day of his escape, he along with six others were taken to the airport to play.
According to Erskine, the group would usually be taken from the prison to play at various venues and this was the situation on Saturday.
The prison director said that Yhap was discovered missing sometime between 8:15 and 8:30 pm.
He added that the prisoners were supervised during their appearance at the airport but when asked by how many officers, Erskine just responded that there was an adequate number.
According to Erskine, Yhap who has been convicted more than three times never attempted to escape before and at the time of his escape he was a “trustee”. When “trustees” are in the public domain they are supervised but are not handcuffed.
Yhap’s escape is the third in the last month and though investigations and manhunts have been launched into all three incidents, none of the prisoners has been found.
This latest escape is the most brazen especially since it happened when he and several other prisoners were being closely supervised by prison officers.
It is unclear when Yhap escaped or how he managed to get away undetected. The airport is surrounded in some parts by dense bush and by the time he would have been discovered missing, surrounding areas would have already been in darkness.
Up to press time last evening, no bulletin for Yhap’s recapture or any advisory had been sent out to media houses. Asked if any release would be forthcoming from the Guyana Police Force on this latest escape, Public Relations Officer Ivelaw Whittaker replied “I don’t think so.”
Last Wednesday, murder accused Trevor Major managed to free himself of the handcuffs and jump out of a moving prison van which the police said they had locked.
Though several searches have been conducted at the homes of relatives and friends, the 20-year-old accused who hails from Mc Kenzie, Linden and Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara, has not been apprehended.
The two policemen who were in the van that was transporting him have since been placed under close arrest as investigations continue. Police had said in a press release that the escapee was among five other remand prisoners who were being transported by police in a van from the Providence Police Station back to the Georgetown prison “when it is alleged that he managed to pick the handcuffs and open the prison van door and escape in the vicinity of Croal Street.”
These two escapes come on the heels of another which occurred a month ago when multiple murder accused Jermaine `Skinny’ Charles escaped unnoticed from the Sparendaam Police Station lock-ups.
According to reports he squeezed under loose floor boards in his cell shortly after a court appearance and ranks only realized that he was missing several hours later when they were preparing to take the prisoners back to the Camp Street prison.
Several ranks have since been transferred from that station and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) now has to decide if charges will be laid against any of the officers.
The prisons have also had other serious problems to address. Two prisoners are suspected to have suffered fatal wounds within the prison complex. One, Edwin Niles, was said to have been burnt and badly tortured.
He was taken to the hospital for treatment where he succumbed several days. Another prisoner, Nolan Noble was taken from Camp Street to the Georgetown Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. There were marks of violence on his body.
And yesterday an inmate at the Sibley Hall Prison died by drowning. (See other story on page 3.)
