Two men accused of attacking two nurses at the Wismar Hospital during which one was raped appeared in court yesterday and one was sentenced to a total of nine years in prison after pleading guilty to charges stemming from that incident and another on the following day.
The other accused was remanded to prison after pleading not guilty.
Carlos Payne, 36 years, of Section ‘C’ Christianburg, Wismar and George Yearwood, 56 years, of One Mile, Wismar made their appearance at the Christianburg Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Ann Mc Lennan, six days after this incident, which sparked a shutdown of the mining town’s public health care system with the nurses refusing to work until their demands for security and other issues were met.
In addition to the hospital attack, Payne was slapped with charges stemming from another armed robbery committed on two persons, a rape and a wounding.
Police in a press release last evening said that the two men were jointly charged with two counts of robbery under arms.
Payne pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced to three years imprisonment on each charge, which will run concurrently. However Yearwood denied the allegation and was remanded to prison.
In addition to the armed robbery allegations, the release said that Payne was also charged with the rape of one of the nurses.
Payne was further charged with two counts of robbery under arms committed on Indra Ruffell and Keno Baird on September 12. He pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment on each charge, to run consecutively (this means he will serve six years for the two robberies).
The release added that Payne was also charged with the August 21 rape of a woman at Christianburg and was also denied his pre trial liberty in this matter.
He was further charged with wounding Morris Alphonso but pleaded not guilty. Both men will return to court on October 22.
Industrial action at the Upper Demerara (Mc Kenzie) and Wismar Hospitals began the morning after the attack. A registered nurse was raped after being robbed of her belongings while on the night shift at the Upper Demerara Hospital and her colleague made to look on.
There were immediate calls for an armed guard at both hospitals at night and for nursing staff to be dropped to their doors, while some patients from the main hospital were sent home. A skeleton staff was set up to look at the more serious patients and those seeking medical attention were forced in light of this situation to travel to the city.
Negotiations between the Linden Hospital Complex and the Guyana Public Service Union were at a deadlock despite interventions by several officials
Minister within the Ministry of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran also made a visit to the region and promised to put systems in place to resolve the nurses concerns. An agreement was subsequently reached.
One of the defendants was arrested and told the police that he had sold some of the stolen jewellery taken from the nurses to a popular jeweller at Linden.
He was escorted to the business place where the jewellery was recovered. One of the nurses later identified her belongings at the Mc Kenzie Police Station.The strike ended yesterday after a peaceful demonstration from the nurses of both hospitals, condemning the attack.
It has been agreed that transportation will be provided to workers on the night shift to take them to their homes and drivers will not have the option of deciding where to drop them off. An armed guard will be stationed during the 10 pm – 6 am shift with immediate effect and a three-day shift system will be put in place.
Other security concerns such as grilles and an imprest to facilitate travelling to Georgetown, subsistence allowance while on escort duty, current bus pick-up points for staff and a shift system, will be discussed shortly.
