Lieutenant Colonel Tony Ross, who was court-martialled and found guilty for lapses following the disappearance of the 30 AK-47 rifles and five pistols in February 2006, died early yesterday morning after he collapsed at his Camp Ayanganna residence.
A release from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) yesterday said that the man fell ill and was pronounced dead at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Earlier this year Ross lost one year’s seniority for failing to ensure that keys to the keys cabinet were booked in at Defence Headquarters’ Operations Room and to manage an effective booking in/out system for the keys ledger.
This decision was handed down at the court-martial of Ross who was in charge of the army’s arms store at the time of the theft of the 30 AK-47 rifles and five pistols in February 2006.
The army release said that the 49-year-old officer served the GDF with “distinction” and that he had enlisted as a cadet officer on September 01, 1982 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on February 15, 1984. He was elevated to his current rank in February of this year. The release said that the officer completed several courses locally and overseas and held several appointments with the force during his career. He was married to Ruth Ross with whom he had four children.
Stabroek News understands that Ross was expected to take up a new position at a government ministry come January and it would have most likely been the Ministry of Public Works because he is a civil engineer by profession.
At the time he was found guilty the man’s lawyer, Leslie Sobers had told Stabroek News that his client’s court-martial had nothing to do with the disappearance of the 30 AK-47 rifles and five pistols from the army’s storage bond, but did acknowledge that it was the theft of the weapons which triggered it.
He was found guilty by a military court on two of four charges relating to conduct and negligence of duty.
The first charge against Ross alleged that on or about February 13, 2006, without proper authority, he instructed Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Gordon to establish an arms store for personnel of the Ordnance Corps, an instruction, which he knew, or was reasonably expected to know, he had no authority to issue. He was found not guilty on this charge. The second charge alleged that he gave instructions to have weapon numbers assigned to soldiers of the Ordnance Corps for the purpose of issuing the weapons to the soldiers, and Ross was also found not guilty on this charge.
However he was found guilty on the charges of failure to ensure that the keys to the keys cabinet were booked in at Defence Headquarters’ Operations Room, a duty that he knew or was reasonably expected to know, and during the period March 2005 to February 2006, failure to manage an effective booking in/out system for the keys ledger.
The GDF had terminated an earlier court-martial of Ross following President Bharrat Jagdeo’s appointment of several officers to top posts of the military last year. Ross was in charge of the army’s arms store when the 30 AK-47 rifles and five pistols were smuggled out some time in February 2006. Ross was the commander of the Ordnance Corps, a unit responsible for the storage and distribution of weapons in the army. He was the first senior officer to be court-martialled following the disappearance of the weapons, which had sparked widespread public concern.
