… source says
The six prisoners who attempted to escape from the Camp Street prison early Sunday morning had cut their clothing and made a long rope which they had planned to use to get over the high prison fence with its razor wire top, according to sources.
Stabroek News was told that the men had made a long rope which they threw over the fence after tying the other end to the inside of the fence. Sherwin Moses was the only prisoner who had actually used the rope, but he was recaptured two hours later at Rasville. He sustained extensive cuts to his body from the razor wire.
Sources told this newspaper that when prison guards discovered the men in the yard, they did not immediately surrender; they fought with the three officers who first discovered them. It was only after warning shots were fired and the floodlights were switched on that the men surrendered. By this time, Moses had already scaled the fence and was on his way. It is not clear why prison officers did not pursue him immediately, but this newspaper was told that the officers were focused on preventing the other five from leaving the compound.
The police had said that the incident occurred at 3.45 am on Sunday when the six murder and narcotics accused managed to cut through a metal grill in the supposedly secure capital section and got into the compound.
Police had identified the six inmates as Paul Bagot, Dennis Williams called `Anaconda’, Royden Williams known as Royden Durant, Jermaine Savory, Wayne Archibald and Sherwin Moses also known as Sherwin Nero.
The police had said that an alert prison officer observed the six making efforts to scale the outer wall of the prison and sounded an alarm. Five of the escapees were recaptured in the compound while Moses successfully got over the wall and was held in Rasville around two hours later. Sources had said that it appeared that he caught transportation to the area.
Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee said on Monday that the men had used a hacksaw to saw through the prison bars and this would have been done over a period.
Stabroek News understands that the men are housed in a dormitory-style facility in the capital division of the prison with some 135 other prisoners. This means that more than six inmates could have left the facility through the sawn out bars and gotten into the yard had they opted to do so, as they were not in individual cells.
Moses is a high-profile prisoner charged with the murder of Guyana Defence Force soldier Ivor Williams and Cove and John resident Kumar Singh. He also reportedly had links to the now dead Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins. He scaled the north-eastern fence of the facility around 4 am on Sunday and was recaptured at 6 am.
When he had appeared in court, Moses, also known as Sherwin Nero of Dennis Street, Sophia and Buxton/ Friendship was charged together with the now dead Rawlins, Cecil Simeon Rambarran called ‘Uncle Magic’ and ‘Limpy’ and Royden Durant called ‘Smally’ with Williams’s murder.
He had appeared alone as arrest warrants were issued for the other three.
Williams, known as Anaconda, was charged in November this year with 12 counts of murder stemming from the February 17, 2008 Bartica massacre.
Royden Williams had been charged with the murders of 11 persons during the January 26, 2008 slaughter at Lusignan.
Twenty-one-year-old Jermaine Savory was charged with the Agricola murder of Melissa Payne.