A man is currently being grilled as the police intensify their investigations into Thursday’s attempt on the life of Maria van Beek, while the government has beefed up security for the injured woman, her relatives and the employees of CLICO (Guyana).
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud informed Stabroek News yesterday that a man was picked up at a Georgetown location on Thursday based on information.
He was quick to point out though that the man has not been identified as one of the perpetrators in the brazen crime, but rather he was picked up for questioning.
Van Beek, who is the judicial manager of the ailing insurance company, was on her way to work when the incident occurred. According to reports, she was stuck in a long line of traffic at the corner of Lombard and Leopold streets during a heavy downpour around 8:15 am when a gunman walked up to her vehicle and fired a single shot through the driver’s side window before running off along the flooded street. He jumped on a waiting motor cycle parked a short distance away and fled the area.
Police had said in a statement that following the shooting patrols were dispatched to the scene, roadblocks were laid out and several searches were conducted.
Persaud told this newspaper during the telephone interview yesterday that ranks from `A’ (Georgetown), `C’ (East Coast) and `D’ (West Coast Demerara) Divisions were involved in the immediate attempts to apprehend the perpetrators. The crime chief did not have the information at hand as to where the roadblocks were set up.
Police sources subsequently said that it was the standard operational procedure whenever a major crime occurs for all divisions to be informed and roadblocks set up; the divisions would lend whatever other form of assistance they can.
This newspaper was told that roadblocks were set up at the Demerara Harbour Bridge and along the lower East Coast and river patrols were conducted.
In the city, a number of vehicular patrols were dispatched.
One police source said that the police were informed of the shooting at least 15 minutes after it occurred and the response was immediate.
Up to press time last evening there was no information available from the police on the location of the CG motorcycle that the shooter and his accomplice fled on.
Stable condition
In the meantime, van Beek is said to be in a stable condition at a city hospital having had successful surgery to remove the bullet that was lodged in her chest.
Her husband, Patrick van Beek told Stabroek News that he could not make a statement on the shooting as he is “still in a state of shock”.
Asked about his wife’s condition, he said that the operation to remove the bullet “went well” and that she is in a stable condition.
The shooting came two days after van Beek handed over her findings on the company’s financial standings to the High Court.
Security
Responding to questions yesterday at his post-cabinet briefing,
Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon said that there had been increased and additional security at the hospital, van Beek’s home and at the CLICO office in the light of the incident which was “totally unexpected”.
Asked about the government’s stance on the police progress so far he said, “It is difficult to pronounce on our satisfaction or even to make a comment on what the police investigations have led to because these are operational issues and we are probably as much in the dark as the average Guyanese”.
He stressed that there is need for patience so as to allow the investigators to do their work.
“Be patient and allow the police… give them the space and give them the time to pursue the leads they have gotten and to come forward with some news or make some declarations about progress in the investigation of this matter,” Luncheon told reporters.
He said that when police provide the government with an update, it is expected that the criminal would have been identified, might have been arrested and even charged. Luncheon said he believes this would be accomplished within a reasonable period of time.
He said one would recognise that the police “are most disinclined to give a day-by-day, minute-to-minute account of what is going on.”
He pointed out that while the public is looking for progress he doubted the police “will come and tell you that we [the police] are in this street and we (the police) have so many people investigating. So I would want to urge the media to be aware, to be conversant with these realities.”
He said the attack on the judicial manager had traumatized the nation and he used yesterday’s press briefing as an opportunity to again convey Cabinet’s outrage at the incident and to wish van Beek a speedy recovery.
