“Full of life” and a “stickler to protocol” is how Commodore Gary Best, Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), remembers former commissioner of police Henry Greene, whose sudden death yesterday morning he described as “shocking and tragic”.
Best was one of the several individuals who paid tribute to Greene, who spent all of his professional life as a member of the Guyana Police Force before his retirement under the cloud of a rape allegation. He was never charged but he had admitted having “consensual” sex with his accuser.
Greene, who was also a lawyer and had served in many capacities in the police force starting out as a Cadet Officer, died yesterday morning after the vehicle he was driving was involved in a three-way smash-up at Harlem, West Coast Demerara. A 10-year-old girl also died in the accident.
“His death is a shock to me and I am deeply saddened by his passing…,” Best told this newspaper when contacted.
He said he had known Greene to be a man full of life and he extended condolences on his passing on behalf of the GDF to his family.
According to Best, he had known Greene for in excess of 20 years and they worked closely during the last four years since he (Best) was Chairman of the Joint Services Committee and Greene as commissioner would have worked with him in coordinating joint operations.
“We had a very good relationship,” Best said, adding that they would still communicate after Greene left the force, since they attended the same church and would see each other every Sunday.
“His death has left me really stunned… I never expected it,” Best lamented.
“He was full of life and a stickler for protocol. His standards were very high and protocol had to be right, you had to know your place,” Best said of Greene.
Acting Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell described Greene’s death as shocking. Brumell, who took over the reins of the force following Greene’s retirement, said his sudden death was especially shocking coming so soon after the death of another former commissioner, Laurie Lewis, who succumbed recently following years of ailment.
“I found him to be a good fella,” Brumell said of his former boss, adding that there were “ups and downs but I have learnt a lot from him.” The acting commissioner described Greene as someone who was always willing to give advice and assistance and revealed that they would still communicate from to time as “when necessary we would talk.”
Greene’s predecessor as commissioner and now APNU Parliamentarian Winston Felix described Greene’s death as an “unfortunate end to a brilliant man,” while adding, “may his soul rest in peace.” In recent times, Greene and Felix had publicly traded verbal barbs. Felix was the first to call for Greene to resign after a rape allegation was made against him.
In response, Greene had stated that Felix had an “axe to grind” and that he did not “think he [Felix] has the credibility to call on me to resign”.
When Stabroek News visited Greene’s Lamaha Springs’ home it was shut tight. It was later revealed that he was alone at the time of his death since his wife is overseas and was expected in the country last evening. Reports are that Greene fathered three children–one of whom is a member of the Guyana Police Force–but this newspaper was unable to contact any of his relatives.
‘A friend’
Director of Prisons Dale Erskine, who has served all of his professional life in the prison service, recalled that he knew Greene since 1979, when he was a Cadet Officer in New Amster-dam and as young officers they interacted. They came through the ranks together and when Greene worked as Commander of ‘A’ Division, Erskine was at the Georgetown Prisons. He later became Director of Prisons and some years, later Greene rose to head the force. The two worked more closely together as head of joint service organisations.
“I am deeply shocked and saddened by his death, he worked hard throughout his career and when it was time for him to enjoy another part of his life he died tragically,” Erskine said.
He said that the prison fraternity is hurt by Greene’s passing and he expressed the hope that his family would find the strength to cope with the loss.
The Director of Prisons said Greene had tremendous strength, was very knowledgeable and was someone he would call for advice; Greene would always be quick to give this.
“He was not just a colleague, he was a friend,” Erskine said.
Head of the Guyana Fire Service Marlon Gentle expressed similar sentiments, adding that nobody expects someone to die so tragically.
“We had a good working relationship, he was very professional and we worked closely and interacted a lot in recent years on many joint services operations,” Gentle said.
He was shocked when he got a text from a colleague informing him that Greene had been involved in an accident and that he later died.
He remembered Greene for his “steadfastness and his approach to his job.”
In a release issued through GINA yesterday, the Office of the President expressed condolences to the family, relatives and friends of Greene.
Greene’s service to the nation beyond his retirement was “testimony to his selflessness and unwavering commitment and dedication to policing,” the release said.
It recalled that as commissioner he was responsible for the leadership and development of the force. “…Security of the people of Guyana was a primary preoccupation of his, as demonstrated in his tireless efforts to introduce and promote new and innovative ways of crime fighting,” it added.
Scandal
Greene’s retirement from the force in April came after the scandal over allegations that he had committed rape.
Months of pressure had been piled on both Greene and the government to act following his admission that he had had sexual relations with the woman, who had gone to him for assistance with a criminal matter. Greene made the revelation in a court affidavit only after he had been accused by the woman of rape. The affidavit was drawn up in support of a motion brought by lawyers for Greene to thwart advice by Director of Public Prosecutions Shalimar Ali-Hack, for a charge of rape to be brought against him. In the end acting Chief Justice Ian Chang had dismissed Ali-Hack’s decision to direct the police to charge Greene with rape.
The former commissioner’s recent years in the force were filled with controversy, though he presided over some of its major successes.
It was during his tenure that the infamous Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins gang was taken out. But it was also during his years that Guyana saw three massacres –at Lusignan, Bartica and Lindo Creek.
Greene had his US visa being revoked over allegations that he had benefited from the drug trade, something Greene had strenuously denied. Last year, he was fingered in the WikiLeaks cables that emanated from the US Embassy in Georgetown, with one cable saying that he had “burst into tears” when he was informed that his visa was revoked.
One of the cables released and authored by then Charge d’Affaires Michael Thomas had stated that former President Bharrat Jagdeo had told him at the July 18, 2006 meeting that if the US revoked Greene’s visa, it would give the government a basis for reviewing the decision to appoint Greene. The visa was revoked two days later but the government did not budge from its position.
When he was sworn in as commissioner in January 2009 after acting for two years, Greene had said that he stood by the statement he had issued in the wake of the revocation, in which he denied allegations of any wrongdoing. The US had revoked Greene’s diplomatic visa in April 2006 before taking back his visitor’s visa in June of the same year after Washington alleged that the then acting police commissioner had benefited materially from the drugs trade. Back in 2006, Greene said that the revocation was a painful event for him, but he noted that it was the prerogative of states to grant visas and to also revoke such visas in their own deliberate judgment, subject to the application of their laws.
“I want categorically to state that I have never been involved in any way with illegal drug operations either locally or abroad, and I have never associated with any drug dealer,” Greene had stressed in his statement at the time.
And last year following the publications of WikiLeaks cables implicating him the then commissioner threatened to take legal action over what he dubbed “character assassination” based on the allegations made in US diplomatic cables.
“We, as a police force, have work to do and we cannot afford to demoralise the force particularly at this time… I challenge anyone, any drug dealer to come forward and say they have any involvement with me and that includes Roger Khan who is in the states… and if the character assassination continues, I will have to move to legal action,” Greene warned, in a statement to the Government Information Agency (GINA) directed at opposition groups AFC and APNU.
He added: “I have a police force to run, I have ranks who are my subordinates, and it is important that I make sure that they understand what is happening because at this point in time, I feel that there is some level of character assassination. A lot of things are happening and strange enough people seem to be pointing in my direction.”
