Pain, rage and raw emotion boiled over yesterday during the funeral service for 17-year-old Shaquille Grant, who was shot and killed by members of the Guyana Police Force on September 11, 2012.
Scores of persons, including family members, friends, political activists, members of parliament and other mourners, gathered at the Agricola Ball Field to pay their final respects to the slain teen, remembered as a sportsman, disciplined student and obedient son.
Many children dressed in their school clothes sobbed quietly, comforted by their peers as the service went on, but the service grew intense when Grant’s mother, Shonett Adams, became extremely emotional, pounding passionately at the closed casket. This episode began when two mourners were called upon to sing their rendition of “If Tomorrow Never Comes”. Not only was the grieving mother overwhelmed with the touching lyrics but other relatives who desperately dashed to the casket and had to be pulled away.
“Watch how they murder my nephew. He never live to see 18,” an aunt of the dead boy pleaded as she was being carried back to her seat.
Later on, Adams, who wore a red turban and had her face painted, collapsed on the ground weeping as young villagers performed a dance to “How Many More”.
A day ahead of his 18th birthday, Grant of Lot 72 ‘BB’ Eccles, East Bank Demerara, was fatally shot at Third Street, Agricola, where Romel Bollers, 19, was also shot. The police force said that ranks opened fire after they were first fired upon and that a gun was later recovered.
The incident had left the community quite shaken up and has grasped the attention of the public and the opposition parties who have been showing a keen interest in the case and have been playing an integral role in investigations.
Chairman of the PNCR, Basil Williams, during a brief speech at the funeral, pronounced that Grant could not be considered a criminal since he was a product of Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee’s citizen security training programme. “He went to the GDF three times before he died. He would have definitely been a progressive young man,” he added.
“We are the party that protects the fundamental rights of people in this country and we have to confront black clothes squad, we got to confront minister squad, phantom squad and you call the squad, we have had to roll these squads back to protect our people,” Williams declared.
He stated that under the ruling government, there has been a policy of stereotyping certain villages.
‘No security’
“They say that because certain people are here they must be criminals and so they run into these villages and arrest our young men and terrorize them. Areas like Buxton, Bagotstown. We want to show you we will always be here to protect you. This is a matter where every person has to stand up. We are unsafe under the PPP/C government. There is no security. We will continue to offer protection, guidance and assistance… Shaquille was murdered. No one is safe in this country once we have a government like this in place. Until and unless all of us recognize the value of togetherness, we will continue to have them running in and killing our young people for narrow political motives,” he said.
According to Williams, the blame for the death of Shaquille Grant lies solely with the government.
Also addressing the gathering was Deputy Chairman of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, who extended condolences to those close to the dead teen.
“I’m here first a foremost as a parent,” he said. “I watched that young boy lying there bullet riddled. I first react as a parent. There is nothing harder than a parent having to bury their child.”
Roopnaraine noted that in “The National Assembly, we actually moved a motion of no confidence in Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Clement Rohee. This is a minister who has presided over the complete degradation of the Guyana Police Force.”
He urged that the culprit be brought to justice. “It needs to be addressed and it won’t be addressed by us simply saying that we have one and two rogue police who are carrying out certain unlawful actions. That is not good enough. I don’t believe that rooting out one or two so-called rogue police will solve the problem. The problem we have is deeply rooted. There is a culture of depravity that has overtaken the Guyana Police Force and it has to be rooted out and personally I believe the place to begin is at the top. You don’t fight corruption and depravity by starting at the bottom, you fight it be starting at the top,” he added.
He advised those in attendance to join in the struggle for their rights and children and support will be garnered from the political parties.
Whips have become guns
Political and social activist, Mark Benschop, also made an appearance and in his tribute, compared the old days with the present. “When I was a little boy, we were never afraid of police but only older persons walking a whip and beating us. Now the whips have transformed into guns and the government of the day condones this,” he said.
A member of the Mark Benschop Foundation, he said, Shaquille Grant was an achiever. “Every single thing in the village he was a part of: cricket, football, dancing, you name it. Shaquille was a young man who wanted to make his country proud of who he would have become. The police snatched the dreams of Shaquille by pumping bullets into his body; ending that young man’s dreams by ending his life,” he said.
Benschop said he was not surprised that a government representative did not take the opportunity to extend condolences to the family.
“It is high time that we become cognizant of the sort of heartless, uncaring and vicious government we have and we have to find a way to… wake up the government of the day and tell them enough is enough,” Benschop said.
As the service at the ball field wrapped up, the police maintained a heavy presence and out on the Agricola Public Road, had a brief confrontation with mourners. Lawmen who had been directing the flow of traffic signalled to have the line of vehicles from the funeral stop so as to allow the East Bank traffic to continue a smooth flow. However, relatives and friends of Shaquille Grant blocked the road, allowing the vehicles associated with the funeral to pass through as officers stood by. The East Bank traffic, as a result, was backed up to Houston.
Following a short church service, Grant interred at Le Repentir Cemetery.
