Police ranks probing the alleged “break in” to the Office of the Town Clerk were allegedly instructed to abort their investigation, according to Mayor Hamilton Green.
Green said that he and Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green on Tuesday reported the break in after the Town Clerk’s office was boarded up and locked to prevent Carol Sooba from re-entering the premises, consequent to a motion to place her on administrative leave along with City Treasurer Ron McCalmon for alleged financial irregularities on Monday.
Green, in a statement issued to the press, said that on Tuesday, Sooba’s bodyguard, Sean Hinds, a non-employee of the council along with Sooba, broke into an outer-section of Town Clerk’s office and that a female reporter was assaulted in the process.
“Mr. Hinds, an intruder, destroyed council property,” the statement added.
The Mayor and some councillors personally made a report to the Brickdam Police Station, after which a police photographer and another rank proceeded to City Hall in order to conduct further investigations.
Green claims that Sooba locked the door to the Town Clerk’s outer office, after the police officer showed their identification.
He added that after some time, Sooba along with Hinds emerged and informed the male senior police rank that his “superior” wished to speak with him on Sooba’s mobile phone. After that conversation, Green said that the officer, informed him and the councillors present, that he was ordered to abort his investigation and return to Brickdam Police Station.
This is so sad because I have come in contact with a number of senior police officers and other ranks who are highly professional, courteous and efficient and can make us proud to be Guyanese,” the mayor said. “However, some recent experiences suggest we may be drifting towards a classic police state where elements in the force are used to pervert justice.”
