Within the last two years there have been four cases of civilians being shot dead by police under questionable circumstances but so far only two have been taken before the courts while the others are still awaiting an outcome.
Of the cases that ended up before the court, one was thrown out after ballistics tests found that the fatal bullet came from a gun belonging to a rank who had not been charged, while in the second case two of the three ranks charged are still on the run.
In all of the cases, relatives of the deceased have expressed concern that they will not get justice.
On September 11, 2012, Shaquille Grant, 17, was fatally shot by police ranks at Agricola, East Bank Demerara,
where enraged residents later confronted lawmen over their actions.
Grant, of Lot 72 ‘BB’ Eccles, East Bank Demerara, was shot three times in the head, chest and buttocks.
According to reports, at Third Street, Agricola, at about 12.10 pm, Constable Terrence Wallace, Lance Corporal Warren Blue and Special Constable Jamal Lewis were on an operation in the community when they observed that there were some young men under a shed in a yard and proceeded towards them. Grant was shot sometime later.
The killing was met with outrage in Agricola, where eyewitnesses said one officer was seen standing over the teen as he fired bullets into his body.
In a brief statement after the shooting, the police had said that ranks on a mobile police patrol came under fire from a group of men at Caesar Street, Agricola and they returned fire, fatally wounding Grant and injuring Romel Bollers. A .38 Smith and Wesson revolver was recovered from the scene, according to the police.
The three ranks were subsequently charged with murder. However when the matter was called in court for the first time on October 1, 2012, only Wallace appeared. The court issued arrest warrants for the other two and to date they have not been sighted. There are reports that at least one might have fled the country. The police had also issued wanted bulletins for the men and subsequently sought the assistance of Interpol in locating them.
Despite their absence, the preliminary inquiry commenced and on December 31, 2012, Wallace was committed to stand trial in the High Court.
Wrong ranks charged
On October 6, 2012, Dameon Belgrave was fatally shot by police. Belgrave, 21, of Middle Street, Pouderoyen, West Bank Demerara, had been at the White Castle Fish Shop having a pre-birthday drink with his friends when a police patrol passed in pursuit of a car. Shots were then fired by the police pursuing the fleeing vehicle and Belgrave was hit. The police then took the injured man to the Georgetown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Belgrave sustained one gunshot wound under his left arm in the region of his heart. The bullet damaged his heart, spleen and rib cage.
Following a prolonged police investigation, during which the file went back and forth between the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), two of the three ranks who fired were charged with manslaughter. The charge came two months after Belgrave had been killed.
However, police ranks Sheldon Williams and Errol Williams were unexpectedly freed of a manslaughter charge after Magistrate Ann McLennan upheld no case submissions made by their attorney. It was later revealed that the men secured their freedom after ballistics evidence given by Police Ballistic Expert Detective Sergeant Eon Jackson disclosed that a warhead discovered at the scene next to Belgrave’s body revealed that it did not come from either of their guns, but from a third officer who was not charged. Stabroek News was told that the third officer, who was identified as “Constable Fraser,” was also one of the witnesses during the preliminary inquiry into the charge.
Belgrave’s mother, Donna Sulker, has called for the matter to be reopened.
This newspaper has since learnt that after the duo was freed on May 8, the DPP instructed the police to charge the third policeman who was implicated as a result of the testimony given to the court. Based on what this newspaper was told, this has not been done and that policeman is still attached to a police station in ‘C’ Division (East Coast).
Inquest
Though an inquest has been ordered into the gunning down of three Albouystown youths on South Road, relatives are yet to be told when it will start and whether they would be called to testify.
Cousins Jermaine Canterbury, 21, and Mark Anthony Joseph, called ‘Two Grand,’ 19, and Romario Gouveia, 19, died over a two-day period after they were shot multiple times by police after being told to lie down on South Road on October 12, 2013. Police later said that the youths were shot while ranks were staking out the K&VC hotel after receiving information that an occupant was a robbery target.
Speaking to Stabroek News recently, Gouveia’s father Donald Gouveia said that he has heard nothing more about the inquest. The man said that the last word he got was that the relatives of the other two young men were told by acting police commissioner Seelall Persaud that an inquest was to be held. An inquest had been recommended by the police force’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) following an investigation into the conduct of ranks.
The elder Gouveia said that since then he had heard nothing so he is unsure if it had indeed started. He said that if it hasn’t started already he would be happy if it could in the near future as the one year anniversary of the killings is fast approaching.
Police had said in a press release that moments before they were shot the three young men had exited a car near the K&VC hotel, where they were allegedly going to commit an armed robbery. Police said ranks had received information that an occupant of the hotel was the target, and they had been staking out the building. They said they challenged the three men as they were making their way to the hotel and the men opened fire, forcing them to return fire.
Two guns and a wig were recovered following the shooting, according to police, who said they were unable to locate the vehicle the men used to travel to the location because it used fake licence plates.
Witnesses had however told this newspaper that the men were put to lie on the roadway in front of the hotel and then shot. Persons close to the Georgetown Hospital had also recalled hearing at least two gunshots moments before the police arrived at the hospital gate with the wounded men. Gouveia had told reporters shortly after arriving at the hospital that he was the last to be shot. He said that he was farther up the road when the police approached him and ordered him back to the vicinity of the hotel. When he arrived near the hotel, Gouveia said, Canterbury and Joseph were lying face down on the road bleeding. He assumed that they were dead. It was at this point, he said, that he was told to lie down, and then was shot as well.
Gouveia, who sustained a bullet behind his right ear which exited through the right cheek, died suddenly in hospital two days later, leaving shocked relatives alleging that he had been killed because he was the lone survivor and main eyewitness to what had taken place. The other two men died within minutes of each other on the night of the shooting.
Adrian Bishop
Meanwhile, Adrian Bishop, 25, was shot once in the head on September 20 by the police, shortly after he was involved in a scuffle with his girlfriend, who is a policewoman. As is the case with controversial shootings, the police version of the circumstances of the shooting differed from that of eyewitnesses.
One woman recounted that they were on Hill Street, Albouystown when Bishop and the policewoman started to fight. The policewoman then left and shortly afterwards a bus with about three policemen came and found Bishop leaning against a wall. The policemen then gun-butted him and according to the eyewitness, the policewoman pleaded with her colleagues to desist from hitting him and instead take him to court. Bishop, according to the eyewitness, was then forced into the bus where the assault continued. One rank then cranked his gun and shot Bishop in the neck.
The woman, like other persons, was adamant that Bishop, who had been released from jail weeks earlier on an armed robbery charge, was never armed or put up resistance prior to being shot.
A few hours after the shooting, the police said that ranks of a mobile police patrol responded to a report received from a policewoman that a suspect who was wanted for robbery under arms had assaulted her. The policeman was then accompanied to Hill Street where Bishop was pointed out. He was informed of the allegation against him and was arrested and placed into the police vehicle.
The police said that while being transported to the police station Bishop attempted to relieve an armed policeman of his shotgun and during a struggle a round which was discharged struck him. He was later pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
Bishop’s mother Adene has since said that her son was intentionally killed and that she is certain that no justice would come her way. The last word from the police was that the OPR was conducting an investigation. It is unclear what became of the rank who fired the fatal bullet.
