As the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the fire tragedy last Thursday at the Georgetown Prison begins today, one inmate who managed to survive yesterday revealed the names of two prisoners who he said started the blaze that killed 17.
Stabroek News understands that the prisoner told police investigators in the presences of prison officials that it was murder accused Jermaine Otto and Shaka McKenzie who lit a mattress on fire resulting in the deadly inferno.
The inmate is claiming that after the fire was lit, bottle corks were placed behind the locks of the cell to prevent prison wardens from successfully opening the door. This was as a result of the prisoners being scared to go into prison yard after they heard some inmates were being isolated there and assaulted.
The fire was started by inmates housed in the Capital Offences section of the prison during renewed unrest which occurred just before 11 am. At the time, members of the Joint Services were trying to move the prisoners in the wake of the protest the night before when several fires had been lit. Several others were also injured.
One Monday, eight autopsies were conducted, five of which were performed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Mortuary. These included those of Jermaine Otto, Randolph Marques, Rayon Paddy, Sherwin Trotman and Shaka McKenzie. Autopsies on the other three inmates, Anthony Primo, Andrew Philander and Aaron Eastman were reportedly conducted at the Le Repentir Mortuary. Their cause of death was given as burns sustained throughout the incident.
However, yesterday, the remaining nine post-mortem examinations were performed and the cause of death in the main was smoke inhalation. The nine were Kirk Clarke, Latchman Partap, Rohan Teekaram, Hillary Amos, Clifton Joseph, Chetram Dwarandat, Mohamed Asraf Ally, Richard Hubbard and Delroy Williams.
The commencement of the CoI today will see five inmates testifying.
