Despite evidence given to the contrary at the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the March 3 fatal prison fire, the police are convinced that all 17 deaths were as a result of the conflagration.
Fire Chief Marlon Gentle, who has 15 years’ experience as an investigator in the Guyana Fire Service, had testified last week that one of bodies was decapitated with the head located a fairly good distance away and another was in a slouching position, with intestines protruding.
However, a police source, when contacted yesterday by Stabroek News, said the force was in possession of photographic evidence which showed the inmate’s head intact even after the incident.
According to the source, post-mortem examinations were conducted on the remains of all 17 inmates after they were positively identified by their relatives and it was revealed that they all died from smoke inhalation. Asked if there was a possibly that the two prisoners referred to in Gentle’s testimony could have been murdered during the fire, the source said, “The possibility exists that the head could have fallen off when the body was being handled.”
Gentle had told the CoI, “Me, in my honest opinion and my experience, both of the bodies suffered other type of trauma other than the fire, meaning they were subjected to some level of force being applied to them, either by striking or stabbing or something.”
Following his testimony, Fire Service Investigator Andrew Holder said he was tasked with interviewing six inmates, one of whom when asked whether there had been any feuds among the prisoners before the fire, said that everything was normal.
That prisoner, however, later admitted that an inmate, also known but not named, was overheard relating to other inmates that he, along with his cousin, “juk up somebody” in the Capital ‘A’ Division. That prisoner stated, however, that he had been there the entire time and did not see anything of the sort occur.
On March 3 just before 11 am the fire was started by inmates housed in the Capital Offences section of the prison. At the time, members of the Joint Services were trying to move the prisoners in the wake of a protest the night before when several fires had been lit.
The inmates who died are Jermaine Otto, Randolph Marques, Rayon Paddy, Sherwin Trotman, Shaka McKenzie, Anthony Primo, Andrew Philander, Aaron Eastman, Kirk Clarke, Latchman Partap, Rohan Teekaram, Hillary Amos, Clifton Joseph, Chetram Dwarandat, Mohamed Asraf Ally, Richard Hubbard and Delroy Williams. Several others were injured.
Stabroek News had previously reported that one inmate who managed to survive the tragedy named two prisoners who he said started the blaze.
This newspaper understood that the prisoner told police investigators in the presences of prison officials that it was Otto and 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 opening them. This was because prisoners were scared to go into prison yard after they heard some inmates were being isolated there and assaulted.
The CoI began on March 10 and ran for three weeks before coming to an end on March 28. A two-month extension was then granted and it resumed on April 4. It has heard the testimony of approximately 12 witnesses thus far, including some eight inmates.
The CoI was set up by President David Granger to enquire into all of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the prisoners and to make recommendations on any action that should be taken to avoid a recurrence.
It will also investigate, examine and report on the causes, circumstances and conditions that led to the fatal disturbance and also determine whether the conduct of the staff of the Guyana Prison Service in any way contributed to the deaths.
