The police have launched an investigation into Wednesday afternoon’s fatal attack inside in the New Amsterdam Prison and three inmates were yesterday identified as the alleged attackers.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that as the investigation continues, police yesterday further questioned Ramnarine Jagmohan, who survived the incident which resulted in the death of his brother, Neshan Jagmohan.
However, while the circumstances surrounding the incident remain sketchy, this newspaper understands that based on information gathered by the police the Jagmohan brothers are alleged to be constantly attacking other inmates.
Other information revealed that on Tuesday, there was a “talking” among the inmates that efforts were being made to purchase an improvised weapon. Reports are that a prisoner wanted to buy the weapon from one of the Jagmohans to murder one of the alleged attackers.
An issue then arose between the intended murder victim and the Jagmohans, but it was reportedly settled by another prisoner and was never reported to prison wardens. It is therefore suspected that the intended murder victim sought the help of two other inmates in carrying out the attack.
Neshan, 27, a cane harvester of Hampshire Squatting Area succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday afternoon; his brother, Ramnarine, 31, a farmer, of Belvedere Squatting Area is currently hospitalised after they were attacked by three men while returning to their cells at the prison.
They both sustained several stab wounds to their necks, chests and other parts of their bodies. Ramnarine’s condition is listed as stable.
The Jagmohan brothers were charged with murdering Hamp-shire businessman Devindra ‘Dave’ Deodat, who was shot dead during an armed robbery at his home, in October 2013.
Neshan Jagmohan had escaped from the New Amster-dam Prison on December 28, 2015. This newspaper had reported that police acting on information received, had gone to an abandoned lot at Rose Hall, Corentyne, on January 7, 2016, around 8. 45 pm, and recaptured him.
Following his re-arrest, he was questioned in connection with the murder of another Corentyne businessman which occurred on January 6, 2016.
Sometime in January, Neshan and Ramnarine had attacked a fellow prison inmate. The attack had left two inmates seeking medical attention.
Contacted by this newspaper yesterday, Deputy Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels said that the police were in the process of obtaining a statement from Ramnarine with the hope of determining the motive for the incident.
He explained that while investigators are in the process of gathering information, other inmates who were in the area at the time of the attack, are denying any involvement. Ramnarine, he however noted, has been fully cooperating with the police.
When questioned about prisoners’ access to improvised weapons, Samuels told this newspaper that the majority of the times, the weapons were made of materials from the beds or walls in the prison. “A lot of the prison is still made out of wood, like the walls, and so they break pieces of these same wood and make their own weapon and it is hard for us to determine, when they are unearthed, if they were made yesterday, last week or whenever,” he said while explaining that much effort was expended to ensure such incidents did not occur.
He noted that regular security checks are conducted at the prisons to ensure that the prisoners do not have contraband items, including weapons. Samuels stressed that despite this, the inmates still manage to secure these weapons that are often placed into areas that are not easily retrievable.
As it relates to measures in place to beef-up the security at the prisons to avoid any future occurrence, Samuels explained, “Our SOPs are clear as it relates to the various types of searches that are being conducted on prisoners entering and leaving the prison unit. We just have to ensure that the ranks and supervisors on duty are conducting these searches as regularly as they can,” he added.
