Police have revoked the precept issued to one of the security guards who was involved in the altercation with Junior Natural Resources Minister Simona Broomes early last month at the Amazonia Mall, at Providence, and have ordered the security firm to which he is attached to not allow him to use a firearm.
This was confirmed by Crime Chief Paul Williams, who told Stabroek News last evening that the action was taken after background checks were conducted on Robert Goodluck and it was revealed that he was charged and convicted overseas for a gun-related crime.
“His precept was revoked, so automatically his privilege to carry a firearm will be revoked,” Williams explained.
The precept authorises the holders to act as supernumerary constables.
Goodluck, this newspaper was told, was charged in the United States with manslaughter and two class ‘C’ felonies for attempted sale of a controlled substance in the 3rd degree. He was convicted and deported to Guyana in July, 2010, after serving his sentence.
Following his deportation, Goodluck was employed by the KGM security services. It is unclear whether he remains employed with the firm.
Williams further explained that a background check was launched separately from the incident involving Minister Broomes.
He explained that Goodluck’s record was not initially detected during the screening process since he was convicted under the name “Robert Wren.”
“Remember, there was nothing indicating to us that this man [Goodluck] would have had a conviction or anything. Because remember the name that he was going under was not the name under which he was convicted,” Williams noted, while adding, “Remember now, the name that he would have given, when we would have ran our record and database and everything, it would have showed clear that is why he could have gotten a precept.”
“The name that was given to us when investigating the incident with the Minister, all of that would have put him in clear ends throughout, but then, subsequently, it was reported that this man’s name is Robert Wren, too, and he was deported,” he said.
As a result, an investigation was launched and it was revealed that Goodluck used both names.
Goodluck was one of the two guards who was involved in the altercation with Minister Broomes and her driver in the parking lot of the Amazonia Mall at Providence, East Bank Demerara on the evening of Sunday, July 8th, when Broomes visited the mall to purchase food from the New Thriving Chinese Restaurant.
Broomes had claimed that she and her driver were verbally abused and threatened by the two security guards but surveillance footage of the confrontation showed otherwise.
Nevertheless, based on her initial complaint, the two guards were detained by police for 16 hours before they were released on their own recognisance.
The police had said in its first statement on the incident that a “thorough investigation” was launch-ed following allegations of abuse and threats against a minister and her driver. It did not name Broomes. “Initial enquiries reveal that both parties seemed to have been very aggressive,” the statement had said.
Video footage of the encounter showed Broomes’ vehicle turning into the parking lot and stopping just a few feet away from the entrance to the Massy Supermarket. A man, who appeared to be the driver of the vehicle, exited, and removed what appeared to be a no-parking sign before venturing back into the vehicle. This caught the attention of the two guards, who were seen standing a short distance away.
One of the guards, who was armed with what appeared to be a high-powered rifle, ventured over to the vehicle and proceeded to return the sign to the space it had been moved from. As a result, the driver of the vehicle exited and had an exchange with the guard.
Not long after, Broomes exited the back of the vehicle and proceeded to push two of the no parking signs to the ground before engaging in a confrontation with the guard, who stood in front of the vehicle while the driver attempted to proceed as the signs had been removed.
One of the guards, Josh Ramroop, in an interview with this newspaper, said that neither he nor his colleague pulled a gun on Broomes and her driver as was claimed to police.
Last Friday, the police announced that based on legal advice received, no charges would be laid against either Broomes, her driver or the two security guards involved in the incident.
