Alleging attempts “to pervert the course of justice,” the police on Friday arrested six of the nine persons who are claiming to be able to provide an alibi for Glaston Henry, one of the persons charged with the murder of Haresh Singh.
In a statement released last evening, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) announced that Tiffany Campbell, Alona Bacchus, Patricia Henry, Bibi Shaheman, Clarett Kurtizious and Amanda Wickham were detained after they were brought to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) by their attorney Nigel Hughes.
According to the statement, the allegation of attempting to pervert the course of justice was put to them and video interviews were conducted, after which they were each asked to post $100,000 bail for their release.
The GPF added that efforts are being made to question the remaining three persons, which was been communicated to Hughes.
“On completion of the investigation, the file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions for legal advice,” it said.
Glaston Henry, also known as Gladwin Henry, was charged on Tuesday alongside 29-year-old Philip Anderson, called ‘Ratman,’ 27-year-old Joel Gittins, called ‘Bolo,’ and 21-year-old Charles Scott, called ‘Bucko,’ with the murder of Singh. Singh was attacked and murdered days after cousins Joel and Isaiah Henry were found dead.
Seeking to get the charge withdrawn, on Thursday Hughes told a news conference that he had provided both the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions with evidence that Henry was at his mother’s home several villages away when Singh was murdered on September 9th last year. He said that the morning of Singh’s murder was also the day on which the post-mortem examinations for Isaiah and Joel Henry were conducted. The Henry family, he maintained, had gathered to view the procedures, which were broadcast live by Glaston Henry Snr from Georgetown.
In response, the GPF declared that it had investigated the alibi and found it could not be verified.
According to Hughes, the six women, including a lactating mother and two elderly relatives of Henry, were taken to Criminal Investigation Department in response to the statement from the police which claimed that two of them could not be located.
“I saw the police press release and since they said they couldn’t find them we invited all the witnesses to go to the police station today to be interviewed. All of them couldn’t be present because one was ill and two had begun travelling up the river to go home,” he said, before adding that upon arrival the witnesses were greeted with 15 police officers with cameras recording them.
Hughes told Stabroek News that the women were interviewed and all maintained their testimony.
“They maintained that Glaston Henry was at his mother’s home and that they saw him… After hours they were placed on $100,000 bail around 6 pm,” he said. The lawyer added that though he highlighted that the bail sum issued at that time would create undue hardship for individuals, who lived in West Coast Berbice, his entreaties were ignored and the women were moved to East La Penitence Police Station.
Saying there was evidence to dispute Hughes’ claims that Glaston Henry Snr had recorded the post-mortem examinations—and by extension calling into question the claims of the purported alibi witnesses—the police on Thursday announced that all nine were being sought in connection with alleged attempts to pervert the course of justice.
In addition, in response to the claim that an officer who visited the Henrys’ home, Inspector Rodwell Sarabo, would be able to verify that the accused was present, the police pointed out that the rank was present at the post-mortem being conducted in Georgetown. “[The inspector] can be seen present during the post-mortem examination, in the recording made by the investigators and also in the background of a ‘Prime News’ video interview that was being conducted with Mr. Hughes immediately after the conclusion of the post-mortem examination,” the GPF stressed before concluding that it had discharged its mandate in completing the investigation and sending the file to the DPP for legal advice that eventuated in the charges against Glaston Henry (Jnr) and the three others.
However, Hughes last evening maintained that he was in possession of the video which was being viewed by the family and stressed the images of Sarabo shared by the GPF show him wearing the same clothes described by one of the witnesses.
