It has been more than two weeks since the attack outside of State House and the wife of the perpetrator is demanding answers from the authorities about his health since she has been unable to see or speak to him since.
“Every single day if I am not at that hospital I am at the police station trying to speak to somebody. I have been trying….Nobody wants to tell us anything. I haven’t seen him or spoken to him since,” the distressed woman, who wished not to be named told Stabroek News during an interview yesterday.
Chimezie, a Nigerian national was shot and injured during the attack outside State House which occurred around 7.30 am on December 15 at the Carmichael Street entrance.
Before he was wounded, Chimezie demanded to see President Irfaan Ali, stabbed Presidential guard, Telon Perreira five times and seized a gun from another guard. He then engaged in a shootout with guards.
This newspaper was informed that Chimezie showed up at State House and confronted Perreira, who was among the ranks on duty at the guard hut. He reportedly said, “I want the President”.
Chimezie then went into a pouch, which he had in his possession, and whipped out a knife that he used to launch the attack on Perreira. Information reaching this newspaper revealed that Perreira then held onto Chimezie’s hand and the knife and a female rank who was present tried to assist him.
This caused the Nigerian to turn his attention to the female rank and he disarmed her of her firearm. Chimezie then used the weapon and started to shoot indiscriminately. Other ranks who were in the area returned fire, injuring him.
Since then, both Chimezie and Perreira have remained hospitalised and the authorities have been silent about the state of the investigation.
His wife, who spent two days in custody after the incident, yesterday told Stabroek News that she met Chimezie in April, 2020 and they lived together for a while before they got married just over a year ago. The couple has been renting an apartment at Industry. The apartment was searched by the police during the initial stage of the investigation.
The woman explained to this newspaper that on the night before the incident, Chimezie returned earlier than usual from work and told her that he wasn’t feeling well. The following morning, she said they left home together. She was going to work and he was going to the hospital for a checkup.
The said day, the woman who works at a city hospital said she had to work out of town so she didn’t hear from Chimezie for the day.
“Dragged me”
Later the same day, she said she returned to work and was summoned by her employer.
The police were present at her work place. “They (police) ask me to come with them. I asked them ‘why should I come with you guys?’ They just tell me come with them. I give them my phone, give them my password and all these stuff and they just dragged me from my work,” she related.
Up until that point, she said she was not aware of what had happened and she continued to enquire. “They said a matter happened at the President’s House this morning and they think I would be able to help them,” the woman said.
She cooperated and was escorted to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) where she was questioned. Hours later, she said she eventually learnt about her husband’s involvement in the incident. “Throughout the entire day and all afternoon all I coulda do was cry. I was just surprised. Every single body was just surprised,” she said.
During this period, she explained that she was taken to their Industry apartment where a search was carried out by the police. “They (police) took our books, they took our documents, they took my wedding album, they took some DVDs. They just took things and they gone with it. All my school books and everything they have. All our documents. I can’t even transact any business because they have my documents,” she related.
Whilst in custody, the woman told Stabroek News that no family members were allowed to visit or interact with her. “I ask them to get in contact with a family member. Nothing. I didn’t get in contact. Only when I was at the home, I told I am not leaving the house until I get a call,” she said.
She was eventually allowed to contact her mother but the call was made by a police officer. “The next morning my parents brought stuff. They couldn’t speak to me but they left stuff for me. They shouted and I hear from through the cell bars,” she noted.
For the time she was in custody, she was only allowed to take a bath when she was taken to the apartment for a second search to be conducted. “They told me to take a bath now….I changed my clothes while they were doing the search,” the woman told this newspaper. The following evening, she was released from custody. The woman said she is not aware of Chimezie being involved in any problems with the police back home. She said he would only talk about his high school days. “He was in a gang. Most boys in high school with a gang with a group of boys,” she said.
“…Bethel, his personality, he is a very soft person….He’s very soft spoken, he’s quiet, he keeps to himself. He sings in church, he preaches in church. He works and he comes home. I know Bethel routine at the back of my head,” the woman added.
No answers
Since the incident, Chimezie’s wife told Stabroek News that she has not been able to see or speak to him.
She said she depends on the news for updates about her husband’s health and is calling on the authorities to provide her with some information. “We need to know what’s going on…Days going by and we don’t know what’s going on….We just want to make sure that he is fine,” the woman yesterday told Stabroek News.
According to the woman, the day after she was released, she went to the hospital but was told by the police guarding her husband that she could not visit him. She then asked to just speak to a doctor so that she could get an update on his condition.
Eventually, she said a doctor came but told her that he is part of the ventilation team and does not have much information. “I asked him what about his injuries. He said he has a fractured skull, a bullet to his abdomen, a bullet to the back and an injured leg,” she said.
After that, she said more police were assigned to guard Chimezie. “We can’t even talk to the doctor, we can’t talk to the police, we can’t talk to security to know about his health, we can’t speak to nobody,” she related.
The woman said she even went to the extent of securing a lawyer for her husband but legal representation was denied. “We got a lawyer to deal with it….They not even allowing the lawyer to speak to a doctor to know about his health,” the woman said.
She recalled that she last went to the hospital on Sunday but the situation remains the same.
The police, she said, have been pushing her around. “….Everything they want I give it to them….I asked the officer ‘can you give me an update on his health?’ The officer said to me his health is the centre of attention all the time. How I don’t know about it,” the distressed woman noted.
She said the situation has taken a toll on her health as well as on Chimezie’s parents’. However, she said she will continue to push for answers.
According to the woman, Chimezie came to Guyana in 2020 for a “better” life. “He wanted to go school and he wanted to help his family…That is what he has been doing. The thing with Bethel, he always put himself last. When he work he look after me and make sure I am fine and then whatever money he has left, he sends it to his family,” she said.
