Border
World Court rules against Venezuela’s preliminary objection on border case: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) last Thursday ruled in Guyana’s favour that its case before it seeking to affirm the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award settling the boundaries between it and Venezuela is admissible; and that the United Kingdom has no place in the proceedings as Caracas has sought to argue. What this means, is that the Netherlands-based Court can move forward with hearing the substantive case on its merits, of whether the 1899 arbitral award settling the boundaries of Guyana and Venezuela is valid and binding. The decision has been hailed by both Government and the main APNU+AFC opposition. President Irfaan Ali was swift to note that the ruling is the second time that the international court has rejected jurisdictional objections raised by Venezuela; while stating that “Guyana remains confident that its longstanding international boundary with Venezuela will be confirmed by the Court.” Opposition spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Member of Parliament Amanza Walton-Desir, said that “the APNU+AFC stands with the Government and people of Guyana in welcoming the decision;” even as she noted that the way has now been cleared for the World Court to adjudicate on the merits of the case, “in pursuit of a final and binding judgment on the matter.” In delivering the 14 to 1 ruling yesterday, the World Court—the principal judicial organ of the United Nations—for settling such controversies among contracting States, said among other things that contrary to Venezuela’s position, the United Kingdom has no place in the proceedings. In fact, President of the Court, Joan E. Donoghue, who read the ruling, said that Articles 2 and 4 of the Geneva Agreement of February 17, 1966 to initiate a process for satisfactory solutions to the border controversy makes it clear that the parties were British Guiana and Venezuela only. In March 2018, Guyana filed its application with the ICJ to confirm the validity and binding effect of the Arbitral Award of 3rd October, 1899 on the boundary between the two countries and the subsequent 1905 agreement, following the decision by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to choose the ICJ as the next means of resolving the controversy which stems from Venezuela’s contention that the award was null and void.
Oil & Gas
Oil audit says EEPGL overpaid for drill ship: The IHS Markit audit of oil expenditure by ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration & Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) has revealed that not only did it procure the services for the Transocean-owned Deepwater Champion drill ship way above costs for similar vessels available but that the company had submitted US$500,000 for seismic works prior to 2008 and had no supporting documents for it. Checks with the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) which was then responsible for the oil and gas sector also showed no record of seismic activity from the company for period claimed. “Neither EEPGL nor GGMC provided any records of seismic activity prior to 2008, and EEPGL provided no other evidence for the expenditure amounting to [US]$500,000 of seismic related costs that was incurred in 2000/01. The Audit Team recommends that this amount be removed from the Cost Bank,” the audit report stated. The report also said that the overall geoscience technical costs recorded directly in the General Ledger towards Seismic and Other Data Acquisition lack transparency. These transactions have been reviewed via the Intercompany analysis and are predominantly for time writing for Affiliate Company Employees. Why the company submitted claims for activities it has no documentation for is still unclear as ExxonMobil is still to publicly respond to the findings of the audit. The British auditing firm, in a report submitted to the PPP/C government in March, 2021, made startling revelations including that 12.8% of the US$1.67 billion expense claims made by EEPGL for the period 1999 to 2017 could be disputed and that none of the companies complied with the all-important insurance requirements. There is also a series of recommendations by the auditing firm to government to tighten the gaps and obtain better insight and oversight of the companies’ operations here. While never released by the PPP/C government, this newspaper carried details from the report in the last Sunday Stabroek, Monday’s and yesterday’s editions. Government, ExxonMobil which is the operator, its partners CNOOC and Hess, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, and the Guyana Revenue Authority, all participated in the audit. In this newspaper’s first report, it was highlighted that contract procurement for the Deepwater Champion drill ship was also flagged for inadequate supporting documents with a US$15 million figure attached to it.
Exxon’s subsidiary did not submit adequate work plan: IHS Markit’s audit of oil expenditure by ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, EEPGL and its partners found that its annual Work Plan and Budget (WP&B) did not comply with the terms of the oil agreement nor with international best practices in the industry. The British auditing firm, in a report submitted to the PPP/C government in March, 2021, made startling revelations including that 12.8% of the US$1.67b expense claims made by Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) for the period 1999 to 2017 could be disputed and that that none of the companies complied with the all-important insurance requirements. While never released by the PPP/C government, this newspaper carried details from the report in the last Sunday Stabroek and yesterday’s edition. Deficiencies were also pointed out by the audit firm in relation to the work plan and budget and related matters. The Audit Team said that it reviewed the WP&B submissions made by EEGPL as required under the mprovisions of the PSA. IHS Markit said that budgeting exercises generally involve the preparation of a detailed budget, timely submission, discussion regarding the work plan, performance monitoring, variance analysis and justification for cost overruns – to form a basis for cost control. It further said that the Annual Work Program & Budget is an important tool for monitoring the activities of an Operator in their Contract Area during Exploration and Development phases. It added that the PSA details the process for preparing, presenting and review of the Work Program & Budget in Article 6, 7 along with Section 7,8,9,10 of Annex C. In its highlights, IHS Markit said: § The annual WP&B submitted by EEPGL does not meet the expected detail to meet the PSA requirement or conform to international best practices in Oil & Gas operations. § The annual WP&B submitted by EEGPL does not provide the Government of Guyana with the ability understand the planned activities or provide any oversight. The WP&B should provide details of the activities planned to be undertaken and the resulting cost outlay, ensuring responsible and sustainable development of resources and procurement alignment with in-country value (ICV) opportunities.
Audit report found oil companies in breach of insurance requirements: The IHS Markit audit of cost claims by Exxon-Mobil and its partners for 1999 to 2017 found not only US$214.4M in disputed sums but that the oil companies operated in breach of the insurance requirement of the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) as none of the three provided insurance certificates to show liability coverage. Questionable insurance coverage in the case of an oil spill or other disaster has been a major issue of debate for years and neither ExxonMobil’s subsidiary here, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) nor the government has been been able to assuage public concerns. “Insurance is required by the PSA, applicable laws, rules, and regulations and of such type and in such amount as is customary in the international petroleum industry in accordance with good oil field practice appropriate for Petroleum Operations. EEPGL stated that each partner, EEPGL, Hess and CNOOC carry insurance cover for their respective interest in the PSA. Copies of insurance certificates have not been provided by any partner, contrary to the PSA requirement,” the audit report released in March 2021 said. And more than eight years after the first oil discovery and nearly three years after production began here, it is still unclear what is the status of insurance coverage for works in the Stabroek Block and if the requisite insurance certificates are in place, in keeping with the PSA. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said that each development in the block has coverage of US$600M per occurrence and government was up to the end of last year still negotiating a US$2B parent company guarantee. No documents have been made public on insurance coverage, although the issue of risk has been one of great concern from the date of the discovery of oil. In 2019, under former EPA Head Dr. Vincent Adams, it was announced that EEPGL would provide US$2.5B in insurance from a British firm and that it and partners CNOOC and Hess would discuss how parent company liability would be furnished.
First audit of oil expenses found US$214m in questionable claims by Exxon and partners: The first ever audit report of the cost claims by ExxonMobil and its partners for 1999 to 2017 found that a whopping 12.8% of its US$1.67b expenses could be disputed by the Guyana Government as they were not allowable or did not have sufficient supporting documentation. UK firm, IHS Markit’s (IHSM) audit has been kept hidden from public view by the PPP/C government and it is unclear what it has done since March 2021 to challenge the questionable claims by Exxon and partners. Unjust claims would effectively reduce the amount of profit oil available to Guyana. With an audit recently completed of US$7.3b in expenses for 2018-2020, the government will come under renewed pressure to fight off charges that it has turned a blind eye to excesses by ExxonMobil and its partners. Among IHS Markit’s audit’s revelations are that some US$214.4M in claims are questionable and recommendations were made that government challenges the claims. In addition, it said that ExxonMobil’s subsidiary here, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) had not done enough to keep the Guyana Government apprised of the activities and costs associated with the development. “The Audit has established that GoG has reasonable grounds to dispute US$214.4 million plus overhead adjustments of the costs currently included by EEPGL in the Cost Bank. This amount represents 12.8% of the cumulative cost recovery balance as of Q4 2017 Statement,” the IHS Markit Final Audit Report obtained by the Sunday Stabroek said. The disputed costs fall into three main categories – Defined Costs for Removal (DCR), Inadequate Supporting Documentation (ISD) and Ministerial Approval Required (MAR). For each the sums were: DCR US$34M, ISP $179.8M and MAR US$0.27M. “Defined Costs for Removal” amount to US$34.4 million – these costs have either been included in error, are not aligned with PSA (Production Sharing Agreement) provisions, are not related to Petroleum Operations, or are considered to fall outside of industry best practice. “Inadequate Supporting Documentation” accounted for US$179.8 million – these costs suffer from a transparency issue as the cost basis, nature and justification of these costs could not be established with the furnished documentation even after several rounds of documentation requests from the Audit Team. Although these costs may be valid, the GoG has the right to the transparency of how these costs relate to Stabroek Petroleum Operations,” the audit report asserted.
Investment
‘Shell’ Mohammed signs deal with CHEC to supply one million tonnes aggregate annually: Local quarry operator and businessman, Nazar ‘Shell’ Mohammed, has declared that from 2025 he will be able to supply at least one million tonnes of aggregate annually following an agreement he signed with China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC). The agreement came as stone demand continues to increase with some businesspersons now importing from Jamaica. “We are going to have our first blast next week and can commence supplying boulders for sea defence projects and things like that. In the meantime we are setting up the machines; the crusher and others. But we signed an agreement with CHEC where we are committed to supplying one million tonnes of aggregate by 2025,” Mohamed told the Sunday Stabroek. “We will gradually increase and the target this year is 200,000 tonnes. The one million [tonnes] will be in effect from about the beginning of 2025. It is our hope that as there is an increase in production and we can meet the supply needs in Guyana and that we would have contributed to the importation stopping” he added. On Thursday last, Mohamed signed an agreement with the Regional Business Manager of CHEC, Sammy Chan and announced the commitment to supply the company with one million tonnes of aggregate annually. In April of last year, Mohamed announced that his Hadi’s World Inc quarry operation in Region Seven was signing a US$25 million agreement with CHEC to execute the works there.
It followed a report by this newspaper in March of 2021, on Mohamed’s plans, and back then he was optimistic that his proposed quarry business would be granted all the necessary permits. Mohamed had told this newspaper that he wanted to commence operations by January of 2022, if he got the green light. The next day, BK International registered its objection saying that the areas granted overlap acreage it had already applied for and prospected on. BK then moved to the High Court in June to seek an injunction against what it said was a Guyana Geo-logy and Mines Commission (GGMC) decision to award 16,502 acres of land in the Mazaruni Mining District to Hadi’s World Inc. for quarrying operations. This newspaper understands that the two sides are still resolving the issue but that the area where works are currently ongoing for Mohamed’s operation does not fall into the disputed area. With regard to those operations, Mohamed disclosed that preparatory works have been completed at the location and that the company had to shell out millions of dollars of its own money to dredge the river to enable access to the area and make for smooth logistics in getting the aggregate to the city. “We spent US$400,000 to dredge the channel… we will be ready soon”, he said. The businessman expressed his eagerness to contribute to help meet the six-million-tonne demand that government has informed it needs for infrastructural projects countrywide.
Gecom
GECOM appoints Aneal Giddings new DCEO: The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has appointed Information Technology (IT) Manager, Aneal Giddings to the post of Deputy Chief Election Officer (DCEO). This was confirmed by People Progressive Party/Civic-appointed, Commissioner, Sase Gunraj. Reports are that Giddings was appointed by a 4-3 majority vote, with all three opposition-appointed commissioners voting against, and GECOM Chair Claudette Singh voting in favour along with the three PPP/C-appointed Commissioners. The vacancies of DCEO, Assistant Chief Election Officer, Chief Accountant, Legal Officer, Logistics Manager, and Civic and Voter Education Manager were all advertised in September of 2021, with a window of two weeks before applications for the post were closed. However, six months later, there was still very little movement in that regard. After a months-long process, the post of CEO was filled by Vishnu Persaud, and Legal Officer by attorney Kurt Anthony Da Silva. On the preliminary shortlist for the DCEO post were Melanie Marshall, Neil Bacchus, Mohamed Arjoon, and Deodat Persaud. Subsequently, Deodat Persaud and Melanie Marshall were further shortlisted for the post. More months elapsed and the application process was reopened leaving the way for Giddings to apply. The criteria for the post stated that applicants must have 5 years’ experience working in the position, which at the time the opposition-appointed Commissioners indicated that Marshall had. Months again went by and yesterday Giddings was finally chosen by majority vote to become the next DCEO. This however did not sit well with the opposition-appointed Commissioners, in particular, Vincent Alexander, who opined that GECOM had once again contrived to appoint a PPP/C preferred candidate to a senior position. Alexander explained that when the first advertisement came out for the post, Marshall met the requirement but was never appointed to the post and an advertisement was later published, resulting in Giddings applying. “Mr Giddings at the time of application was over one year short of the required experience. The advertisement clearly stated: ‘At least five (5) years in Management of National elections and Election Systems is a prerequisite requirement.’ Mr Giddings joined GECOM in June, 2018.and is still three months short of the required experience.” Commissioner Alexander noted.
Health
First comprehensive diabetes care centre opened at Lusignan: The Ministry of Health on April 1sr commissioned its first Diabetes Comprehensive Care Centre at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara. The centre aims to provide all of the specialized care needed to properly manage diabetes. According to the ministry, approximately $65 million was spent in building the centre. It is also outfitted with equipment. Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony yesterday said that many persons are not aware that they have diabetes and when they experience complications and go to the hospital, the doctors are basically treating them for the complication and to help manage their blood sugar. He said that the opening of the Diabetes Comprehensive Care Centre moves away from the traditional way of treating persons with diabetes and helps them with services such as eye and cardiovascular screening, diabetic wound care, radiology services, dietary counselling, mental health counselling, physiotherapy, and rehabilitation services. “We are very pleased to open this facility here in Lusignan. We have been working on this project for quite a while and the rationale being … that we recognize the prevalence of diabetes in Guyana is a rather relatively high one. One of the estimates that was done by the international diabetic federation some time ago… estimated that perhaps we have about 66,000 cases of diabetes. Dr. (Leslie) Ramsammy mentioned probably about 50,000 persons or so in Guyana are probably diabetic. So it’s a large number and what is sad is that a lot of persons do not even know that they have diabetes because they are not coming to get tested. They might have the signs and symptoms of diabetes but it goes unrecognized, and it is only until they develop severe complications that they will come to the health centre, or the hospital with these complications and then you figure out that they actually have diabetes. But at that time, basically what we are doing, is to treat them for the complications and to help them to manage their blood sugar. But it doesn’t have to be that way because what we need to do, is to set up in our primary health care system, a better way of diagnosing people early and even getting people into the habit of coming to the health centre for preventative checkups.”
Accountability
Audits for Marriott Hotel have been completed up to 2019 – NICIL: Audits for the Guyana Marriott Hotel have been completed up to 2019 and these accounts will be published upon completion of the audit for the year ended 2021. This was disclosed last week by government holding company, National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) in response to questions from Stabroek News. NICIL said that the public records of the Commercial Registry would reflect that the last annual returns filed for Atlantic Hotel Inc (AHI), the special purpose company set up to manage the hotel, was for the year ended 31st December 2015. It said that in March 2015, before the PPP/C Administration left office, the financial statements of AHI up to the year ended 31st December, 2014, were audited. It added that when the PPP/C Administration reassumed office in August 2020, it was found that the accounts of the company were audited only up to the year ended 31st December, 2015. A new Board of Directors for AHI was appointed and in December 2020, the Board engaged the Office of the Auditor General, who appointed Chartered Accountants Nizam Ali and Company to complete the outstanding audits of AHI in March 2021. NICIL said that to date, the audits for the years ended 31st December, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, have been completed, together with the field audits for the years ended 31st December 2020, and 2021. NICIL said that AHI was advised by Nizam Ali and Company that the audit for the year ended December 2022 is ongoing. “AHI has therefore successfully managed to commission and complete the audits of its accounts for five years in a span of less than two years. These accounts will be published upon completion of the audit of the year ended 2021”, NICIL said. NICIL is the sole shareholder of AHI. Completion of the audits will be seen as crucial as NICIL has put the hotel on the market. In response to questions from this newspaper, NICIL said that eight expressions of interest were received for the purchase of the state’s shares in the Guyana Marriott Hotel and five of the entities have since taken the process a step further. Last year, NICIL issued a ‘Pre-qualification Notice’ seeking Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from persons or companies, individually or as part of a joint venture/ consortium, with an interest in purchasing its shares in AHI for the acquisition of the Guyana Marriott Hotel (GMH). The closing date for EOIs was 10th January, 2023 at 2:00 pm. Applications for pre-qualification were to include the following: financial capability in terms of net worth, audited financial statements for the last three financial years, net worth of a minimum of US$250m and a letter of financial capability from a recognised financial institution to acquire NICIL’s shares in AHI for the Guyana Marriott Hotel.
Celebration
Former educator and athlete celebrates 104th birthday: Former athlete and educator Hilton Lewis on March 31st celebrated his 104th birthday with friends and family at Uncle Eddie’s Home. Lewis, uncle of the now deceased former commissioner of police Laurie Lewis, was born on March 31, 1919 in Georgetown. A father of one, he later lived on the West Coast Deme-rara. A member of St George’s Anglican Church, Lewis was a teacher/headmaster, athlete and trainer for athletes for decades. Having perfected the skills of long and high jumps, he represented Guyana in many countries among them Trinidad and Tobago in the year 1990 where he received several medals for the respective categories. He was a headmaster of Christ Church Secondary and the Mocha Arcadia Primary schools. His main attributes are his ability to be affable, intelligent, multi-skilled and approachable, according to his close friend, 87-year-old Phillip Beccles. The centenarian loves dressing in bold colours and walking long distances. Beccles shared that Lewis’ health is remarkable since he never experienced any disorders. Beccles further explained that Lewis’ ability to be healthy was because he loves vegetables, ground provision, fish and shrimp. Lewis detests rice and noodles. His favourite dish is metemgee.
In the court
Ogunseye charged under Racial Hostility Act: Working People’s Alliance (WPA) activist Tacuma Ogunseye of Lot 219 Section ‘C’ Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown was last Monday charged with attempting to incite racial ill will and placed on $100,000 bail. The police said that Ogunseye appeared at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Fabayo Azore where the charge was read to him. He pleaded not guilty and was placed on $100,000 cash bail. The case was put down to 2023-04-06. The police release said that Ogunseye’s defence counsel Nigel Hughes argued that the charge was “‘bad in law”. According to the press release, Police Legal Advisor Mandel Moore in rebuttal advised the court that he had prepared and had 11 pages of a written submissions on hand to prove that Hughes’s argument is wholly without merit. Thereafter, Moore laid over his written submissions to the court and to Hughes.
Hughes told reporters that the prosecutor told the court that they were opposing bail on three grounds: seriousness of the offence, the fact that the penalty was significant and there is an ongoing investigation. Ogunseye turned himself into the Police CID Vlissengen Road Headquarters with Hughes and attorney Darren Wade last Friday morning following a police wanted bulletin that was issued last Thursday. The police issued the bulletin over statements he made on a political platform. The bulletin said that on March 9th at Buxton Public Road, Ogunseye attempted to excite hostility or ill-will on the grounds of race contrary to Section 3 of the Racial Hostility Act, Chapter 23:01.
Media
McCoy, GPA clash over President’s Leonora press conference: Guyana Press Association (GPA) President, Nazima Raghubir, is calling out the government over its organization of a press conference and allegations of intimidation by supporters of the ruling party The complaints of intimidation were made by reporters from the Kaieteur News who were covering a press conference by President Irfaan Ali at the Leonora Track and Field Stadium on March 31st. However, Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for the media, Kwame McCoy is defending the government’s organization of the press conference and the responses elicited from the President himself and the audience to questions asked by members of the media. Reporters were called to the press conference, just an hour and half before its commencement at the Leonora Track and Field Stadium at the conclusion of a Government outreach in Region Three. As a result of the short time, only a handful of reporters were present. It was alleged that chairs designated for the press were instead filled with supporters of the PPP/C Government. At the completion of Ali’s speech, it was further alleged that reporters from the private media were either heckled or intimidated from asking questions which were not favourable to the Government. There are also more allegations, this time directed at the President himself that he added to the intimidation by circumventing questions saying that he preemptively knows what those next questions were. This was noted especially when questions was being asked on oil and gas issues. In her comments regarding the allegations, Raghubir said that the press conference should not have taken place in that environment. “It boggles my mind that we are back to this type of environment where I feel like if the President wanted to make a statement among his supporters he could have made the statement and invited the media to (cover) the statement. I don’t think that was the place for a press conference. Then again the powers that be would come out and say it’s their right to hold a press conference and what not and we have been saying that they are not holding press conferences”, she said.
Local Government
Local Gov’t Ministry to take over rehab of city markets – Dharamlall: The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development is to take over the rehabilitation of several markets around Georgetown. Those rehabilitation projects are for the Kitty, Albouystown, La Penitence, Stabroek and Bourda markets. This is according to Minister of Local Government, Nigel Dharamlall, who in an interview yesterday with the Department of Public Information (DPI) said the decision was made due to the failure of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) to fulfil its mandate of having the markets rehabilitated. Speaking about the Kitty Market, he said “They have not yet been able to complete the market to the extent that vendors can occupy it in a meaningful way, like all other projects pursued by the City Council. Their projects have been left unattended for a very long time”. Dharamlall asserted that too many locations that fall under the purview of the M&CC face similar issues, including infrastructural defects, lack of proper management and inadequate security. He declared that enough is enough and it’s for the people to benefit from improved markets. This follows the takeover of another major municipal project – the rehabilitation of City Hall. A contract for this was signed in September 2021. The government is funding the project to the tune of $780 million. City Hall’s new administrative building was also partially funded by the Government through a subvention. Dharamlall insisted that the council has been earning billions and yet the work has not been completed. “The unfortunate thing about all of this is that every time government has to do the heavy lifting, and City Hall earns over $2 billion per year. Where is it going?” he asked. The Minister added that at some point, the council will answer for those monies but as of now the work will be completed by his Ministry.The minister was not shy about referring to the upcoming local government elections in the context of the market projects.
Crime
UG student on life-support after bandits target East Coast bar: An 18-year-old University of Guyana student is currently on life-support at the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal, East Coast of Demerara (ECD) after sustaining wounds to his neck and eyes, and a head injury during a robbery. The incident occurred on Sunday night outside of Ricky Boy Bar & Restaurant located on the Railway Embankment Road at Success, ECD. The student’s sister, Alexandra Jerry, of Railway Line, Better Hope, ECD, recalled that her brother, Anil Jerry of 6th Street Cummings Lodge, ECD, told her at the hospital that he went to the Ricky Boy Bar & Restaurant with friends around 9pm on Sunday to ‘lime’. While sitting outside the bar, several men who wore masks, snatched one of her brother’s friends’ phone and he fell to the ground in the process. He (Anil) saw what happened, intervened to help his friend and one of the bandits hit him in the head with a gun and stabbed him in the neck, causing him to fall to the ground. Anil’s female friend, who witnessed the attack, told Alexandra that when her brother fell to the ground, they heard the sound of gunshots. The men then pointed the gun at everyone who was outside the bar at the time. The gunmen then escaped and everyone tried to run into the compound of the restaurant but the workers had already closed the gates to the premises. When her brother regained consciousness, he asked his friends to take him home but they ended up taking him to the Georgetown Public Hospital because he was bleeding profusely.
In the court
Daycare owner charged with manslaughter following death of baby: Denise Benn, a 57-year-old babysitter and daycare owner of Lot 14 Railway Line Industry, East Coast Demerara was charged last Thursday with manslaughter following the death of a baby who had fallen ill at the facility. The accused appeared at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court #2 before Magistrate Alisha George where the charge was read to her. She was not required to plead and was remanded to prison until 2023/05/10. The manslaughter charge relates to the death of seven-month-old Oriya Gravesande who died at the daycare owned by Benn. Oriya succumbed due to haemorrhage and suffocation by compression of the neck, an autopsy found. The toddler from Success, East Coast Demerara was rushed to the Ogle Health Centre on March 21st after experiencing shortness of breath and becoming unconscious just after midday. After being rushed to the health centre, an ambulance was called to transport the toddler to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) due to her serious condition. The ambulance took Oriya to the GPHC and she was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. The baby’s mother, Shavannie Gravesande had told Stabroek News that her daughter went to the daycare without any issue. She said that she was told that the child fell at the side of the bed at the daycare, and got caught up in sheets and suffocated.
Man with three life sentences for rape approaches Court of Appeal: Sheldon Lynch who had been handed three life sentences back in 2018 for raping a 10-year-old girl on three separate occasions has approached the Guyana Court of Appeal to challenge his conviction and sentence. In his notice of appeal filed before the Court, the former labourer argues among other things, that the judges who conducted his trials erred and “misdirected the jury on the law and elements of sexual conduct.” His contention is that the judges “failed to adequately direct the jury on the law and requirement of the danger of relying on the unsworn testimony of a child.” Back in March of 2018, Lynch was handed two consecutive life sentences, after the unanimous finding of guilt by a jury for the charge of rape of a child under 16 years. Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall, had ordered that Lynch spend a minimum of 35 years on each conviction before being paroled. Lynch was convicted of raping the child on two occasions—in December of 2010 and November of 2011—beginning when she was 10. Four months later, another jury convicted Lynch of also raping the child on a third occasions. Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, imposed that third life sentence, ordering that it be served without the possibility of parole. Lynch, (the Appellant), argues that the judges allowed inadmissible evidence at his trial, and “failed to put or to adequately and/or fairly put” his defence to the respective juries. He said, too, that his attorney’s cross-examination of witnesses had been “unfairly restricted.” He then complains that his sentences were “manifestly excessive.”
Tragedy
Corentyne pastor dies in fire caused by overheating AC conductor: Tragedy struck a Williamsburg, Corentyne family last Thursday after a pastor was trapped and killed in a fire that completely destroyed his two-storey concrete and wooden house. Dead is Herman Pereira, 64, a pastor and businessman of Lot 11 A Williamsburg Village, Corentyne. The fire started around 7. 15 am yesterday and gutted the entire house. Pereira was trapped inside and made several attempts to escape but was unable to do so, residents said, after which they heard sections of the first floor collapse. Pereira occupied the building with his wife, Patricia Pereira, 62; his children Tamika Pereira, a teacher; Shawn Pereira, a businessman; Tonya Pereira and his grandchildren Nehemiah Marks, 5, and Josh Marks, 2.
