One week after notorious convicted killer, Mark Royden Williams known as ‘Smallie’ escaped the maximum security Mazaruni Prison, he is yet to be captured.
The limited updates coming from the authorities would suggest that for now, Williams has proven to be an elusive target.
Just one day after ‘Smallie’ had escaped, Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, and Director of Prisons, Nicklon Elliott, during a press conference had explained what transpired.
However, one week later, no update has been provided on the hunt. When contacted a few days ago by Stabroek News, the minister had no fresh information to impart. “We can’t say anything at this point. There is nothing further we want to add at this time”.
Williams, who is a death row prisoner after being convicted for several killings, escaped with the aid of three heavily armed accomplices in a speedboat at the Mazaruni Prison just about around 14:30 hours while being escorted back from a visit with a non-Guyanese woman.
At the time, the escort which was moving with the supposedly shackled prisoner, was fired upon with AK-47 and AR-15 automatic rifles from a boat alongside the Mazaruni River during the transfer.
The escort took cover allowing ‘Smallie’ a brief moment of opportunity to run the boat. He reportedly swam a short distance and was helped on to the boat. The craft and its occupants then proceeded upstream, past Itaballi Landing, while prison guards with police in support undertook pursuit.
Members of the joint services were quickly mobilized to recapture ‘Smallie’ and to arrest his accomplices.
Subsequently, the boat was found nearby a quarry, with its engine damaged and also with a captain who said that he was kidnapped and ordered to transport the men.
Since then, search teams from the joint services have been combing the Region Seven area for the escapee and his accomplices. This search continues to feature, land, water, and air surveillance, as the manhunt continues.
Meanwhile, officials announced that there were several breaches which would be identified and addressed.
This saw six persons being charged with conspiring to facilitate the escape of ‘Smallie’ included Superintendent of the Mazaruni Prison, Alexander Hopkinson.
Also charged were Rajmohan Autor known as `Chico’, 48, a businessman of Parika Outfall; Frangeliz Jugandry Flores Perez, 28, a Venezuelan of Alexander Street, Kitty; Omar Witherspoon, a prison officer of Stanleytown, New Amsterdam; Conroy Hosannah, a prison officer of Fort Ordnance Housing Scheme, East Canje; and Oldfield Romulus, 50, a prison officer of Cumberland Village, East Canje.
