After almost two weeks of intensive searching by the Joint Services, escaped death row prisoner Mark Royden Williams, also known as ‘Smallie’, and his accomplice were fatally shot by the Joint Services during what was described as a confrontation.
Williams’ death was confirmed by Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum, who also informed that the accomplice has been identified as Odel Roberts also called ‘Gulley Side’.
Blanhum yesterday reported that members of the Joint Services came into contact with Williams and Roberts at 33 Miles, Potaro Road, Bartica. News of Williams’ death surfaced early yesterday morning but it was only confirmed by Blanhum in the afternoon.
Deputy Director of the Police Corporate Communications Unit, Stan Gouveia, in a release last night said the ranks recovered a M-70 rifle and 79 rounds of live ammunition subsequent to the gunfire exchange.
He stated that after Sunday’s confrontation with accomplice Neon Howard, who was also shot and killed, the Joint Services ranks set up a dragnet within 33 miles Potaro Road, Bartica and remained in pursuit. No details were given on what the interception entailed yesterday, however both Williams and Roberts were confronted resulting in both men being fatally shot.
At the scene, police investigators recovered from a bucket, “a red shirt, one black trouser, one grey T shirt, one yellow long sleeve Jersey, one black T shirt, one black belt, one silver blade knife, three amoxicillin tablets, three small batteries, one toothbrush, three clothes pins, and one condom.”
The bodies were removed from the scene and escorted to the city, where they are awaiting an autopsy.
The Joint Services, the police statement said, thanked all individuals who provided invaluable support during the search for the escapee Williams and his two accomplices, Howard, and Roberts.
Williams escaped from the high security prison on May 19 while being escorted back to his quarters from a visit with a non-Guyanese woman. He escaped with the help of heavily armed accomplices who had arrived in a speedboat at the Mazaruni Prison just about around 14:30 hrs.
At the time, the prison guards were escorting Williams, who was said to have had his feet shackled. The prison escort was fired upon with AK-47 and AR 15 automatic rifles from the boat alongside the Mazaruni River and it was at this point Williams escaped with the men.
The death of ‘Smallie’ and Roberts, who was acquitted of murder in October 2020, comes four days after a second accomplice, Neon Howard, was killed by members of the Joint Services. Howard, 33, also known as ‘Taxi’, of Friendship, East Coast Demerara, was fatally shot as he cocked a weapon from one of the lawmen, which he had snatched. At the time, police said Howard was transporting Williams on a trail at St Mary’s Quarry, Essequibo River, about 58 miles south of Bartica.
According to police, Howard was wanted for aiding in the escape of Williams called ‘Smallie’, who, with his (Howard’s) assistance, fled the Mazaruni Prison. It was the first time Howard was named as an accomplice as no wanted bulletin had been issued for him.
On Sunday, police said a manhunt was being spearheaded by the Joint Services for the escapee along with his two accomplices. During that manhunt, the men were reportedly sighted at the St Mary’s Quarry on Saturday and ranks from the Joint Services promptly responded and launched several patrols (ATV and foot) in the area.
Early Sunday, around 06.54 hours, an ATV patrol was on a trail about six miles north-west of where a lumber concession is based on the Essequibo River bank when they came upon Howard.
“The Joint Services ranks recognised him as one of the men wanted. They arrested Howard and proceeded to escort him through the trail, when the suspect suddenly snatched one of the ranks’ firearm from his lap as the rank drove the ATV. Howard immediately jumped off the ATV, ran a short distance in front of the ATV, and turned face-on whilst attempting to crank the firearm. As a result, one of the Joint Services ranks, who was armed with an AK 47 rifle, then discharged four rounds in Howard’s direction, one of which struck Howard, who fell in a ditch of water whilst still attempting to crank the firearm,” the release said.
Another rank upon seeing this then discharged three rounds from his 9mm weapon, of which two struck him and he soon became motionless.
“At the time of Howard’s arrest, he was found with a black Samsung phone, one grey haversack which contained a pair of black Nike boots, Vitamin C tablets, Iron tablets, Malaria tablets, one camouflage hammock, one pack of cook-up seasoning, and one checkered boxer. It should be noted that items similar to these, including rations, had been previously discovered by ranks of the Joint Services who were in hot pursuit of the suspects,” the police release said.
The release also indicated that an eyewitness “who had interactions under duress with the escapee and his accomplices has positively identified Howard as one of those accomplices.”
Following the well-orchestrated escape of Williams, six persons including Superintendent of the Mazaruni Prison, Alexander Hopkinson, were charged for conspiring to facilitate Williams’ escape.
The others charged were Rajmohan Autor known as ‘Chico’, 48, a businessman of Parika Outfall; Frangeliz Jugandry Flores Perez, 28, a Venezuelan national 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.
They appeared at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Crystal Lambert and were all remanded until June 22.
Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn had said that after the escape, Williams and company landed on the Mazaruni right bank and had gone into the forest cover.
Since then, the Minister said that “the area has been isolated, the general Bartica travel area has been isolated by teams from the joint services and specialized teams of person have gone in and are combing the area. Checkpoints have also been established to intercept the movement of the escapee and accomplices and also to prevent any possible attack on civilians in the area.”
Williams’ escape from the high security prison revealed major breaches in security protocols and left the prison authorities facing difficult questions
Benn, during a hurriedly called press conference a day after Williams’ escape, had highlighted that the breaches have prompted an overall review of the system to determine what led to the escape which saw at least one accomplice firing a heavy weapon at prison guards. No guard was injured but the circumstances surrounding Williams’ flight have raised concerns about assistance he might have had from both without and within the prison.
Benn said that the event is one that never should have happened and clearly showed breaches in protocol. He added that a thorough review of the event would take place and that they will take note of the lapses of awareness and attention and violations of procedures to make sure that there is no similar occurrence and also to continue the efforts of beefing up the surveillance and support to the prison system.
Additional details have come to light of Williams’ carefully planned escape and how his accomplices, who came via river, engineered his escape.
According to police sources, the day before the escape, at about 3.45 pm, two men including a former murder accused hired a boat from Parika, owned and piloted by a Tuschen operator. They stated that they were heading to Itaballi landing. Besides rations and kerosene they had with them a suitcase which was later found to contain three rifles.
Along the journey, the police say that they stopped the boat a short distance from Karrau Village where they proceeded to open the suitcase which revealed three rifles. They then tied up the boat operator and told him that he should cooperate with whatever instructions were given to him. They slept there through the night. The following morning (Friday) about 4.30 am, they instructed the operator to navigate to an area close to the Mazaruni Prison where one man disembarked the boat with one of the rifles. The boat operator was then instructed by the former murder accused to return to where they had moored previously and to wait.
At about 2.15 pm on Friday, the boat operator heard rapid gunfire and the former murder accused instructed him to move in the direction of the beach area at the Mazaruni Prison. The boat operator said that he saw two men plunge into the water and then swim to the boat. He recognised one to be the escapee and the other, the man that he had earlier dropped off. He was then instructed to go further up the Mazaruni River.
In the vicinity of BK quarry his engine seized up and the three men exited the boat with their belongings, each now carrying a rifle. They threatened him not to report it to the police and departed into the bushes, police source say.
Prison guards and the police had pursued the boat to no avail.
The Ministry said that members of the Joint Services had been mobilised to effect the capture of Williams and his accomplices and a preliminary investigation is underway and persons are being questioned.
All citizens in the Mazaruni and surrounding areas were advised to take precautions and remain vigilant as the persons being sought were armed and considered extremely dangerous.
The female who had visited Williams just shortly before his escape has come under immediate suspicion. Her visit enabled Williams to be out of the maximum security facility and at a location where his accomplices could mount an assault to free him. Two prison ranks are also being questioned.
Benn had stated that he and authorities were upset with the situation and are expecting the truth to emerge after a thorough investigation.
“I want to say how upset we are at this situation. We recognized that with the information we have so far that it was well-planned, that there may be persons perhaps in the prison system and otherwise who may be in involved in relation to the issue, we have to determine that properly, as a result of investigation that have started by the police and the prison authorities.”
Background
Back in 2022, ‘Smallie’ was sentenced to death for the 2008 murder of Guyana Defence Force (GDF) officer Ivor Williams.
Sherwin Nero, also known as ‘Catty’, had also been charged and later confessed to killing Ivor Williams and was released from prison after he pleaded guilty to a lesser count of manslaughter and was sentenced for time already served back in 2020.
Reports are that around 8:30 pm on the day in question, several armed men ambushed a GDF vehicle returning to Camp Ayanganna from an administrative run to Berbice. The gunmen engaged the soldiers on the Railway Embankment Road between Church of God and Company roads, during which Williams was fatally shot and two others, a soldier and a Friendship woman, were injured.
In 2017, ‘Smallie’ along with his co-accused Dennis Williams, called ‘Anaconda’, were both sentenced to death after they were found guilty of storming Bartica, where 12 men, including three police officers, were killed during an almost hour-long assault. Those killed in the rampage were police officers Lance Corporal Zaheer Zakir, constables Shane Fredericks and Ron Osborne, and civilians Edwin Gilkes, Dexter Adrian, Irving Ferreira, Deonarine Singh, Ronald Gomes, Ashraf Khan, Abdool Yasseen, Errol Thomas, and Baldeo Singh.
‘Smallie’ and company had appealed the sentence but months after, ‘Smallie’ was among the group of high-profile prisoners who escaped after a fire gutted the Camp Street Prison in Georgetown.
He was apprehended weeks later by police while riding a public minibus on the Weldaad Public Road, West Coast Berbice. ‘Smallie’ was said to be the mastermind in setting up the entire incident.
In 2021, a jury found ‘Smallie’ not guilty of the December 16, 2007 murders of 35-year-old Rajesh Singh and 25-year-old Fazal Hakim, at Triumph, ECD.
