In the Rupununi community of Toka, Region Nine, cattle farming is a critical source of income with rustling the bane of the farmers’ existence. Even more frustrating, however, is the fact that the rustlers evade what is, in some interior regions, the frustratingly ‘short’ arm of the law.
It has therefore come as no surprise that Principal Magistrate Alan Wilson, presiding at the Annai Magistrates’ Court was recently celebrated as though he had attained the status of an Indigenous folk hero after he had brought the current ‘run’ of unpunished rustling in the community to a shuddering halt by inflicting two-year jail sentences on three men who, reportedly, had been apprehended ‘red-handed’ in the process of stealing sheep.
The ‘celebration’ among members of the community, according to a report sent to the Stabroek Business, was unrestrained, an exercise in ‘exhaling’ against the backdrop of repeated incidents of praedial larceny and the culprits’ evasion of what in the community, is the relatively ‘short’ arm of the law.
The jailed trio, reportedly farmers themselves, had been hauled before the court for stealing sheep from cattle rancher Rebecca Faria. The sentence was handed down on Monday March 11.
Understandably, ranchers in the
community are elated, treating the positive intervention by the Court as a small but significant advancement in their ongoing and not infrequently, frustrating crusade against cattle rustling.
The named culprits are Emerson Edwards and Shem Singh, both 19, and cattle farmers, and a third farmer, Cleveland Edwards. The three convicted men all reside in Toka Village. They were arrested back in September last year, between September 27 and 28 and subsequently charged with the offence. The owner of the stolen sheep is the proprietrix of Point Ranch, situated at North Rupununi along the Pakarima Mountain Range.
For the hardy Rupununi ranchers, cattle rustling is an occupational hazard of their chosen entrepreneurial pursuit given the limited law enforcement ‘cover’ afforded the region.
At the end of the trial the Stabroek Business reached out to Faria who said that she and the other ranchers were pleased with the outcome of the court proceedings since it pointed to a step in the right direction in the pursuit of the creation of an environment that would raise the level of risk for would-be rustlers. She said that the ranchers are encouraged by the efforts of the Guyana Police Force to discourage the rustlers.
Back in 2021 during a visit to Lethem, the Stabroek Business had spoken with Mrs Faria about cattle rustling. At the time she said that cattle rustling was wreaking havoc with the livelihoods of cattle farmers and ranchers, adding that she was concerned that unless the rustling was brought under control, a venture that was pivotal to the broader business fabric of the Rupununi might die. Threats to cattle ranching in the Region would also have implications for the continued staging of the Rupununi Rodeo, an event that attracts fans from coastal Guyana, Brazil, and further afield.
