On August 11th this year, the Police arrested 42-year-old Weston Pickering of Herstelling, East Bank Demerara claiming that a search of his home had unearthed an illegal AK-47 assault rifle and matching ammunition.
A press release following his arrest said that an Assistant Superintendent and a team from the Providence Police Station had conducted an intelligence-led operation at Mr Pickering’s residence at Lot 2 Somerset Court Housing Scheme, Herstelling at approximately 18:25 hrs.
The statement said that the property consisted of a two-storey structure within a well-fenced yard. Mr Pickering was informed that the police were there to search for arms, ammunition, and drugs, and he consented to the search, the release said.
During the search, it added, the police discovered the rifle wrapped in a brown towel inside a washing machine on the lower flat of the property.
When asked by the police, the release said, Mr Pickering confirmed that he did not hold a firearm licence and he remained silent when cautioned about possessing a firearm without a licence. The release added that 29 live matching rounds were found inside a magazine, and 30 live matching rounds were discovered in a pair of black and white socks wrapped in the towel.
The Police said they also found six live 9 mm rounds of ammunition in a bedroom on the upper flat of the house. Further investigations led to the discovery of a significant amount of money in a brown suitcase located in a room of the house. The release said the police found Cdn$11,312, US$ 1,583, C¥10, T&T$5,120 Bds$70, J$50, £3,405, €120 and $480,000.
It added that Mr Pickering was arrested, and the firearm, ammunition, and cash were transported to the Providence Police Station, where the money was counted in his presence, marked, and sealed. The firearm and ammunition were also lodged. The police also issued a photo of the handcuffed Mr Pickering standing behind all of the illicit items that had been found.
That was August 11th. By October 21st, the entire case had dissolved despite all of the alleged illegalities associated with the discoveries and particularly the AK-47.
After the prosecution repeatedly failed to produce a case file on charges against Mr Pickering, Magistrate Dylon Bess sitting at the Diamond Magistrate’s Court dismissed the charges. Magistrate Bess had given the prosecution up to 1:30 pm on October 21st to produce it, but when that time came the file had still not been produced. The case was then dismissed.
It may be that there was some good reason for this case to be struck out or that the police and the prosecution were just purely delinquent or incompetent. Whatever the reason, the public has a right to know why this case fell apart and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) must provide an explanation. It could be that there is another principal to be charged and that maybe Mr Pickering was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. That again would need to be explained but in the meanwhile Mr Pickering has been exposed to the public as someone who had been connected to an assault rifle and ammunition and no doubt his public standing has been affected.
There is another aspect of this episode that should be highlighted. Whenever the public hears the word AK-47, those of a certain age are immediately transported to a period not so long ago in the aftermath of the 2002 jail-break that triggered an unimaginable crime wave that cost of the lives of many and caused a total breakdown of law and order from which the country is still trying to recover from.
AK-47s were used by criminals to terrorise, devastate and plunder in the city and other parts of the country. Dozens of these weapons had been stolen from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) armoury, underlining how the Joint Services during that period had been compromised and how they radiated incompetence of varying orders. A magisterial history of that period may never be chronicled but perhaps the GDF may at some stage give a final accounting for those weapons, how they were spirited out of Camp Ayanganna and how the increased resources being channelled to it are employed to ensure that there will never be a recurrence of such.
While the GPF is presently in a major crisis over the serious charges pending against Assistant Commissioner of Police, Calvin Brutus, the failure of the case against Mr Pickering underlines just one of a number of other shortcomings that have bedevilled the police force over many years and which cannot be papered over by the razzmatazz that accompanies many of the force’s activities these days. The case of Mr Pickering raises searing questions about the efficacy of the GPF and whether this government will finally seriously address the gaping holes in police accountability.