‘Niles was murdered and cops must say who did it’
Opposition Leader Robert Corbin said yesterday there was no question that convicted prisoner Edwin Niles was murdered and insisted that the police have an obligation to tell the nation what exactly happened and who was guilty of the killing.
Corbin has also since written to Acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene, stating, “at worst Niles’s death must be treated as murder while in custody of the prison authorities and at best, death under mysterious circumstances which require investigations.”
Corbin told reporters yesterday that he was reliably informed that Niles had been beaten with a wooden baton and rubber hose and the burns he sustained obviously came from a hot liquid. He said he received the information from independent sources and would go on oath with the information he received.
“It is murder. But the question is, who is guilty of the murder. No doubt it is murder. What needs to be found out is who is the guilty party and the police have an obligation to tell us what happened.”
At its weekly press conference yesterday the PNCR added its voice to those condemning the circumstances that led to the man’s killing and enquired about the steps which have since been taken by the police to investigate the matter. Party executive, Basil Williams, reading a prepared statement, referred to Corbin’s letter to Greene, copies of which were released to the media. Corbin has called on Greene as the constitutional holder of the office of Commissioner of Police “to account for its stewardship in this matter,” which he said has grave implications for the fundamental rights of citizens as guaranteed under the Constitution of Guyana.
Corbin also told the commissioner that since the incident he has been in touch with Niles’s mother, Brenda Nurse, who had provided him with her knowledge of the incident and her son’s subsequent death.
Corbin said he learned from Nurse that based on information received she visited the Georgetown Public Hospital on July 4, and on arrival at Ward B2 she saw her son with his left hand in a cast and the left side of his face, neck and back burnt. His general appearance showed signs of being brutalized.
The woman then visited the prison authorities, where, she told Corbin, she was informed by named prison officers that her son was found with seven rounds of live ammunition in his possession on return from a work assignment at the GDF compound. He was subsequently interrogated at the prison and during the interrogation, he had an altercation with the said officers. Nurse also queried how that altercation could have resulted in broken bones and burnt skin and the reply was that her son’s injuries were not life-threatening. She was further advised that the prison authorities subsequently released him to the Brickdam police for further interrogation. She requested a visiting pass to see her son but this was refused, Corbin’s letter said.
He added that based on further information the woman returned to the Georgetown Public Hospital at around 11 pm on July 11 where a nurse on duty advised her that her son had died. She witnessed his body being removed from the ward to the hospital mortuary.
Corbin said it was not until at 2 pm on July 12, that she received a call from someone purporting to be an officer of the prison, officially informing her of her son’s death.
Pressing on
The PNCR vowed that it will be pursuing the matter further and stated that the murder of Niles was the latest evidence that the PPP government has nurtured an out-of-control environment in which the human rights of Guyanese are trampled on.
“The attitude of the authorities is not only inconsistent with the creation of a democratic culture, but also undermines the rule of law and order and respect for the rights of our citizens”, Williams said.
He recalled the torture of Victor Jones and Patrick Sumner allegedly committed by ranks of the Guyana Defence Force and David Zammet by ranks of the Guyana Police Force. He also referred to allegations that elements of the GDF had tortured several soldiers.
“The report, by the GDF, though long promised, is yet to see the light of day as the Jagdeo PPP (administration) seeks… to protect its favourites from facing the full rigour of the law,” Williams asserted.
He acknowledged that the issue of inquiries being launched into many torture allegations, but with no results, was a problem the party will have to confront. He said the first avenue was for all local remedies to be exhausted. He pointed out that in the past many tactics have been employed to frustrate the commencement of many of those enquiries. “And there has always been an effort and persons finding ways and means to stymie the process and protecting certain persons within the system who go against the law,” he added.
Impartial investigation
Meanwhile as relatives of the dead man continue to grieve, the man’s mother in an interview with this newspaper yesterday said she believed the only thing she can ask for was an impartial investigation.
“Some truth may come out of it. I know this is Guyana, but what more can I ask for? It had to be done by some person or persons. Putting everything together I think they should come up with something,” the woman stated.
Asked whether she had heard anything about the status of the police’s investigations, she said she was yesterday informed by a named officer that the investigation at the police’s end was almost complete. She said she was also informed that investigations at the army’s end will commence thereafter.
She said so far she has heard nothing about investigations being done by the prisons even though Prison Chief Dale Erskine after offering his condolences had said that one would be done. However she said she has not heard from Erskine since.
The woman said her son’s siblings as well as his five-year-old daughter had been were anxiously awaiting his release from prison which was due in September this year, only two months away. “We were really looking forward for him to be freed again. His brothers and sisters, we were all awaiting, I myself. Now I am just drained at this situation. But I have lost a son and this should not happen again. What I know is that whoever killed him is inhumane,” she said.
She recounted that when she had first seen her son at the hospital, the first thing that caught her eyes were the burns. She said when she approached the bed her son was in she was told by a female prison warden that her son could not have visitors.
“So he said to her, this is my mother and she said ok, but that she would have to stand there. But it’s not like he said much because he was in serious pain and I just looked at my son. Then she told me I should go back to the prison to get a pass but I was denied this,” she said.
The woman said she went back to the hospital early on the day her son died and she asked a nurse how he was doing and was assured that he was going to be alright. At that time, she said, she saw him from the back being pushed in a wheelchair.
“About 10:30 that night I heard that he wasn’t doing well, so me and my daughter went back and when she got to go upstairs about past half hour later, he was already wrapped in a white sheet and a paper was on him marked, 23 hours probably indicating the time he died,” the woman remembered.
Not political
When told of the opposition leader’s letter to Greene on her son’s matter, Nurse said she did not go to Corbin as a political person. She said Corbin was a member of the peace ambassadors’ organization, to which she is aligned and she approached him on that basis.
“I went as an ambassador for peace and I showed my badge and we spoke of the matter. It was nothing political, because I pay no attention to politics. I believe that we are all human beings on the same level playing field,” she said.
The exact chain of events that occurred after Niles was found to have had the ammunition in his possession has not been revealed. However, Corbin said his information was that following the find, Niles was interrogated and during that an altercation resulted and the man was beaten, then sent to the Brickdam Police Station for more interrogation then he ended up at the hospital with the burns on his skin, a broken left arm and seemed to have been brutalized.
Edwin Niles, 36, was convicted of cannabis possession and was sentenced to three years imprisonment which would have come to an end in September.
please remember the post prison breech back in 2002 23rd feb. there were outlaws out to revenge aginst the security forces. back then the security forces use excess forces on there prisoners even the innocent that was taken captive were soon victims of brutality. please dont let this hatred mount again. address these people that have fallen victims to security forces brutality and even fatality
Henry, I am worried about your future, my brother! As a legal mind, you may have a difficult time practicing law after this tour of duty ends. How can one who studied law supervise these unethical practices by the joint services. I would rather quit than pretend that everything is alright, because it is not! Both you and Gary are in the same boat and it has a hole at the bottom. Wake up, my brothers before the boat sink!
Now Henry, let us hear your response to Robert (another legal mind) on his allegation of murder. I would want to agree with Robert based on the evidence (through SN & KN), which appears to be reliable, that this is a clear case of murder in the second degree.
However, Henry, you are the investigating officer and I would like to hear your theory of what really happened before I pass judgement.
It was just a few weeks ago that your commander in chief was asked a question about torture investigations and what was taking so long with the report! He mumbled something about it being completed and then chose to mention Guantanomo Bay, as if to say they are torturing so what if it is being done in Guyana.
I would let him get away with that, but not you Henry! The days of Nazism are long gone. There are limitations to interrogation and as a police officer and lawyer you know better!
OK..OK IF THE OPPOSITION DEMANDS A REPORT, HE WILL GET ONE……EVERY ONE IS SLAMMING AT THE PPP FOR ALMOST EVERYTHING…..GONE ARE THE DAYS WHEN THE SECURITY FORCE/ARMY WERE GIVEN ORDERS BY THE THEN COMMANDER IN CHIEF TO KILL AND DISPOSE OF…….I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT…WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME OF THE BRUTAL MURDER OF VINCENT TEEKAH AND WALTER RODNEY…….WHO WAS DARE TO QUESTION BURNHAM OR HIS ARMY…..
THINGS THAT ARE HAPPENING TODAY ARE JUST A FRACTION OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING THEN……GO BACK AND READ YOUR HISTORY………”HISTORY OF THE PNC” I MEAN…ITS DURING YHAT TIME THAT MANY CITIZENS HAD TO FLEE FROM GUYANA AND SEEK SHELTER IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES…..MY FRIEND, I AGREE ITS NOT SO GOOD NOW AS ONE MAY EXPECT, BUT AT LEAST ITS BETTER THAN THE DARK YEARS OF THE PNC RULE…..I RECENTLY CAME FROM GUYANA AND I AM AMAZED AT THE DEVELOPMENT THAT PRESIDENT JAGDEO HAS DONE IN 10 YEARS, BEARING IN MIND THAT THE PPP TOOK OVER A DAMAGED , DRAINED AND UNSTABLE COUNTRY.
This need to go before the United Nations Commission set up for complaints of torture and human rights violations. How many more of our young men, regardless of their reputations, have to be mutilated, maimed and killed before the opposition leader recognizes the gravity of the situation and escalate his concerns to a forum beyond the manipulations of the state?
its time these officials pay for their crimes, this abuse of power of the S.F. WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.
this man is somebody son, father, brother an friend.
we as guyanese must not stand and see abuse inflected against its citizens.
The SF can do their job with out causing bodily harm.
It is a sorry time when murder can be passed off with “we are investigating” The buck needs to stop somewhere. Powerful citizens should put on the cloak of humanity and throw aside that of political affiliation SO THAT CITIZENS WHO ARE LESS FORTUNATE CAN BE AFFORDED PROTECTION.
Minister Benn you were angry because of what was done to your son. Do you only feel for yours? Can’t youfell the pain that that mother feels? It should be greater than yours. Get rid of your cloak of expediency. You are in a position to help.
My question is: When will the government appoint a police commissioner rather than having someone acting? Mr. Greene cannot be effective in his duties if he carries the title acting.
Getting a new police chief is a piece of cake.
The RCMP is ready, willing and for no cost, to send one of its own to take over.
We await the call.
Jamaica and Antigua had no reservations to call for outside help and their’s was not as bad as it is in Guyana. Time for outside help.
Now that Mr Corbin has entered the fray, the Government’s back is going to be up and more resistance will be met. Perhaps he should have entered as a lawyer pro bono. Just my 10 cents on this.
Murder is murder regardless of the perpetrator.
Now we will get a bunch of lies, twists and twerls, and a plethora of nonesensical expressions. Time will pass slowly and slowly and slowly, and eventually the matter will die a slow death. The records of whatever was recorded will be lost in the storage vault of NOT TO BE RELEASED.
What tragedy.
Carl… do you really think this regime wants the RCMP finding things they don’t want come to light. I’m sure you know the answer to that one.
There is a reason why this regime will not let officials from either RCMP, FBI or Scotlant Yard take the top job for awhile and train and whip the GPF into some semblence of what a police force should be.
The writing is on the wall.
Hey check this out. The President of America has refused to allow his top aides to testify before various committes; on the firing of the state department lawyers, the exposing of the CIA operative, the Iraq coverup, torture, etc,etc, etc. Could the President of Guyana be following that modus operandi. Think about it.
Shameful and getting worse. Mr. Corbin? There you are!! Your silence up to this point has been deafening on this and the other serious matters of safety and rights of the citizenry to say the least. Anyway – better late than never my grandmother used to say.
This mother cry will not go in vain. The question is why Mr Green still in an Acting position- the editors should get some answers to that.
However, most importantly as Acting Commissioner of Police Mr Green should explain to the Opposition Leader Mr Corbin and the People of Guyana the cause of death of this young man. The mother should demand answers into the cause of death of her son. The mother and his sister was denied to even speak to her son and brother. She could not even go near to the son she gave birth to. Those who in authority how can you live with that. What kind of a system is this? Instead of getting better its getting worst. Daily so many young men and women dying for the wrong reason. Where is the human rights? God help those who have to continue to live in such situation.
i would pay more attention to the opposition leader if he call for a report on the prison break , the killing of crime victims, the killing of police officers, and the recent massacres. And i would also like him to put out in a policy statement on how he would fix the inadequacies of the security services to arrest the criminality, because the present administration seem not to be able to put a stop to it.
….. me willin’ fuh help yuh justce4all,,,, ! but yuh gat fuh pramice meh 1 ting ,,
an wah is dah yuh aks ? well yuh gat to allow meh fuh aks like GOPIEBAI,, seh,, abt who kill teekah ,, even doh im me books,, i dun no ‘e get wah ‘e look fah ,, an mo’,,, i want fuh talk abt Dr. WRodney ,, shirley feel ridley,,– she tuh get wah she look fah — dolly baksh,, and tuhmuchmo’,, suh wen yuh ready fuh guh to UN Commission ,, leh meh no ……. caz i dressin’ in de GY flag ,, suh dem at “all de nations” gon no who an wah ah come fuh talk bout……..
Development my foot, in your neighbourhood of course. There are more rotting carcasses in the tranches than there have ever been in Guyana.
The level of corruption today in Guyana is unprecedented. The PPP governs in the interest of its base, and it is from those who make up its base that the claim things are going fine emerges.
So what is your point? The argument that the wrongs of today justify the wrongs of yesterday is the last refuge for those who are ethically bankrupt. You guys argue like children, “he knack me so I gat fo knack he back”. No wonder the Jamaicans describe the nation as a “crumbling democracy”.
Who is this negative person? What the hell has Burnham got to do with this? 2 wrongs don’t make a right, yes I agree that Mr Niles had no right to be in possession of any type of ammunition, however that does not warrent him to be beaten and treated like a dog, by the same people who are paid to police and protect his well being regardless of him being a convict.
This is a clear case of murder and it is evident that the government of Guyana is not in control of the country. I’m sick to death of you people constantly trying to use the race card when it comes to politics. Burnham died years ago and Holt did a decent job, but the country is a mess.
I challenge you to list five positive thing that the government has done.
Its about time Guyanese people stopped considering race as a factor when voting. Gophie leggo of the ignorance, you live in England talk sense and set an example
Gopie, I do not want to read any history,I would like you to tell me what happened back in the time you are talking about,that is anything close to what is going on in Guyana now,tell me when every citizen had to fear for their lives,tell me when the very people who are supposed to protect you,are feared by you,and tell me how damaged drained and unstable the country was when people were quite happy to go home to Guyana on holiday without fear,and we had a respectable government,people who were suited to their roles,a president who had some class,even though he was not loved by most people you had to admire the way he carried himself,don’t get me wrong,I am not a PNC never was ,but one cannot help but notice the decline that Guyana has suffered in most areas,such a shame.