– left to die in police station compound
A 42-year-old electrician was battered to death by unknown persons between Monday night and early yesterday morning and so far police have been unable to determine the circumstances that led to the incident.
Dead is Ardell Haynes of 1290 Spurwing Drive, South Ruimveldt Park. He sustained serious injuries to the head and face and was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital some time after 3 am.
Ardell Haynes
Police said in a statement yesterday that the beating occurred at Pirai Place, East La Penitence. However, a resident of that area said the man was found in Meadow Brook badly battered by a group of young men who were looking for a man who had just broken into a house in Pirai Place. The group initially thought the injured man, who was later identified as Haynes, was the thief they were looking for.
Up to press time yesterday no one had been held in connection with Haynes’s death.
At his home, his reputed wife Sheril Sydney said Haynes was a heavy drinker.
She said Haynes, with whom she had a ten-year-old daughter, was a well-known electrician who had wired places such as National Pride and Tropical View. At the time of his death, she said, he was working at Swansea.
According to Sydney, he had no known problems with anyone that could have led to such a brutal end to his life.
She said that when he left home in the morning, he would return around 4.30 pm, but if she did not see him around that time it meant he was out drinking with his friends.
She said his usual drinking spot was on Norton Street, but on his way home he would ride through Meadow Brook cross over Aubrey Barker Road and turn into Cane View Avenue so as to avoid the traffic. The bicycle he was riding as well as his spectacles and cap, she said, were missing.
Sydney, who works at night, said that her daughter called her around 8.30 on Monday night to say that her father had not returned home. She said the child told her she had called his cellular phone but the number rang out. She asked her mother to make an attempt to contact him because she wanted to go to her bed.
Sydney said she tried calling Haynes around 11 pm, but she too did not get through and didn’t bother to call back, because she assumed that he was somewhere drinking. She said too that when he was imbibing he did not answer his phone when she called.
The woman said her nephew was the last person to speak with her husband and from all appearances while he was being beaten, somehow the nephew’s number was redialled accidentally.
She explained that the nephew answered but didn’t hear anyone on the other end, However, when he reviewed the number he realized that it was his uncle’s and called back.
“When he call a male answer and [he was] hearing in the background… ‘y’all don’t kill dat man’, [he was] hearing women and men’s voices,” Sydney said. She said her nephew told her that a man answered the phone and he asked to speak with his uncle, but the man tried to pass himself off as Haynes before ending the call. This happened twice, she said.
Sydney said that when her nephew contacted her with this development, she decided to ring the East La Penitence Police Station; this was some time after 3 am. She said she wanted to enquire whether there had been reports of anyone who had been beaten. She said her call went unanswered and she then rang her husband’s cellular phone. It was answered by a man who identified himself as “police”. She said she was then told to redial the station’s number and this time a policewoman answered and told her “yes, they bring in a man and they say how the man is a thief”.
The woman said she relayed this information and three relatives went to the station where they found Haynes lying in the sand between some traffic motorcycles in the station compound. The rain was falling in a light drizzle at the time, she said.
“Apparently, after they go and they seh he is a thief, the [officers] at the station… ain’t even budge to see if the man blue, black, pink or what,” she added.
According to her, when they saw him one eye of his eyes was closed and badly swollen and he was not responsive, but breathing. His forehead was also badly swollen.
Sydney said they picked Haynes up from the station yard and took him to the hospital where he was pronounced DOA; the police did not stop them from moving him nor did any police officer accompany them to the hospital.
Break in
Meanwhile, Christine Canterbury, a resident of Pirai Square, East La Penitence told this newspaper that someone had broken into her home early yesterday morning. She recounted that around 2 am she was awakened by shouts of thief. She said the person had entered the upper flat of her home through a window near the veranda. She said the person stole a television set but as he was making his getaway persons in the area saw him and raised an alarm.
According to the woman, the man dropped the appliance and fled through a nearby alley, but a group of young men pursued him.
Shortly after she said a badly beaten man was taken to her home and she was asked whether he was the thief.
The persons, inclusive of young men from the area, said they had found the man staggering in Meadow Brook. She said the man was asked how he had sustained his injuries and after he did not respond he was taken to her home. The resident insisted that the beating the man suffered did not occur in Pirai Square. She said that there was visible swelling of his forehead, but she did not recognize the man as she did not see the thief when he fled. She added that no one in the area could identify the man as the person who had broken into her home.
The man was subsequently taken to the police station.
Police later visited the woman’s home and conducted investigations.
Fellow Guyanese, it is indeed a sad day.. I cant imagine what this man’s family is feeling right now.Even if teh man was the thief, he was obviously outnumbered by teh youths, could they just hand him over to the police… and secondly the Police at the East La Penitence station, couldn’t they have taken the man to the hospital/
NO RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE. SAD SO SAD.
Inhumane! Was Ardell Haynes a ‘drunk’, a thief or a victim of a robbery? The police did not even bother to find out. They left him lying there injured and dying between cycles – in the sand and rain!
Mr. Greene must investigate this situation with haste and deal with these officers who more than likely did not want to go into the inclement weather to do the jobs that they signed on to do.
To think that some folks are advocating pay increases for these inept masqueraders!
I totally agree with this person- Mr. Green should do something about this situation. It seems like the police force is lacking a hole lot in doing their job.
the funeral homes in guyana will never go out of business @ this rate.
How very sad1
this story gat me so mixed up while reading it. so many moving pieces and bits and pieces of information.
as the police investigate the case they should also investigate the actions or lack of on those police officers who were on duty that night also.
Well what a way to die my sympathy goes out to the victim’s family, it looks like a group of people going to jail for christmas for this man death matters what the situation is citizens cannot take the law in their own hands .
You forgot this does’nt happen in Guyana.Guyana is now like the outlaw days, catch a horse thief and string him up.
You are not supposed to treat an animal like this, nor a thief. You dont even know if he was the thief.
I am feeling very bad about the future of my beloved country.In my heart I’ll always be a guyanese, but I really dont know what the future holds, Its Questionable.
I dont intend to blame PPP nor the PNC, but they both had a shot at this, and 42 years later Guyana is still 30 years backwards than the outside world. So you go figure, What have they done for the Younger Ones that are growing up in a crime ridden country filled with rape, abusers, robbers,
thieves, killing, ect etc, How can these people get a good night’s sleep without being afraid.
Unless a change is made, any changes, Guyana’s future is
questionable. I believe politians are out for an ego trip at the expence of the people, Their lives get fatter and
lawlessness will continue to prevail.I believe it will take a DIE HARD BUSINESS MAN WHO IS ALREADY RICH to run this country, and not someone who is out for a trip.
Poor man needs help, Some roads are built only in certain places, some get water in only certain places,Some areas no electricity, These are the kind of things going on. Racial feelings still Exit,
If you’re smart you can figure it out.
Until you agree to run this country without prejudice, this country will be the same, only going in circles, the rich get richer and the poor man has to wallow in crime to survive.
Indian and Blacks have to rule.
Then and only then can we see prosrerity.
Just my opinium, as from today , I will continue to do my share of Giving to the poor and needy, schools, house of worship,widows and orphans as I was doing since 1970. My help has got bigger and better, as the Lord was good to me.
However I have decided to enjoy the rest of my life where I am living. Very comfortable, and safe.
My biggest joy was to see my help going to all races, and poor people of Guyana.I am very satisfied with myself, and the help that I give, as a one man help. I dont need for it to be on the front page, My Allah sees.I can do it all on my own. He has blessed me, and the more I give the more I get, so he takes care of me.
May god bless all of you.
so true, but it’s happening.
Sounds like they beat this man for no reason. Did they find him with the television and could they not tell that he was drunk? they saw him staggering. Them police is something else they should be fired.
I am 100% with you on this
It is clear, that people are continuing to take the law into their hands.Some bloggers have suggested various ways of dealing with suspects,by citizens.Recently four young men were charged for murder of a known thief.This is not the way to go.
My God” is what wrong with with us in Guyana..I am including myself since I still live here. Even if the man is a thief..and i dought he is..how can the police just leave him there to die..I do hope that we are all prepared to deal with the consequences of all this innocent blood being spilled. May God help us all.
This is a clear case of mistaken identify that turned tragic. And it was only a matter of time that someone would loose their life because of vigilante justice, which has become the ‘rage’ of late in GY. The GPF needs to find the “mob” that did this and charge them with murder. Also, the commander of the East La Penitence outpost should institute immediate disciplinary action against the staff on duty the night Mr. Haynes was brought in, for their negligence and unprofessional attitude, given the urgency of Mr. Haynes condition, by neglecting to get him the prompt medical treatment that he deserved.
SWatt…I am saying that from the officer in-charge of that shift right down addresses should have already changed ( Lot 12 Camp Street ) Prison.This is unbelievable..We need to re axamine these ranks to make sure they are humans…I am sure they do not know one single person that took that man to the Station..My inside is boiling man..imagine anyone of us in that man’s position being beaten to death for no reason…Real Advantage on this family…my condolences….sad..
SWAT , YOU AND SOLDIER ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE MAKING SOME SENSE HERE THIS IS A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY, THIS MAN WAS AN ELECTRIAN AND A FAMILY MAN, I DOES NOT EVEN SOUND RIGHT HIM BREAKING INTO A HOUSE AND STEALING A TV. THE POLICE SHOULD HAVE BEEN LOCKED UP FOR THEIR INDIFFERENCE TO HUMAN LIFE, BUT ITS GUYANA AND NOTHING WILL COME OUT OF THIS .
my sympathy goes out to ardell,s family,we went to christ church secondary, people has got to stop taking matters into their own hands, i hope that justice is served in this case and as for the police they are so inhuman the man was taken there badly injured and they just left him on the ground like a piece of trash , is that the way you were thought in training school to treat people