– police arrest Clarke’s friend
– berated over bulletin for ‘Crack head’
One of the six men wanted in connection with last Wednesday’s attacks in the city, yesterday turned up at the Brickdam Police Station accompanied by a lawyer and the mother of another lashed out at the police for releasing photographs and other information without “stating the facts”.
Muammar Jabbar
The investigation intensified yesterday when vanloads of policemen converged on James Street, Albouystown and, after searching several houses, arrested a 22-year-old man for questioning about his association with one of the wanted men.
While making no mention of the arrest of 22-year-old Muammar Jabbar, police said in a press release last evening that the correct name of Trevor Archer, for whom a wanted bulletin was issued, was Troy Ellis. The 33-year-old man of Yarrowkabra, Soesdyke/Linden Highway, the release said, went to the Brickdam Police Station around 11 am accompanied by his lawyer. Up to press time last night, he was still in police custody assisting with the investigation.
Clarke called ‘Pumpkin’ or ‘Perkin’; Ellis, Colin Jones called `Bunny’; Kurt Thierens called ‘Glasses’; Shawn Benn and arson accused Keith Ferrier called `General’ are wanted for questioning in relation to murder, robbery and setting fire to public buildings on November 4.
Charles clarke
Jones and Thierens had previously escaped from the Providence Police Station lockups shortly after they were held for questioning into the Ministry of Health Fire. The wanted bullets were issued on Tuesday night.
‘Scapegoats’
Yesterday Shawn Benn’s mother was very upset over the way police were handling the investigation when Stabroek News spoke to her.
At first, Vilma Benn berated this newspaper for carrying the photographs and bulletins about the men. But after it was explained to her that the information was provided by the police, she branded that as wrong.
“Police have no right to give the media any information without the facts. This should have never happened,” Vilma Benn stated during a heated interview in which she criticized the government while vowing to get to the bottom of the matter.
Vilma Benn, who recently arrived in the country from Canada, told this newspaper that her son is a “Crack head” and that drug addicts would not do the things her son is being implicated in.
Kurt Thierens
“Why didn’t they come here?” she questioned, pointing out that the police should have never published his photograph before first attempting to locate him.
“This is wrong! Wrong! Police got to get their facts together,” she said.
This newspaper asked whether she had contacted the police to express her feelings and the woman said she will not do so because she knows she will get no satisfaction, since the police “always tell themselves they right.
“They ain’t got no right ridiculing people’s children in the newspaper without facts.”
The angry woman said that after her son’s photograph was published she began receiving numerous phone calls and she decided to come home.
This newspaper asked how the police would have gotten a photograph of Shawn Benn and his mother responded that he had been deported from Canada. She did not say for what or when.
Shawn Benn
She acknowledged that her son has always been in and out of trouble and stated that since she arrived she had not spoken to him. When this newspaper enquired if she knew where he was, she said she did not wish to speak further.
Vilma Benn said that while Guyana is her country and her home, it had now become “stink” with the things that are happening.
Stabroek News has been informed that the last information on Benn was that he was an inmate of the Camp Street prison but it is unclear if he was on remand or a convict.
Vilma Benn stated that he has a case before the court.
Friend held
Troy Ellis
Meanwhile, relatives of Charles Clarke expressed concern yesterday that his friend, Muammar Jabbar of 33 James Street, Albouystown had been arrested by the police.
Jabbar’s father Hector said last evening that police told him his son would have to be detained until today, since they are investigating a report that he was seen with a wanted man. The man said while he was not given a name for the person he suspected that it was Clarke, his son’s former schoolmate and very good friend.
“I could put me head on a block, this man [Clarke] ain’t been in this country for a long time now,” Hector said. “Clarke is a decent fellow. I don’t know where this fabrication came from.”
He said his son, too, was a hard-working man and when he was arrested he was waiting on his lunch.
Colin Jones
Hector recalled that van loads of policemen drove into the area as if they were looking for criminals and when he attempted to ascertain why his son was held, he was cursed at and a gun pulled on him.
Jabbar’s sister who was at home at the time of the incident recounted to this newspaper that around 1.30 pm she saw lots of policemen standing on the road in front of their house.
She said she then saw a policeman in the kitchen and after finding out if she was alone and her age, he said he was going to search the house.
The young woman who did not want her name published said that the policeman did not her give a reason, but looked around before leaving.
She said policemen then went over the road to another building where her brother was sleeping and arrested him. He was later taken to the CID Headquarters, Eve Leary.
Records
Meanwhile, police said they have taken note of comments made in the media by relatives of Clarke, claiming that he has been out of the country since May this year.
“The Police Force wishes to state that a check of the records at the Central Immigration and Passport Office has revealed that Charles Clarke left Guyana on November 10, 2008, and returned to the country on March 31, 2009. There is no record of him leaving the country since his return,” the statement said.
Keith Ferrier
Clarke’s relatives had told this newspaper that on Wednesday that he could not have committed the crimes as he was overseas since May. They said they could not disclose his location since “the Guyana Police Force could not be trusted”.
They said relatives were in possession of Clarke’s recent pay slips which gave an indication of his whereabouts in the Caribbean.
When contacted yesterday, however, an aunt denied saying that she was in possession of the pay slips. “I didn’t say I had them. I said that I could get them,” the woman stated before informing this newspaper that efforts to contact the young man yesterday were futile.
Clarke’s sister Merlyn confirmed that no contact was made with him but acknowledged that he is in neigbouring French Guiana where he had secured a job and had recently called his father saying that he would be returning home for Christmas.
She called on the relevant authorities to check telephone records, which would prove that the call was made from French Guiana.
Clarke’s grandmother Norma explained that they kept calling but were only getting his voicemail. She once again recounted that he had returned home around March/April from Trinidad and Tobago where he had been working in the construction industry. While here, he got word that a relative in French Guiana had some work and instead of returning to the twin island republic, he opted to go there.
According to Norma he left in May and has not been back since. Asked how she could be sure of this, the woman was adamant that if he had arrived in the country relatives and his friends would have known as he was not the type of person who would hide from them.
“He is not in need of anything. He does work hard for whatever he wants. He doesn’t have any cause to be in criminal activities,” the woman stressed.
She repeatedly stated that her grandson would not have been in this country when the attacks occurred and remained baffled as to why the police would try to link him to them.
This is outrageous….always targeting the ghetto youths whenever anything happens….ALWAYS!!!
What was it you said in a past comment? ‘Who the cap fits, let them wear it”?
them bannas head lil…and that cap big!!!
Sorry SandHurst. I know how it feels to be a victim of racial profiling. Here in the US, I have been mistaken for a Mexican, Middle-Eastern terrorist, Asian, and a few others. I have been told ‘we all look alike’. I learn to deal with some harsh realities.
Targeting ghetto youths happen all over the world. In Harlem USA, I was picked up in a street sweep with all the other African-Americans. Spent the night in jail and released without explanation. I was on my lunch break.
SandHurst kindly obtain a comment from your fellow Guyanese Dr. Van West Charles on how he would have handled the recent upheavals in the society and what he thinks need to be done.
Very nice. Laws in Guyana are made that birds of prey cannot perch.In light of the criminal situation in Guyana, the government has a right to exact retribution.
This is interesting and gets more interesting by the day. At the end of the day it must be Justice For All
SN thanks for putting back the “Related Articles” link
Thank God in not in the GPF any more because they are now POLWEST not POLICE
She said this country ’stinks” the question who making it stinks for decent citizens?
The gpf needs to do a thorough investigation before putting wanted bulletin for suspects, and family of these suspects needs to be truthful in the where about of their relatives before they become a statistic, in these times you can’t even trust the gpf because they makes decent people become wanted.
IF THE POLICE PICK YOU UP SAY, ON SUSPICION OF ROBBERY THEY TAKE A MUG SHOT OF YOU HOLDING A CARD WITH ROBBERY UNDER ARMS OR WHATEVER AND EVEN IF YOU ARE THE WRONG PERSON AND RELEASED, THE PICTURE IS NOT DESTROYED, THEY HAVE ALREADY FOUND YOU GUILTY EVEN IF THE COURT DONT. THAT MY FRIEND IS LIFE IN GUYANA. DID I TELL YOU THAT THEY SEARCH YOUR HOME WITHOUT WARRANT? EVEN IF YOUR YOUNG KID IS HOME ALONE, THEY WOULD STILL GO IN.
True dat nitti gritti, as the women said it in the article, they searched her home and i bet they didn’t show a warrant.
… it’s coming apart at the seams ! how come ???? too many players ,, and of course with very little or no intelligence ,, the payoff ,, was enticing ,, but to keep it clean ,, is not easy ,, the police is picking up the scent of the trail ,,, a lil bit of common sense is all dat is needed sometimes ,,
By accepting the plea deal R.K accepted crimes as charged therefore he is responsible for the death squad that reeked havoc on this nation.
1.Where was this police force and their investigative abilities then.
2.Why are all these men petty thieves with previous brushes with the law.(these are the same type of individuals the phantom was eliminating to rid Guyana of criminals)Are we witnessing a new approach to what they had before.
3.If the government claim they had this man phone since 2002 tell me who was listening to peoples’ conversation and what equipment was been used.Mind you the wire tapping law was passed last year.
4.Who was tapping phones for the government.Why was the government tapping phones
5.Why are we requesting information from the US,the public,the opposition parties,the GHRA to start an investigation into R.K death squad weren’t these police documenting and investigating these crime. Why should we believe they have improve there investigative skill when they are still torturing suspects.
Answer these questions then add a few names to the wanted list.
This is no secret People travel to Suriname without Passport through the back a process the Government of Guyana is fully aware off. I personally stood at the back track and saw government officials use Boyo Landing to go to Suriname instead of Moleson Creek so the notion of their records bear that he came but no records of him leaving is just a joke ….how yo think roger khan and and the trainer for the spy equipment got in Guyana……..GOG think people stupid!!!
If the police check their immigration records they will c that roger khan is still in guyana.
they do not have any records of him leaving guyana, but we all know that he is in the US jail.
It is easier to travel backtrack to Surinam enroute to French Guyana than to wait for that ferry that makes one trip per day. Travelling by the ferry will cause one to sleep in Paramaribo but travelling backtrack one can be in French Guyana by the evening.Back Track is back track and everyone uses it. If it is so wrong why do customs collect duties at their convenience.Why the govt and the police dont stop the boats from operating.The matter requires more that emotion. When we allow the police to make up laws as they go along it will only time before they will make laws for us. I notice some of the same persons who in the past enbolden the police, last week they were singing a different tune but this week the tune change to the original. Wat you sow is that what you will reap. God bless.
totally agree with you Linden Drakes,, well said!!!
they have his pay stub, now they can get it.
he is in Trinidad, now in French Guyana.
excuses and more excuses, the GPF will find him and prove to every one he is in Guyana.
THERE ARE NO RECORDS OF HIM LEAVING AFTER HIS LAST ARRIVAL.
NEW THEORY, CRACK HEAD”S DON”T COMMIT CRIMES.
well for her info guyana is stink because of the criminals who have been in and out of trouble yet they are innocent.
Good blog Freespeech. They tell so much lies that they get themselves in a tangle. Everyday SN speak with them, they come up with a different theory “crack heads do not commit crimes”…Phew!!! Tomorrow it will be “they thought it was a toy gun and the channa bombs were a pack of candies for Halloween”. So ridiculous!!! This will keep the no hopers happy during the weekend while we take a fun break with our families!!!
Freespeech- Maybe you are as smart as you are pretending to be. The family don’t have to prove anything. Many people leave Guyana without going through immigration(common pratice). The burden of proof is the police’s job. Your personnal attack on a family that you don’t know, says alot about you.
I see many of your blogges. You very anti guyanese people. I think you are living in the wrong country, you should be back in Guyana as part of the government. You will fit in perfectly.
carl i say it like i see it.
just the facts.
freespeech, i like how you suddenly are getting your facts from the SN’s. then all that was published about the pee pee pee government and their supporters in the SN’s are facts. i always knew how you people got your facts, thats why you rail against the papers when you read the facts.
freespeech, Bannas do you understand the concept of “PROBABLE CAUSE” as it relates to the Judicial system??. Because my friend, the Police has the responsibility to show “PROBABLE CAUSE” before issuing any APB or WANTED BULLETIN. I don’t think that they can just ’round-up; the usual suspects, Bannas this is the 21st century, is’t it??.. The Police should state the reason as to why these named individuals are identified as the PERPS associated with this crime and why.
This case has the makings of a classic ‘Class Action LAW Suit’ against the Police for poor practices and procedures. However, only a retired Lawyer would take such a case because it would be difficult if not near impossible to prove or recover damages for those not guilty. Nevertheless, somebody locally should give it a shot because in a jury trial anything could happen, besides this case would set a precedent for future Police behavior.
freespeech, if the foolice records are so accurate, how come they are looking for a man they say has been dead for several weeks?
Seems like the police raking and scraping to put this case together. Those who have been arrested are lucky that the public has been making their voices heard. As a result, no one has been killed by the police, yet.
Immigration records will not have Charles name as leaving the country if he used the ‘back track.’ This is an illegal route condoned by both the governments of Guyana and Suriname. So dont start shouting why he left through that route.
Io now C y them nuh want d British down deh, So they can carry on with their profiling.
one thing more where are the fax and scanner machine.