Five of the Mazaruni prison escapees appeared in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court charged with escaping from lawful custody.
The convicts never hesitated to plead guilty to their individual charges, but followed their pleas with a list of complaints including victimization, poor quality food and poor medical attention.
The remaining four escapees will make their court appearance today.
Arsudeen Khan called `Rocky, Royston Reid called `Knuckles’, Alvin Shivnarine, Kenneth Richardson and Anil Sanichar were each sentenced to three years in prison by Acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan. Their sentences will run consecutively with the sentences they are currently serving.
The five defendants and four others escaped from the Mazaruni prison on January 12 and within ten days they all were recaptured.
Khan and Richardson were serving sentences for manslaughter, Shivnarine for murder, Reid for possession of narcotics and Sanichar for robbery with aggravation.
Just after 2 pm yesterday the convicts arrived at court dressed in yellow prison suits. They were transported in a 4×4 vehicle and were handcuffed but without the presence of heavily armed ranks.
In court they sat in the docks with their handcuffs on, their faces expressionless, and at intervals they chatted with each other.
They all made it clear after admitting to escaping that they wanted to give the court an explanation for their actions.
Khan told the court that the break out was not a premeditated act. He said he is constantly victimized at the Mazaruni Prison.
“When yo talking for your own rights yo getting licks. They don’t even have no proper medication for any kind of sickness. Yo does get one pain tablet for any complaint yo get. If you tell them that yo heart hurting yo get pain tablet. If yo get fresh cold is pain tablet yo getting too. We don’t even see Tylenol in there. All we does get is Panadol.”
Shivnarine said that during the five months he has been incarcerated at the facility all of his human rights have been violated by the prison administration. He said asked to be brought back to Georgetown but that request was denied. “De food they does give we don’t cook with no oil, garlic and other ingredients. They just boiling everything up and giving we.”
Looking directly at the magistrate, Shivnarine told the court that a week before the breakout he was beaten because he was protesting for medical attention. He said his escape was just a way of getting back to Georgetown and it was not planned.
Meanwhile, Reid told the court that some of the officers at the prison are not doing their jobs professionally and this makes the inmates frustrated.
“It was rather more a cry for help than freedom. I am asking for leniency because I am only serving a possession of narcotics charge.”
The other two defendants also asked the court to grant them leniency.
Police Prosecutor Maxine Graham told the court that the five defendants are charged under a serious Act. She said if the sentences were to run concurrently with their present sentences then justice will not be served. Graham asked that the new sentences be added on to the present ones.
“They were already convicted and put in a place of confinement. They didn’t want to adhere to the rules of that confinement,” she said.
Reid, after listening to her comments, begged the prosecutor to take note of the treatment meted out to the prisoners at the facility.
After listening to them, the magistrate handed down the lightest penalty for that charge to the convicts.
It was around 4.30 pm on January 12 that the escapees overpowered two guards at the brick prison and made their way out of the gate to the fence where they were spotted by two guards who raised an alarm. The nine convicts fled into the dense forest surrounding the prison and within hours a massive search operation by the joint services was launched.
Around 7.30 that night, in an area called Skull Point, four servicemen – two prison officers and two police constables – were wounded during friendly fire. The injured men were air dashed to Georgetown Hospital for medical attention.
Three days after the escape, the nine convicts were confronted by members of the joint services while walking along the Karau trail, Bartica. During the confrontation the men were shot at as they tried to escape. Trevor McLean called ‘Footprint’, Anil Sanichar, Royston Reid called ‘Knuckles’ and Alvin Shivnarine surrendered and the others fled further into the bush.
A few days after that Asrudeen Khan called ‘Rocky’ was nabbed after he stopped a boat captain in the vicinity of Kamayra and requested a drop. After the captain questioned him intensely, Khan admitted that the police were looking for him.
Then Dhineshwar Sooklall of Wakenaam was recaptured by the Joint Services at an abandoned house at Karau.
Ten days after the jail break the other three, Kenneth Richardson, Ryan Rambharose and Rudolph were captured.
Following their recapture the convicts were transported to the Georgetown prison where they were grilled and an investigation was launched into the escape.
Stabroek News understands that today two prison officers from the Mazaruni detention centre will appear in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court over the incident.
