Two prison officers appeared in the Georgetown Magis-trate’s Court yesterday accused of negligence in the escape of nine convicted prisoners from the Mazaruni Prison earlier this month.
Shane James, 24, of 415 Dazzell Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara and Leyland
Agard, 32, of Beehive, East Coast Demerara and 438 Green Heart Street, Mackenzie, Linden pleaded not guilty to negligently allowing persons to escape and Acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan released them on $75,000 bail each.
The court was told that James attempted to cover for Agard and was therefore implicated in the offence.
It is alleged that on January 12 at the Mazaruni Prison the officers negligently allowed Asrudeen Khan called `Rocky’, Royston Reid called `Knuckles’, Alvin Shivnarine, Kenneth Richardson, Anil Sanichar, Ryan Rambharose, Rudolph Rodrigues, Dhineshwar Sooklall and Trevor McLean called ‘Footprint’, to escapee.
Attorneys-at-law Mark Waldron and Leslie Sobers appeared for James and Agard respectively.
The two lawyers, after lengthy submissions were able to convince the magistrate to release their clients on bail.
Waldron said James was before the court because of Agard. The lawyer said while his client was being investigated following the escape of the prisoners he provided information in an effort to assist Agard.
Waldron told the court that Agard who is James’ shift supervisor allegedly seconded James to work at a gate along with another officer. Accord-ing to the defence counsel James was not supposed to be assigned to that gate. “I don’t know if the prosecution would want to withdraw the case against him,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sobers in his submission said a certain statement would be made in favour of James.
According to the defence counsel, James ought not to have been in court and his client, Agard, is prepared to say that James was not around at the time of the escape.
Sobers said Agard is a principal officer with 13 years experience in the prison service and resides with his wife and child in the prison compound. “He was overpowered by nine escapees and had to flee for his life… Being pounced upon and having no firearm one would take evasive action to save one’s life”.
According to Sobers although his client has been interdicted from duty, he has not lost his job. He said the case could have been dealt with departmentally.
Prosecutor Maxine Graham in response to the submissions said she is not objecting to bail, but that she wouldn’t withdraw the charge against James. She said that in the initial stages of the investigation advice was sought about the case as a result of which both defendants were charged criminally and not under the Prisons Act.
After listening to the arguments from both sides the magistrate suggested bail of $200,000. But Waldron argued that the two are still employed as prison officers and receive small salaries. He said the men cannot be put into an environment with persons they supervise as that would be a death sentence.
Waldron added that during the investigation, the two were not kept in custody and were cooperating. He said when they heard that they were going to court the defendants made no attempt to flee.
The magistrate later reduced the bail to $75,000 and ordered the duo to return to the Bartica Magistrate’s Court on February 21.
It was around 4.30 pm on January 12 that the escapees overpowered 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 a friendly fire incident. The injured men were air-dashed to the Georgetown Hospital for medical attention.
Within a week and a half all nine were recaptured and were back in their cells at the Mazaruni Prisons. Shortly after, they were transported to the Georgetown prison where they were grilled and an investigation was launched into the escape.
The two defendants were also questioned and after investigations it was discovered that there was some negligence on their part.
On Monday five of the prisoners – Asrudeen Khan, Royston Reid, Alvin Shivnarine, Kenneth Richardson and Anil Sanichar were each sentenced to three years in prison by Acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan. This sentence will be added to the ones that they are currently serving.
The other four prisoners should appear in court before the end of the week.
