PNCR insisting on inquest into Donna Herod’s death

The PNCR is insisting that an inquest be held into the death of Donna Herod who was gunned down in Buxton/Friendship during a police operation to ferret out criminals from the East Coast Demerara village in September.

The PNCR at its weekly press conference yesterday said that “It is a scandal that more than four months after Donna Herod’s life was snuffed out by a bullet from elements of the security forces, no inquest has been held into her death.” Reiterating its call that an inquest “must be held” into Herod’s death, the party said that it has now become the modus operandi for the PPP/C administration to be long on promises and short on action.

Police Commissioner (ag) Henry Greene has been adamant that the bullet that killed Herod did not come from the police. He had said that the police in the operation were heading in a different direction when Herod was killed.

The mother of nine was killed while on her way to collect her children from nursery school because of the operation which was being conducted at the time.

Herod’s death had sparked outrage in the Buxton community and several organizations and political parties had condemned the police operation and called for an independent investigation to be conducted.

The Guyana Human Rights Association in condemning the killing of the 47-year-old mother had said that the police operation in the village was ill-conceived, badly executed and poorly led. The association had said that the Guyana Police Force and the government needed to move decisively to erase any impression that they were dissembling or evading responsibility for what it termed a bungled operation.

Chairman of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) and former Chancellor of the Judiciary, Cecil Kennard in handing over the report on the killing to the Director of Public Prosecutions had recommended that an inquest be speedily held.