The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) has dubbed the quality of the statements sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys case and her eventual recommendation that no charges should be filed another scandal of immense proportion in Guyana.
The WPA, in a press release issued yesterday, referred to the incident and subsequent developments as a cynical obstruction of justice. The party pointed to what it called the wilful failure of the police to provide the DPP with evidence that, “citizens know fully well they have in their possession”.
The political party said this latest development in the matter was “just the latest in the series of fiascos emanating from the halls of justice in Guyana”.
“Citizens who were anxiously awaiting the results of the Director of Public Prosecutions Shalimar Ali Hack’s review of the statements sent to her by the police were appalled that Mr Gilhuys should not be charged [with] the commission of any offence. This is yet another scandal of immense proportion,” the release said.
It added that for Acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene to “claim all of the issues the DPP had raised were addressed by the police is to make fools of the public.
“The DPP should say if she was advised if she was advised that Mr Gilhuys had an unlicensed firearm in his possession at the time of the shooting; a firearm that he refused to hand over to the police. If she was not so advised, Greene must say why this was not done. After all, it was the police themselves in their initial public response to the shooting who pointed this out. If this information was drawn to the DPP’s attention, it is incumbent on her to say why she did not recommend that a charge consistent with this offence be laid against Gilhuys. Or is Gilhuys above the law?”
The release said it was strange that the police and the government “have once again signalled that they are prepared to close ranks behind one of their own”, even though they claim that they are concerned about illegal possession of weapons and are working assiduously to eradicate this offence.
The party also used the opportunity in the release yesterday to call on the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) to take steps to demonstrate its abhorrence of the situation by refusing to attend any court, which “Magistrate Gilhuys will dare to preside over in the future”.
