The police are seeking to meet with Mayor Hamilton Green to “confirm” statements made by still detained former army officer Oliver Hinckson during a press conference at City Hall on February 1 but the mayor has declined the invitation based on legal advice.
Green yesterday told Stabroek News that a senior superintendent asked him on Thursday to go to Police headquarters at Eve Leary to confirm statements made by Hinckson during the press conference and initially he had agreed to go. “He said it had something to do with what Hinckson said during the press conference and initially I decided I would go,” Green said.
He subsequently made contact with his lawyer who advised him that there was no need for him to respond to such an invitation.
“I was extremely busy that day with the council’s budget and so I called them back, after I was advised and told the officer that I was advised not to come,” he said. Green said there was no suggestion of criminal intent during his conversation with the officer and told this newspaper too that the officer was very cordial. On February 1 Green hosted a press conference to address matters of the municipality. However Hinckson, Dorian Massay and other former officers showed up and Green broke off from his briefing to allow Hinckson to speak, after which he resumed the press conference. Many have said it seemed as though the intervention was pre-arranged. Yesterday both Hinckson and Massay remained in police custody.
One of the attorney’s from the chambers of Moore, Harmon, Sobers and Gaskin, Gregory Gaskin yesterday visited the men at Eve Leary. Gaskin reported to Prime News that no charges have been laid against the men and that the police were still investigating.
However the attorney said he was concerned about some of the issues regarding the men’s detention. Asked about a habeas corpus application being filed on his client’s behalf, Gaskin explained that the law was clear on this matter and dictates that the men could be held for 72 hours after which the police had the option of asking the court for more time. He said both men were co-operating with the police.
About reports that the police are looking at statements made by Hinckson as being seditious, Gaskin said the police were free to make any assumption they wanted to, “but they would have to translate their suspicions into charges, then we will have a legal position.”
He questioned whether the police’s suspicions were sufficient to continue to hold the men.
This newspaper has since learnt that charges may be laid against the two men and they will face the magistrate courts on Monday. A police statement on Wednesday night, the same day the arrests were made, said that the two were arrested in connection with public statements made prior to the “terrorism activities (inflicted) upon the Bartica community”. The police said they were also searching for other persons allegedly linked to the event which preceded this “terrorist act” in Bartica.
Government spokesman Dr. Roger Luncheon was on Thursday drilled by reporters on the matter of the men’s arrest and started off his response by saying it was no secret that many of the criminal gangs which exist benefited from the presence of ex-servicemen.
“I don’t believe it is a secret that many of the gangs have benefited from the presence of former members of the joint services,” Luncheon told the media at the Office of the President.
He also said that he believed that the men were being held in the context of criminal matters for which they were wanted.
At the city hall press conference Hinckson among other things, suggested that the recent killings were more than a criminal problem and suggested that all the evidence pointed in that direction. In that regard, he recommended some form of discourse between government and the disenchanted.
“There must be some discourse between the so-called insurgents, those with a grievance and those who have the capacity to assist in that negotiation,” he had said.
Further, Hinckson said that he and other ex-servicemen were prepared, “fully knowing that we do not have a tacit hand or an actual hand in any kind of mischief, but we are prepared to risk our lives, venture into Buxton and assist in some kind of negotiation between the government and the disenchanted.”
A green pick-up pulled up outside Hinckson’s home early Wednesday morning, this newspaper was reliably informed, and two men in plainclothes disembarked. Minutes later they emerged with the two men who a source said did not resist and were also not handcuffed. This newspaper was also told that police were interested in finding out where the two men were on a few ‘particular dates’.
Hinckson and ex-soldier James Gibson have pending issues before the court on joint charges of possession of arms and ammunition. On June 6, 2006 police had said they had a .38 pistol, twelve .38 rounds and twenty-six 12-gauge shotgun cartridges in their possession at Lot 115 Aubrey Barker Street, South Ruimveldt. They both denied the allegations and were released on $75,000 bail each. Massay, a GDF cadet who had been sent on a course to the UK, returned to Guyana a few years ago after being detained on several charges while on the course. He was later discharged from the army.
