A military court has ordered that Second Lieutenant Duane Rigby be discharged from duty after he was convicted on Tuesday afternoon for being out of the barracks beyond 18:00 hrs without permission from headquarters on the day Corporal Wesley Hopkinson and Private Colwin Harris died following a boat mishap in the Cuyuni River.
Rigby’s attorney Nigel Hughes says he considers the verdict perverse adding that he does not believe that the conviction is supported by the evidence produced during the court martial.
Chief of Staff Commodore Gary Best was to have confirmed the sentence yesterday but up to press time when contacted, Best told this newspaper that he had not yet dealt with the matter.
Harris and Hopkinson were two of six soldiers on December 8, 2008 who were on board a GDF vessel which collided with a civilian vessel in the river. Reports had indicated that four soldiers were thrown into the river; two made it back to the safety of the boat but 27-year-old Hopkinson and 21-year-old Harris did not. Their colleagues immediately set about scouring the area in an effort to locate them but their bodies were only found days after.
Rigby was the officer in charge of the base at the time but evidence pointed to the fact that he was not present at the base when the mishap occurred.
He was subsequently charged with allowing the soldiers to leave the location without permission from headquarters, allowing them to visit Tobat, an internet café along the river, and leaving the location without receiving permission from headquarters.
During the trial, Hughes had argued that Rigby had left the base at three in the afternoon and while away he received a report that the military boat had encountered an accident and he immediately went in search of his men.
“To find him guilty on these grounds even though he was looking for his men at the time is a little perverse. He couldn’t go back to get permission to go look for the men,” he argued.
Stabroek News learnt that during the trial, one of Rigby’s superiors attested to his character as a very good soldier, young and with a good future in the force.
This newspaper was also told that Rigby had an unblemished record during his service in the army.
Stabroek News was also told that as news spread of Rigby’s conviction, many of his fellow officers were surprised and noted that although he had breached Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) by not returning to the location before 18:00hrs, the penalty was far too severe.
The army’s board of inquiry into the incident found “administrative breaches to the Force’s Standing Orders” and the
Army in a release had stated that this would have resulted in disciplinary action against those found guilty.
