(Audio) ‘I was shot with live round’

-Linden seamstress tells inquiry

A seamstress who participated in the July 18 Linden protest testified yesterday that she helped to block a road to the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge and she was later shot with a live round to her left shoulder.

“I assisted in putting a piece of old iron on the road… that was around 4 o’ clock,” Janice Bergan, a Mackenzie resident yesterday told the commission inquiring into the events of July 18, when three men— Allan Lewis, Ron Somerset, and Shemroy Bouyea—were fatally shot and others were wounded.

Responding to questions posed by Commissioner Dana Seetahal, the witness said that she participated in putting garbage to block the road so that nothing could get across the bridge. “There were so many others doing it but I was not a part of that,” she added, explaining that she only assisted a few men in the blockage.

Mackenzie seamstress Janice Bergan during her testimony yesterday

Attorney Peter Hugh, who is representing the Guyana Police Force, asked the witness why she took part in these activities. “The man was struggling with the iron so I assisted,” she said, adding, after further questioning, that she did not know why she took it upon herself to do so and that she was unaware that it was illegal to block a roadway.

Bergan, who was led in evidence by Legal Counsel for the Commission of Inquiry Ganesh Hira, said that she arrived at the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge at approximately 10am that day and she observed people standing. She noted that she had expected to move off from this area to the Toucan Call Centre as was planned, but the crowd became larger and persons instead stayed at the bridge.

The first time she had seen police ranks was around 12:30pm, when about a dozen of them arrived, she said. One of them, speaking over a loudhailer, advised the protestors to return to their homes. “It was very noisy… what I heard was like ‘Residents of Linden, please go home.’ The crowd was coming more towards the officers and they continued to say ‘Go home’ but it was very noisy. As the crowd get closer, the police move backwards to their vehicle and drove away. After the police left, everything went back to normal,” she recalled.

Audio

COI Hearing 17/10/12 – Janice Bergan’s testimony

COI Hearing – 17-10-12 PT2

COI Hearing – 17-10-12 PT3

Asked what she considered to be normal, Bergan said persons were playing football with empty plastic containers and music was playing. “It was like a Town Day or a fun day,” she opined.

Sometime around 5:30pm to 5:45pm, Bergan said, she heard from other protestors that the police had returned, so she left the tarpaulin she was under to go to the road to observe. She had pointed out that the tarpaulin was tied to the fence of the Linmine Secretariat and about 15 persons were positioned underneath it.

“I walked towards the toll booth… there was a container in front of me with smoke, so I start running towards the Linmine fence to the gate… there was a man that fell in front of me… I later found out his name was Ivan Lewis. I stopped to look at him. He was bleeding through his mouth,” she recalled.

Bergan also recalled that she encountered a man who identified himself as a male nurse attached to the Mackenzie Hospital and he said he would assist the injured man. She, meanwhile, continued to run.  As she was moving towards the shed, Bergan said she heard two or three explosions, which sounded like gunshots.

“Under the Linmine shed, I felt this burning which I felt before but I paid no mind but as I reached the Linmine shed, under the office… I said I’m hit, I got hit to my left shoulder, it was bleeding… I felt the burning,” Bergan recounted telling a friend, Joyce, who was also under the tarpaulin. She noted that her friend then accompanied her to the hospital.

The woman said she was treated by a doctor, who told her that she was hit with a live bullet. She pointed out that the doctor, after examining her, took an x-ray and she was admitted for four days. “It affects me. It is very painful,” Bergan said.

Hugh asked the witness if at the time that she felt the burning sensation she had known who caused it and whether she had seen the shooter. She said no. Under questioning by Nigel Hughes, who is representing the interest of the families of the three deceased, the witness said she had not seen anyone except the police armed with firearms.

In addition to the shootings, the Commission of Inquiry is also tasked with making recommendations for compensation where necessary for injury, loss or damage as a consequence of the events of July 18.

Commissioner KD Knight asked Bergan if her injury prevents her from doing her usual work as a seamstress. She answered in the affirmative. However, the woman said that this is simply because she “don’t get work like before.”

When further questioned about this, it was revealed that she was not getting much work since March but completely stopped operating as a seamstress since she was shot. “I won’t be able to sit so long as I used to sit for hours before,” she said.

Bergan added that although four x-rays were done, she was only in possession of three and was told by officials from the Mackenzie Hospital that the first one taken on the night of July 18 was missing.

Chairman of the Commission Justice Lensley Wolfe, noted that the three medicals provided to the commission contradict the evidence given by Bergan, since they indicated that no foreign objects were seen in her body. However, Bergan had said that she was required to wait until the bullet moved from its initial position before it could have been removed.

Justice Wolfe affirmed that the doctor, whose name was given as Ramcharran, would have to be called to explain. It was later learnt that although Ramcharran prepared the medical, he was not the doctor who tended to Bergan on July 18. The doctor who did will be called to the stand, Wolfe stated.