Dear Editor,
I read, listened and watched numerous reports in the print and electronic media in relation to an armed robbery that took place at my home on February 20. I was amazed that the reports contained several inaccuracies and issues that did not take place. I am bombarded with telephone calls from persons in Guyana and overseas to find out what took place. I rebuffed attempts by media personnel to discuss the crime. I did not want the matter to be investigated in the press for fear that it would jeopardise the investigation. However, I have detected a subtle attempt to belittle my character and integrity. Hence, I am jolted to break my silence.
I was robbed at gunpoint. I returned home and was confronted by an armed bandit. He had earlier robbed two members of my household and was holding them at gunpoint. I am not pusillanimous. I risked my life in defence of myself and family. I battled with the armed intruder.
It started in my bedroom and ended in my yard. I received a minor laceration on my head. Two rounds from the firearm were discharged. The villain ran out of my yard. A motorcyclist was waiting for him some distance away from my home. He jumped on the motorcycle and they sped away. I reported the matter to the police.
It is a complete fabrication and a total distortion of the facts to write that I was brutalised, became unconscious, was treated and was admitted as a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital. After the robbery I visited the PHG. The medical personnel did some amount of triaging and opined that my injury was not life-threatening and did not require emergency attention. As a result I went to a private hospital where I was expeditiously dealt with and sent away.
Neil Adams in his letter to Kaieteur News of March 3 posited that Mr Conway identified the wrong person. Where on earth did he get that information from? Perhaps in a rum shop. This is an erratic flight of imagination. Let me be clear: I attended two identification parades. I did not identify anyone.
It is ludicrous to report that the robber dropped his identification and bank cards at my home the day after the robbery. A civilian who will remain anonymous for fear that he will be identified in the press visited my home. He handed me the documents in question. He told me that he found them where the motorcycle was parked. I took the documents to the Brickdam Police Station where I handed them over to a senior detective officer. I related to him what the informant said to me. The following day I discovered to my chagrin that there was an article in Kaieteur News stating that the robber had dropped his bank and identification cards at my home during the robbery. How the cards turned up where the motorcyclist was is for the investigator to ascertain.
I continued to be informed of the nature of the investigation through the press although some issues were misleading. I received no feedback from the investigator. I told him that I was perturbed about his prosaic approach to the investigation. He was not au fait with the law enforcement term ‘victimology.’ Hence, no support for the victim.
I agree with Mr Adams that I am not senile, not a collector of persons’ identification cards, or a madmen who was out to frame an innocent person. Never in my thirty-nine years of service in the Guyana Police Force have I framed anyone. I will never do so. I did not have a transitory glance at the intruder. He was in my house with me for over twenty minutes. I kept eye-balling him. During my stint in the Guyana Police Force I used to lecture to policemen on the topic ‘Description of persons and property.’ There are some simple but important features to look for when describing a person; they include height, build, head, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, race, complexion and clothing. These and some other characteristic of the scallywag I committed to memory. I do not suffer from lapses of memory.
I hope that the ubiquitous section of the force that is tasked with solving the felony will conduct some more meticulous and dogged investigation. This will give me an opportunity to identify the scoundrel at a police station.
I note the concerns of Mr Adams and all those living in Guyana and elsewhere who contacted me after the crime. My family joins with me in saying a great big thank you to them for their outpouring of sorrow.
This will be my only statement on the matter through this medium. Any attempt by media personnel to discuss it with me will encounter a thin blue wall of silence.
Yours faithfully,
Clinton Conway
Assistant Commissioner
of Police (rtd)
