Daily Archive: Tuesday, July 11, 2017

The Ministry of Public Infrastructure is advising the general public, particularly those living in close proximity, that construction works will be ongoing over the next 72 hours at the Camp Street Prison.

President David Granger and a team of ministers today visited the ruins of the Camp Street Prison (Ministry of the Presidency photos)  

The Police say they are investigating the murder of Tedroy James, age unknown, a route 32 minibus driver which occurred about 11:30hrs today at McDoom Public Road, East Bank Demerara, during which several passengers were robbed of personal items.

The number of prisoners missing from the Camp Street Prison following Sunday’s breakout stands at eight, Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels today told Stabroek News.

Matthew Shivtahal, the taxi driver who says he was abducted by the prison escapees on Sunday in the vicinity of the Camp Street jail  is grateful to be alive but says he is fearful for his life.

(Trinidad Guardian) President of the Prisons Officers Association, Ceron Richards, fears that Sunday’s jailbreak in Guyana is a disaster waiting to happen at the Port-of-Spain State Prison.

The construction of secure temporary structures to accommodate displaced inmates of the razed Camp Street Prison is among the measures in an emergency plan agreed to by the National Security Committee (NSC), President David Granger announced to the nation last evening.

Despite the lessons that should have been learned from last year’s deadly fire at the Camp Street prison, witnesses say both the Guyana Fire Service and Guyana Water Inc (GWI) were not prepared for the fire that devastated the jail on Sunday.

A Kaneville man was who had been missing since Sunday afternoon after he was reportedly abducted at gunpoint by prisoners who broke out of the Camp Street jail, turned up alive last night at the Vigilance Police Station.

In the aftermath of the devastation of the Camp Street prison, which left authorities scrambling to accommodate the roughly 1,000 inmates who had been housed there, the magistracy yesterday moved to release some prisoners being held for petty crimes.

– sympathises with family of slain officer Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday expressed condolences to the relatives of the now dead prison officer and commended the security forces for their work during Sunday’s horrific destruction of the Camp Street prison, but blasted the administration for what he described as an “outrageous spectacle of a bumbling inept, incompetent” government in full display.

(Cricinfo) With the league stage of the World Cup entering its penultimate phase, two of the three teams that are out of contention for the semi-finals will fight for pride in Leicester.

Executives of the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) Saturday, sent off four of their members who were selected for the national Under 17 team with new cricket gear and words of encouragement at a simple ceremony held at the Leading Edge Sports Store.

In late breaking news, Stabroek News learnt at press time this morning that a prisoner who was not earlier said to be among the escapees was captured on the West Demerara.

The police yesterday issued wanted bulletins for two other inmates believed to have escaped on Sunday afternoon during the Camp Street prison unrest, but last night withdrew one of the names stating that the prisoner had been accounted for.

Linden teams Dave and Celina’s All-Stars and Jermaine and Family Silver Bullets secured semifinal berths when the 5th Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ national championships commenced Saturday.

Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan has said that the government acted on the recommendations it could afford from the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into last year’s deadly riot at the Camp Street Prison, while stressing that most of the major ones, including the construction of a new prison, require large sums of money.

Tonight is the second night of the ‘Keep Ya Five Alive’ Futsal Championships which takes place at the National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue with another five matches.

Prison Warden Hubert Trim, who was chopped and beaten during the unrest at the Camp Street prison yesterday is currently hospitalised and his relatives are calling for the authorities to provide security as he recovers.

Linden Technical Institute (LTI) won the boys U19 and Kwakwani High the boys U16 championships while Marian Academy clinched the boys U14 and girls divisions when the National School Basketball Festival (NSBF) concluded Sunday.

Dear Editor, I feel a sense of pain, grief and sorrow on learning of the events on Sunday at the Georgetown Prisons.

Dear Editor I read with keen interest a report in the Kaieteur News of Sunday, July 8, under the caption, ‘Cop, rural constable admit involvement in attempted bank robbery.’

Local bodybuilding federation president, Coel Marks, says the flagship ‘Mr. Guyana’ event on August 6, the first major project for the current federation, will usher in a new era of handsomely rewarding its standout athletes.

Prison Officer Odinga Wain Wickham who was killed on Sunday evening during the unrest at the Camp Street prison was yesterday remembered as a hardworking and kind-hearted person.

The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) yesterday said that the Joint Services’ ability to relocate just over 1,000 prisoners following Sunday’s destruction of the Camp Street Prison bordered on the “miraculous” and was deserving of praise.

Dear Editor, The Camp Street prison fire will hold the nation’s attention for the next few days, or less if and when the escapees are under wraps. 

The Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG) has selected two standout athletes to compete at the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) World U18 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya which starts tomorrow.

Masters Academy dismissed East Ruimveldt 3-0 when 7th Annual Digicel Schools Football Championship continued yesterday at the Tucville Community ground.

Close to 300 prisoners were yesterday shuttled to the Mazaruni, New Amsterdam and Timehri prisons following the fiery uprising that gutted the Camp Street jail on Sunday evening, leaving one prison officer dead, six others injured and several prisoners on the run.

Dear Editor, The Indian Action Committee (IAC) is shocked and horrified at the deliberate destruction of the Camp Street Jail which was destroyed by fire on Sunday, July 9, set simultaneously in several buildings in the compound by dangerous prisoners many of whom are on Death Row or serving life sentences for murder.

Dear Editor, I am a proponent of respecting the Guyana Constitution and making it work.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Fourth seed Rafael Nadal’s pursuit of a third Wimbledon crown was cut short in the fourth round with a heartbreaking 6-3 6-4 3-6 4-6 15-13 defeat by Luxembourger Gilles Muller.

BERGERAC, France,  (Reuters) – Cracks have appeared in the Team Sky armour on the Tour de France but defending champion Chris Froome remains on track to claim a fourth title after the opening block of racing.

CARACAS (Reuters) – From blocking off the office heliport to plotting protests, workers at Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office are making plans to fight her expected removal by allies of President Nicolas Maduro, according to three sources.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Donald Trump Jr was told in an email before meeting a Russian lawyer who he thought had information damaging to Hillary Clinton that the material was part of a Russian government effort to help his father’s presidential campaign, the New York Times reported yesterday.

A businessman was yesterday granted his release on $80,000 bail after he was charged with unlawfully wounding his common-law wife, who is currently hospitalised in a critical condition.

Dear Editor, I do not think that I am alone in feeling that our society is beset and besieged by all sorts of prejudice, buttressed by a dangerous arrogance in the belief that any one of us is right or has the answer to what is at the root of our current socio-economic problems.

LIMA (Reuters) – Peru asked Ecuador yesterday to “immediately” stop building a wall along the two South American countries’ 1,529-km (950.08-mile) border and has called for an urgent bilateral meeting to discuss the issue, Peru’s foreign ministry said.

Dear Editor, I will repeat what Prime Minister Nagamootoo stated in the last election campaign, for which he was roundly condemned by the previous government.

MOSUL/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) – Iraq’s prime minister declared victory over Islamic State in Mosul yesterday, three years after the militants seized the city and made it the stronghold of a “caliphate” they said would take over the world.

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on Friday heard arguments on the appeals challenging the decision to retry prison escapee Mark Royden Williams and former co-accused James Anthony Hyles, who were acquitted of the murders committed during the 2008 Lusignan massacre.

(The Sports Xchange) – Undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather goes by the nickname “Money” but a lack of cash prompted him to file an appeal with the IRS regarding overdue taxes.

Dear Editor, As a subscriber to GTT, I was in the middle of research via my mobile device on the late afternoon of Saturday, July 8, when all of a sudden I realised that I no longer had internet access.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Agreements to de-escalate the fighting in Syria could simplify the conflict and help to stabilise the country, but such accords must be an interim measure and avoid partition, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura told a news conference yesterday.

(Reuters) – Sikandar Raza’s stellar all-round display guided Zimbabwe to their first one-day international series win over hosts Sri Lanka with a nervous three-wicket victory in the fifth and final match at Hambantota yesterday.

(Jamaica Gleaner) – The government is moving to get United States media that broadcast content produced in Jamaica to pay up in the same way that country has been pressing cable providers here to obtain the requisite licences to broadcast their content.

Make no mistake: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is directly responsible for the violent July 5 attack against the country’s opposition-controlled National Assembly, and for most of the estimated 90 deaths in anti-government protests over the past three months.

It strains credulity to think that two by no means large local private sector companies have been able to remain in business in circumstances where, together, they are owed amounts totalling well in excess of $300 million for essential services which they have been rendering to the capital for years.

A New Amsterdam woman, her teenage daughters, her spouse and two of her friends were yesterday charged with possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.

(Reuters) The parents of a critically ill British baby have a few days to compile new evidence their son would benefit from experimental treatment in the United States, a judge said yesterday, adding that he would not be swayed by international interest.

SAN DIEGO, California, CMC – Second-half goals from Romario Williams and Darren Mattocks propelled Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz to a comfortable 2-0 victory over fellow Caribbean side Curacao, to make a winning start to their CONCACAF Gold Cup campaign here Sunday night.

Dear Editor, With respect to what the Trinidadian Prime Minister said about cricket and Caricom it might be helpful if he reflects on what the first leader of his party, who was, perhaps, more important as an academic than as a politician, wrote: “To the formidable contributions that sugar had made to the contemporary Caribbean psychology must be added this one, not by any means the least important, that it engendered and nurtured an intercolonial rivalry, an isolationist outlook, a provincialism that is almost a disease, which are among the most striking characteristics, as they are among the most difficult to eradicate, of the 20th century”.

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A wharf in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro used as a marketplace for African slaves has been declared a United Nations heritage site to preserve evidence of “one of the most brutal episodes in the history of humankind”.