A search was made yesterday for a 35-year-old motorcyclist who was seen jumping from the western side of the Demerara Harbour Bridge but there was no sighting up to press time.
The man has been identified as Vellone Thorne of Lot 36 Sussex Street, Charlestown.
According to a police report, the incident was reported to have occurred between 7:20am and 7:35am. The driver of a vehicle stopped on the eastern side of the bridge where he informed a policeman on duty that he saw Thorne jump into the Demerara River.
An alarm was raised and ranks of the Providence Police Station went to the section of the harbour bridge where they found Thorne’s CG motorcycle, CH 4923 parked on the northern side facing the west with its engine still on.
Checks were made on the pontoons under the bridge but no one was seen. The police marine unit also searched the river.
A sister of the man, Tiffancy Thorne said she received the news of the incident at about 8:30am yesterday when a CID rank informed her of what had taken place.
“When I see them, I seh what happen because I want know if somebody do he something or if he get into an accident because everybody else was home and was just he did left the house…. Last night (Saturday night) he come home around ten and he didn’t went out back. His friend was telling me this morning that he (Thorne) help him pack up his stand and he was telling he how he head hurting he with this place. The friend seh he tell he if he got a problem, he could talk to he but he didn’t tell he nothing.”
She noted that minutes after 6 am while she was still in bed, she heard Thorne start his motorcycle and leave. The woman said that usually her brother would sleep in until 10am and while him leaving so early was somewhat strange, she didn’t think too much of it. A short while after he left, an aunt saw Thorne return to the house for about three minutes before he left again. She recalled the last time she spoke with Thorne was on Saturday when she told him she had bought cooking gas and that he could fry his plantains when he was ready.
Tiffancy said when she learnt of the incident more than two hours later, she was in disbelief until the CID showed her a photo of his motorcycle parked on the bridge.
She noted that her brother didn’t work but relied on financial help from relatives, friends and his mother who lived abroad. “Once he got money he would pick up my daughter and he would gone with she and buy ice cream or Church’s Chicken. He used to like to buy things for them children. He didn’t have no children,” said the woman.
Thorne according to the sister had issues with the police on a number of occasions. Many times his motorcycle was seized and kept at the station because Thorne didn’t have updated documents for his motorcycle or he was riding without a helmet. She said that their late brother, Lance Corporal Kevon Payne who was a soldier and had connections with the police would see that his motorcycle was always returned to him. She said that the two were close. However, on March 29th 2016, Payne was gunned down in the presence of Thorne. The woman said after that Thorne was a different person.
An article carried by this newspaper on the incident had said that a source had indicated that the bullets were intended for Thorne and not Payne. The man’s sister said she was also told the same by police back in 2016. In fact, she said that when her brother was arrested following Payne’s death a short while later, police told her that they were only keeping him in custody as they suspected he was the target and it was only a matter of his safety. However, she would subsequently learn of the reason for his arrest.
Some days after the execution-style killing of his brother, Thorne and another suspect were arrested by police in connection with the murder of Gladstone Taylor who was gunned down a few days following Payne’s death which police believed was a reprisal for Payne’s murder. Thorne was unable to attend his brother’s funeral. Thorne who spent more than a year in prison was released after there was insufficient evidence to link him to Taylor’s murder.
Tiffancy said that after her brother was released from jail, he hardly ever spoke to anyone including her who he was the closest with. She noted that she and the rest of the family encouraged him to convert to Islam which he did and which she added seemed to have somewhat helped him as he would go to the mosque to pray. “But, still he was not the brother I grow with and the brother I accustomed to. He was a different person since our brother died,” the sister said.
Thorne is one of seven siblings. Their sister, Creavon Thorne’s partially decomposed body was discovered floating in Thomas Lands trench in the vicinity of the National Park in 2008. The family also recently dealt with another death when Thorne’s father passed away on May 31st after falling ill.
