While the police have still been unable to question the perpetrator of Thursday’s attack outside of State House, investigators have searched two properties, including his present residence.
Sunday Stabroek understands that the police visited an Industry, East Coast Demerara address which Dethiel Chimezie provided as being his home address to the cleaning establishment where he last worked.
However, investigators later learnt that Chimezie did not actually reside at the address he provided. Sources confirmed that two persons who were present at the time of the search were detained. They were questioned by the police and later released.
This newspaper was, however, told that investigators were eventually able to determine Chimezie’s current address. While details were not provided to this newspaper, sources also confirmed that a search was conducted at Chimezie residence. It is unclear whether anything of evidential value was found.
Police had said the attack outside State House occurred around 7.30 am at State House’s Carmichael Street entrance, during which Chimezie, 25, a Nigerian national was shot and injured.
Before he was wounded, Chimezie demanded to see the President, stabbed State House guard Telon Perreira five times and seized a gun from another guard.
Both Perreira and Chimezie remained patients at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) yesterday.
Chimezie was shot several times about his body and underwent emergency surgery. Perreira was stabbed five times, including to his neck and shoulder.
In a statement issued yesterday afternoon, the Guyana Police Force said Perreira’s condition is still considered serious.
It added that investigators have not been able to question Chimezie as he remains on a ventilator.
This newspaper informed that Chimezie showed up at State House and confronted Perreira, who was among the ranks on duty at the guard hut. He reportedly said, “I want the President”.
Chimezie then went into a pouch, which he had in his possession, and whipped out a knife that he used to launch the attack on Perreira.
Information reaching this newspaper revealed that Perreira then held onto Chimezie’s hand and the knife and a female rank who was present tried to assist him.
This caused the Nigerian to turn his attention to the female rank and he disarmed her of her firearm. Chimezie then used the weapon and started to shoot indiscriminately. Other ranks who were in the area returned fire, injuring him.
Investigators recovered a 9mm pistol and seven matching spent shells at the scene.
The motive for the attack remains unknown and the police are seeking help from Interpol (the International Criminal Police Organization) on Chimezie’s background.
“Due to the sensitive nature of this investigation, the Guyana Police Force can only confirm that contact has been made with law enforcement counterparts as it relates to
information related to the suspect’s background and any other pertinent information,” the police yesterday said.
Reports are that Chimezie, who holds a Nigerian passport, arrived in Guyana back in 2020. He was initially employed with a private security firm and last worked as a cleaner attached to a city cleaning establishment.
The attack has raised several questions about the level of security provided at State House.
At the sidelines of an event on Friday, Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn on Friday said that security at the official residence of President Irfaan Ali and his family is “more than adequate”.
“I think that the security at State House is adequate, more than adequate,” Benn said.
Hours after the incident, heads of the Joint Services held a meeting. Asked about the discussions at the meeting, Benn had told this newspaper that while he was not present he knows that the incident was “reviewed” and may result in some “tightening and tweaks here and there”.
Serious breakdown in security
Meanwhile, retired Assistant Commissioner Paul Slowe, who once headed the Presidential Guard, has said the attack warrants a comprehensive review of security arrangements at State House and other buildings where government functionaries live and work.
In a letter to the editor, published in today’s Sunday Stabroek, he said he found the entire incident “very alarming” as it appeared that “there was a serious breakdown in the security arrangements at State House.”
Slowe, who noted that the Presidential Guard is a unit of the Guyana Police Force and its members are policemen and women, questioned how was the perpetrator able to get into the security enclosure at State House with a knife, which he then used to inflict serious injuries on a rank and relieved another of a firearm. “This clearly shows that something is definitely wrong with the security arrangements at that location. It is fortunate that (according to the sketchy reports) the person once in possession of the firearm did not attempt to go further into the compound of State House,” he wrote.
In calling for a comprehensive review of the entire security arrangements at all buildings where government and other functionaries work and live, he said it must be done by competent professionals. “This review must include staffing, training, and the relevant Standard Operational Procedures (SOP’s), among other issues,” he suggested.
He also noted that the Head of the Presidential Guard, Special Assistant Commissioner Edgar Thomas, was called out from pre-retirement leave in August 2020 to be in-charge of that Branch. He said Thomas has absolutely no expertise in executive security, but is nonetheless the head of security for Guyana’s President.
Additionally, Slowe said that on September 17, 2020, eight ranks of the Presidential Guard who were recruited on August 18, 2020, a mere month before, were promoted to the rank of sergeant. “They are part of the management structure at the Presidential Guard. One wonders the extent to which this may have contributed to the apparent dilution of the efficiency and effectiveness of the Presidential Guard,” he added.
Slowe also took acting Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken to task for not facing the media to inform the Guyanese public of the details of “this serious security lapse,” which he opined could have national security implications.
“I hope that this incident would cause the government to realize that professionalism and competence are the required elements in the Guyana Police Force, including an important Branch like the Presidential Guard.
“The security of government functionaries, especially the President, should not be entrusted to cronies and favourites,” he said.
