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Kaieteur News
Thursday June 28, 2012
Prisoner jumps Camp Street jail fence Santa Rosa celebrates 195 years of A manhunt has been launched for a remand prisoner who scaled the fence of the Georgetown Prisons and secured his freedom. Sherwin Bobb made good his escape just after midday yesterday by scaling the 15foot fence on the eastern side of the prison compound. This is despite the normal presence of armed police ranks around the perimeter of the fortified fence. “Somebody had to get pay,” a source said. While prison officials were reluctant to confirm the escape, police sources indicated to this newspaper that they had received word of the incident. Several attempts to contact Deputy Director of Prisons, Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police Welton Trotz were unsuccessful. However, sources inside the prison told this newspaper that Bobb had
Sherwin Bobb just finished seeing a visitor at the front gate of the Camp Street Prison and had returned to his normal holding area near the tailor shop in Guyana’s maximum security penal facility. No one knows for sure when he actually disappeared, but prison officials received a telephone call from a public spirited person on the outside that “a prisoner just jump the fence.” This newspaper
understands that Bobb sustained cuts to his hands and other body parts from the razor wire at the top of the fence. He also lost a piece of his clothing which was still hanging from the fence up to late yesterday afternoon as evidence of the escape. “As soon as dey get word dat de man getaway, dey lock down de prison,” a source told this newspaper. The escaped prisoner was reportedly seen in Albouystown by a woman who could not help noticing that he was badly cut. She said that she called the authorities but they ignored her. There are reports that hours later the escaped prisoner was spotted in the West Demerara area, where he reportedly collected his two children who were born in Cayenne. Up to late last night he was still at large.
Guyana to attend CDEMA Council Meeting hosted in Jamaica Officials from Guyana will be attending the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) meeting that is set to be hosted in Jamaica. Jamaica which is the incoming Chair of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) Council of Ministers, will host the third Meeting of the Council which convenes tomorrow at the Courtleigh Hotel, Kingston, Jamaica. Noel Arscott, Member of Parliament and Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Jamaica’s representative to the Council, will be the new Chairman. The Council is the policy making body of CDEMA and meets annually to review the work of the Agency and make major policy decisions. A key item on the agenda at each meeting is the report from the Management Committee of Council on financial and administrative matters. This meeting will receive reports and policy recommendations on matters that directly
impact Participating States. Central among these are the CDEMA programming support on disaster risk reduction management to each country and the National Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) Policy and Framework. The policy is a blueprint for accelerating the CDM agenda within each CDEMA Participating State. The endorsement of the CDM policy and its accompanying country adaptation guide is expected at this meeting. The Council will also discuss the review of emergency events that affected CDEMA Participating States in 2011 and strategic preparations for the hurricane season. The opening ceremony of the Council Meeting will be held this evening. Government officials from the CDEMA member states with responsibilities for disaster management will attend the meeting. Guyana is a member of the CDEMA. The 2011 Council Meeting was held in Roseau, Dominica.
Judge upholds Defence legal submissions in granny’s manslaughter trial The manslaughter trial of Thakurmani, 64, the West Berbice woman who is accused of killing her husband, is expected to continue today in the Berbice High Court before Justice James Bovell-Drakes and a mixed jury. When the matter was called yesterday, Justice James Bovell-Drakes upheld the legal submissions of Defence Counsel Rabrindranauth Singh. A Voir Dire (a trial within a trial in the absence of the Jury) was conducted after Singh had challenged the admissibility of a statement allegedly made by the accused. When the matter was first called the woman told the
court then that she could not read and write and had a hearing impairment. She was also not represented by a lawyer. Attorney at law Singh eventually made an appearance for the accused. However, before the matter began he informed the court that he would like to challenge the caution statement allegedly made by the accused, thus triggering the vior dire on May 29. The woman, of Bennett Dam, Rosignol, West Berbice, is alleged to have killed her husband, Yodha, called ‘Ramsook Maikhoo,’ a fish vendor on April 27, 2008 following a misunderstanding at their home. They had seven
children. Thakurmani was initially charged with the capital offence, but was committed on the lesser charge at the completion of a Preliminary Inquiry held at the Blairmont Magistrate’s Court by Magistrate Nigel Hawke. She was subsequently granted bail in the sum of $200,000. The matter is being prosecuted by state prosecutor Attorney at law Rhondel Weever. Meanwhile, Weever sought an adjournment to Thursday, to open her case as witnesses were not available. A post mortem examination performed on the body showed that Yodha, died from shock and internal haemorrhage
the arrival of the Spanish Arawaks
Bishop Alleyne and Elders of the Santa Rosa community prepare to be the first to enter their newly refurbished church. On June 24, last, the small village of Santa Rosa celebrated in a unique way the 195th year since the arrival of the Arawaks to their village. Among their distinguished guests were the Roman Catholic Bishop of Guyana His Lordship Francis Alleyne and priests, and visitors from New York, Paraguay, Ecuador, Cuba, Peru and Argentina. Another source of joy for the Santa Rosa community was their church, St. Rose of Lima or Santa Rosa Del Lima, which recently underwent rehabilitation works. The celebration took the form of the re-enactment of the arrival of the first priest to Moruca in 1823, Fr. William Hynes, who travelled to Moruca River via Georgetown from Trinidad. This was in response to the Arawaks’ plea for a priest to minister to their spiritual needs. When Fr. Hynes arrived in Moruca River he was met by the Arawaks at Hobo Island (further south along the River from Santa Rosa) and then escorted by the community, at night he made his way to Mariaba (which was the name then of Santa Rosa). As word went out that the priest had finally arrived, villagers along the river’s bank greeted him with the booming sounds from their bamboo guns. The villagers lived in tiny villages such as
Cart Market, Koko, Paloma, Tokopeter and Aquero. After immediately ministering to the people there was a consultation and the community requested permission to build a church. Permission was granted, and they built a church which became duly consecrated in 1830 by Fr. Hynes who was now Bishop Hynes. On Saturday June 23, 2012 Bishop Alleyne played the role of Fr. Hynes. He and his group of priests and members of the Catholic community gathered at Aquero to give prayers and thanks. They then sailed from Aquero to Santa Rosa (in corials and boats outfitted with outboard engines) where they were met by another group of parishioners. After being greeted in Spanish by a parishioner, the Bishop and the group then walked along the pathway lit by flambeaux from the river to the newly rehabilitated church. As they marched they were greeted by the bamboo guns booming away. A Mass was said, followed by a cultural activity. Members of the church’s choir sang Tribute to Region One, an entry in this year’s Salute to Guyana School’s Mashramani Programme. On Sunday, Mass was held to celebrate the Feast of St. John, patron saint of the Santa Rosa Community. After Mass the parishioners were
fed and treated to another round of cultural activities, this time featuring the Mariabo Players performing their repertoire of Banchikilli Music. According to the oral traditions of the Spanish Arawaks their foreparents fled Venezuela in 1817 after the Capuchin Monks lost to Simon Bolivar in the Bolivarian War of Independence. The Arawaks who fought on the side of the Capuchin Monks became hunted. Villages were burnt and their people murdered. The leader of the Arawaks, Toushaou Juan Aguilera, brought together a group which was willing to leave Venezuela, and in 1817 set sail from Angostura, now Cuidad Bolivar. After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, they sailed into the Barima River where a group settled in now Mabaruma; the others continued into the Waini, Baramanni and Biara Rivers before finally entering the Moruca River. They settled along the river but the main body landed on the site where the church is now located – this place they called Mariabo, Arawak for guava because of the numerous plants they found. In 1830 when the Church was consecrated St. Rose del Lima the village, was also renamed Santa Rosa.
Roman Catholic Bishop His Lordship Francis Alleyne, left in picture, performing the role of Fr. William Hynes is transported along the Moruca River from Aquero to Santa Rosa.