10 NEWS MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2020
| GUYANATIMESGY.COM
“Functionary” Family of missing fisherman offering $100,000 to help find him Lowenfield cannot...
FROM PAGE 9
Missing: Bhagwandat
T
Lalbachan
he family of a missing fisherman is offering a reward of $100,000 to anyone who might have information about his whereabouts. Twenty-nine-year-old Lalbachan Bhagwandat, also called “Jagan” of Lot 11 North Section, Canal Polder Number Two, West Bank Demerara (WBD), went missing on April 17 around 22:30h. Yaswanti Bhagwandat, the man’s sister, told Guyana Times that family members were at an aunt’s home when he began having delusions that someone wanted to kill him.
“He said he was hearing voices inside of his head; in his head he was hearing these people planning to kill him. He was asking us if we were hearing the voices ... he even said he was seeing people with guns and cutlasses,” she said. She added that her brother ran out of the house and into the backlands. He was never seen again. Other relatives ran after him, but they were unable to keep up. His sister added that this is the second time in years that her brother complained of hearing voices, but previously it had never reached this extent. Since Bhagwandat’s disappearance, his family has repeatedly looked for him but in vain. Searches were conducted in the backlands, Conservancy Dam and neighbouring villages such as Wales, Uitvlugt, Zeeburg, Parika, and on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD); a search was even done as far away as Bartica. Police told Guyana Times that they were still making regular checks and were still unable to obtain information about Bhagwandat’s whereabouts. Bhagwandat was last seen wearing a dark-blue jersey with black trousers and a black and grey
striped hat. His sister said that he has a tattoo on his face, with others on his arms, neck, back, and abdomen.
Anyone who may have seen Bhagwandat is asked to contact his family on 6305006 or the nearest Police Station.
Businessman brutally beaten, robbed by knife-wielding bandits
A
57-year-old businessman was on Saturday evening beaten and robbed by four men armed who stormed his Section C, Block Y Golden Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD) home. The businessman operates a grocery store at his premises. Based on reports received, around 21:00h, the man closed off business for the day and was in the process of securing his building when the armed men confronted him. Three of the men placed knives to his body. Guyana Times was told that the fourth bandit then placed his hand around the businessman’s neck and choked him while making his way into the home. The businessman was severely beaten about his body, sustaining injuries to his left shoulder and ribs.
During the ordeal, the bandits demanded that the businessman hand over his cash and valuables, but he refused. It was then the men choked the businessman until he lost consciousness. They later ransacked the man’s house where they found $363,000 in cash, one black LG cellular phone and one black Samsung Galaxy cellular phone in the businessman’s bedroom. They later made good their escape, leaving the man in an unconscious state. The injured man reportedly told Police that he regained consciousness the next morning, and went straight to the Police Station to lodge a report. He was subsequently taken to the Diamond hospital where he received medical attention. No arrests were made as Police continue their investigations.
This was followed by the GECOM staff refusing to permit any Opposition party or observer to look at the List of Electors from the box, to verify whether the named individuals had in fact voted; so that that question remains unknown. In the meanwhile, the new party said, the incumbent Coalition promoted the narrative that the election, which had given them a victory with the Mingo count, was now not credible. “The fifth and final stage of the plan involved the Chief Executive Officer of this rogue Secretariat, Keith Lowenfield, who had been directed by GECOM to prepare a report showing a tabulation of the recount and a summary of the Observation Sheets, seeking to lend credence to the nonsensical “allegations” in that report. The words ‘tabulation’ and ‘summary’ are not ambiguous; the former means, in this context, to add up. Lowenfield has added up the recount, and the result - as the whole country had known for three months -is that PPP won the election by 15,000 votes; that Mingo was guilty of fraud; and that APNU lied to the nation and to its supporters,” ANUG outlined. But, the party noted, Lowenfield did not provide a summary of the Observation Sheets. According to ANUG, “GECOM has replaced Mingo’s false spreadsheets with Lowenfield’s equally false opinions and conclusions
in submitting a ‘report’ to the Commission. It now remains for the Chairman, Ms. Singh, to decide how to treat this report.” The new party, whose Presidential Candidate is legal giant Ralph Ramkarran and whose Chairman is the outspoken lawyer Timothy Jonas, pointed out that the GECOM Chair, as a legal mind herself, would know immediately that Lowenfield has exceeded his remit and has relied on unsubstantiated “allegations”. ANUG noted that any reference to information from third parties, such as Immigration Chief and Registry records, would be impermissible, as it is not only external to GECOM, untested by cross examination, and unverified by anyone; but can only be raised in an Election Petition, and not be referenced lawfully by the Elections Commission. It went on to note that, at the level of the seven-member Commission, the three Government-nominated Commissioners would try to pretend that Lowenfield’s opinion carries some sort of weight, while the three Oppositionnominated members would disagree. “…their votes will cancel out each other, and the decision will rest solely with Claudette Singh. The correct and lawful course of action is clear – only one party has won the elections, and the recount has unambiguously identified that party. The country waits,” ANUG has declared.
