Magistrate/police shooting incident... Cop still critical

Magistrate/police shooting incident… Cop still critical

Jun 28, 2008 News

Firearm licence was not renewed for last two years – police

Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys was released from police custody late yesterday following questioning into Thursday night’s shooting on Woolford Avenue that left Corporal Mark George fighting for his life in the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Yesterday, Magistrate Gilhuys broke his silence on the incident. He said that he had stopped on Woolford Avenue when a set of bright lights approached him. Soon after an armed man approached his vehicle and ordered him to step out.
He said that this man, whom he later learnt was a policeman, kept his rifle trained on him all the time. The man was a member of the Quick Reaction Group and was on patrol in the city.
The police have since said that the ranks were attracted to a heavily tinted vehicle. The reports are conflicting. One police source said that the rank approached the vehicle, tapped on the window which was wound up and signaled that it be lowered.
Mr Gilhuys said that he identified himself to the rank who kept the weapon trained on him; the man kept insisting that the magistrate leave the vehicle, something Magistrate Gilhuys said that he was not prepared to do.
He said that fearing for his life, he shot at the “threatening” rank and sped away with the ranks on the road shooting at his vehicle. The vehicle which was parked in the Brickdam Police Station compound yesterday bore a number of bullet holes.
Asked about the proximity of the location where the shooting occurred and the police headquarters at Eve Leary and his decision to drive to the Brickdam Police Station, Gilhuys said that the road leading to the Police headquarters is barricaded at nights and that he believed that it was easier to reach Brickdam.
Meanwhile, the ranks took their injured colleague to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he remained in a critical condition with bullet wounds to the chest and abdomen. One report was that the rank’s intestines were protruding.
Magistrate Gilhuys was insisting that the ranks came at him in a marked police vehicle. “As I sped past, I saw the blue and white.”
However, the vehicle that transported the injured Corporal George was grey and it too bore a bullet hole through the front windscreen.
At Brickdam, Gilhuys declined to lodge his weapon since, according to him, his life was threatened. He returned yesterday in the company of his lawyer, Nigel Hughes, and spent all day while Hughes filed a writ of habeas corpus.
Justice Rishi Persaud is expected to hear the application at 14:00 hours today. But Magistrate Gilhuys has been released.
Matters in the court presided over by Magistrate Gilhuys were all postponed. When contacted on the status of the Magistrate, Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Carl Singh, said that no doubt the Judicial Service Commission will have to consider any implicatory evidence which the police investigators may reveal.
“And more so, if the police decision is to lay a charge or charges against Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys, if the Magistrate is absolved by the police investigators, then naturally there will be no need for an intervention.”
Responding to a question as to what happens when a magistrate or a judge breaks the law, the Chancellor said that no “magistrate or judge is above the law in this country.”
A knowledgeable Justice official admitted that it may be the first time in Guyana that a magistrate or judge is involved in a “situation of such gravity”.
And as police continue to their investigations into the shooting incident involving Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys, the injured police Corporal Mark George remains in a critical condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Up to press time yesterday doctors were closely monitoring George’s condition. Sources at the hospital said that George sustained severe internal injury. One relative who asked not to be identified said that George is responding as normal but has not divulged any information as to what transpired.
The relative added that with emotions flying high they are trying to maintain their composure and are hoping that a thorough investigation is conducted.
A police press release stated that at about 23:15hours on Thursday, ranks of a mobile police patrol observed a heavily tinted motor vehicle PJJ 6832 parked along Woolford Avenue, Georgetown.
It stated that the police ranks stopped and approached the heavily tinted vehicle with a view to making checks.
“The police called on the driver of the vehicle to turn on the lights of the vehicle and this resulted in a verbal exchange during which it is alleged that the driver discharged rounds at the police hitting Corporal 18352 George in his abdomen.

The police returned fire hitting the vehicle, but the driver managed to drive away.
“He subsequently reported to the police at Brickdam Police Station and was found to be Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys who is a licensed firearm holder. The Magistrate alleged that the police had fired upon him and he returned fire. He refused to give a written statement and to hand over his firearm when demanded of him by a senior officer of the Guyana Police Force.
“The Magistrate then left the compound leaving his vehicle which was observed to have several bullet holes. He subsequently returned accompanied by lawyer Nigel Hughes who handed him over to the police.
“He was taken into custody and his firearm lodged. He has refused to give a written statement and it has been observed that his firearm was not licensed since 2006.”