Two dead after prison brawl

Feb 06, 2010 News

– irate mob beats violent ex-cop to death for killing fellow inmate

Former Tactical Services Unit rank, Solomon Blackman, who shot two policemen dead five years ago and wounded two others, was beaten to death in the Georgetown Prisons early yesterday morning.
Minutes earlier he had killed fellow murder accused, Dawan ‘Dyal’ Singh.
The 40-year-old Solomon was attacked by a mob of angry inmates in the Capital Dormitory, which houses remand prisoners, just after he had clubbed the 49-year-old Singh to death with a piece of wood.

Solomon Blackman

Blackman, of Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara, succumbed to multiple injuries, including broken limbs.
Police and prison officials have not stated what triggered the attack. However, Blackman is known to have had a long history of mental illness. Some prison sources described him as a trouble maker.
A Ministry of Home Affairs press statement said that preliminary reports revealed that at approximately 02:10 hrs, the ranks on duty at the Georgetown Prisons responded to some unusual sounds emanating from the Capital dormitory, “as if someone was tampering with the lock.”
It added that on completion of that investigation and while in the prison yard the ranks were alerted by some loud noises in the said division where a prisoner was shouting that Blackman had assaulted Dyal Singh.
“On returning to the Dormitory the ranks observed prisoner Blackman striking prisoner Singh who was lying on a mattress. The other prisoners became infuriated and began to attack Solomon Blackman, severely beating him.
The sirens were sounded and police, fire department and senior prison officers were informed.
They responded immediately and went to the Division where the two injured prisoners were taken out at approximately 02:40hrs.
They were subsequently taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where they were pronounced dead at around 03:40hrs by the doctor on duty.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs regrets the occurrence of this incident and expresses its deepest sympathy to the family and relatives of the two prisoners.”
Prisoner Blackman was unstable, having been deemed to be of unsound mind. “Recently, due to persistent medical treatment he showed some improvement. Consequently, he was removed from the Social Division and allowed to live and mix with the general population.”

Dead: Dawan ‘Dyal’ Singh

“The police have begun their investigations into the fatal incident.”
But some prison sources have alleged that on-duty staff could have averted the tragedy
if they had responded immediately when Blackman attacked Singh.
According to the sources, Singh was asleep when Blackman suddenly went over to the inmate and began to stab him with an improvised weapon.
The sources alleged that the inmates raised an alarm and prison wardens arrived several minutes later but did not try to enter the dormitory to rescue the hapless Singh.
It is alleged that the burly ex-policeman then picked up a block of wood and clubbed Singh repeatedly on the head.
It is believed that the badly injured man succumbed shortly after.
Some reports stated that about 25 to 100 angry inmates, armed with pieces of wood, then attacked Blackman, while the prison officers stood watching.
Eyewitnesses said that his hands and feet appeared to be broken.
He was reportedly already dead by the time that the wardens entered the dormitory to remove his body.
“They dragged Blackman down de steps by he foot”, one source said.
The two battered bodies were taken to the GPHC mortuary about an hour later.
Dyal Singh’s wife, Selochanie Singh, said that she received a call shortly after 02:00 hrs, which caused her to rush down to the Camp Street prison.
On arrival, she was informed that her husband had died.
“They told me that it was fight and that Blackman killed my husband, and the other prisoners killed him.”
The distraught woman said that she was at a loss as to what she would tell her five children.
The woman told Kaieteur News that her husband was in prison since October 16, 2007, after he was charged for the murder of Stanley Bovell, called “Bobb”.
Some prison sources stated that Blackman would “go psycho one-one time.”
They queried why the potentially violent and mentally unstable inmate had been housed with other remand prisoners.
Responding to these allegations, a senior prison official said that Blackman “took the medication when he liked.”
Asked why he was not separated from the other inmates, the official said that Blackman had not displayed any violence during his years of incarceration.
“He was calm for quite some time. He might talk but was not violent.”
Refuting that the officers did nothing to prevent the tragedy, the official said that the wardens who responded to the alarm had tried to dissuade Blackman from killing Singh.
A similar incident had occurred in 1996, when two inmates were hacked to death during a brawl between rival gangs.
Blackman, a former policeman, went berserk on March 1, 2004.
On that day he walked into the compound of the Brickdam Police Station, relieved a rank of a service revolver, and opened fire, killing Deputy Superintendent Richard Griffith and Lance Corporal Ramnarine Latchana.
Kaieteur News had reported that he had shown signs of mental instability and tendencies for violence during a 2003 interview with this newspaper.
And former Chief Magistrate, Juliet Holder-Allen, had reported that shortly before the attack, an apparently unstable Blackman had
entered her court and tried to sit on a bench near the door.
He had told the Chief Magistrate that “Burnham gave me that property and nobody can’t put me out of it.”
An armed police rank had then escorted the ex-cop from the court.
During one of his recent court appearances, Kaieteur News had observed Blackman sitting in the office of the court lock-ups, seemingly oblivious to what was taking place around him.
Even when it was time for him to be taken back to prison he had to be pleaded with to leave his position.
As he was heading to the prison van he muttered under his breath, “Y’all wasting me time.”