One year later Maria Van Beek shooting still unsolved

Apr 11, 2010 News

Almost one year ago, former Commissioner of Insurance Maria van Beek was wounded by a lone gunman. Today, the police are still to arrest the suspect or to come up with a motive for the attack.
Van Beek, who was also the Judicial Manager for CLICO, was shot in the chest while she drove to work on April 17, last year.
A senior police official said, yesterday, that they are still continuing investigations. The official said that although they had arrested two persons right after the attack; the persons were able to provide alibis. The official said that once new evidence surfaces the police force would readily investigate it. Meanwhile, a close relative of Van Beek yesterday told this newspaper that the woman is recovering well. The relative said that the former Commissioner of Insurance is living abroad, and probably would not return to Guyana, unless the perpetrators are brought to justice.
“She would not return to Guyana knowing that the persons who attacked her are still at large” the relative said.
The relative noted that since Van Beek left the country the police have not been forthcoming with any developments about the shooting. “They haven’t contacted us to say how the investigation is going.”
“We are not pleading with the shooter to turn himself in, since we know it’s not a reality; we are not praying for the shooter to turn himself in because that would not happen; we are hoping that the police do a good job and arrest the person”.
Eyewitnesses had said that the gunman struck in the vicinity of Lombard and Leopold Streets, standing in front on Van Beek’s car before firing a bullet into her right front window.
The gunman then walked calmly into Leopold Street, where he and an accomplice escaped on a Honda CG motorcycle.
Van Beek who was bleeding profusely managed to drive to Mohamed’s Enterprises on Lombard Street, where she sought assistance from staff who drove her to the Woodlands Hospital in Carmichael Street. There she underwent emergency surgery.
Hospital officials had said that the bullet missed Van Beek’s heart. Crime Chief Seelall Persaud had said that they had the identity of the shooter and they were looking for him. However, the police have failed to arrest and charge the person. According to Persaud, that shooter’s home and his hangout spots were searched but he was not found.
Police had arrested two men following the shooting, but when they were placed on identification parades they were not identified and they were released. A few persons from the insurance company were questioned by the police. The police had said they did that to ascertain a motive behind the shooting.
Van Beek was appointed Judicial Manager of CLICO (Guyana) on February 25 last year and was tasked with assessing the entity’s financial position.

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One year later Maria Van Beek shooting still unsolved

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