They wanted me to spend Christmas in jail

Dec 24, 2010 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I would like to thank all of our lawyers, especially Nigel Hughes, who put his brilliance to work the very minute he walked into the Brickdam lock up and heard that for a very simple traffic offence, the Commander of Brickdam, Mr. George Vyphuis, refused to grant bail.
Hughes said something was not right so the best route was the habeas corpus application. Hughes was right. It saved Mark Benschop and me from spending Christmas in jail.
I hope Priya Manickchand is reading this article. She just became a mother and will have her baby with her for the holidays. Why should the state take me away from my only child at Christmas? Why do the same to Benschop? He has an eleven-year-old son.
This year will make 22 Christmases with my soul mate – my wife. Why jail me for the holidays and prevent me from being with my spouse? And for what? A harmless traffic offence – obstruction – that carries a ticket. The maximum fine is $7,500.
The bigger cause of exposing one of the worst environmental disasters that could face the Caribbean; the Le Repentir cemetery

The judiciary is the last pillar standing. Chief Justice Ian Chang caused us to be at home this holiday season. That habeas corpus application prevented senior police officers and no doubt a few Ministers, from keeping us in jail for the holiday season.
Under the law, the police can have you in the Brickdam lockup (singular; I am referring to the entire block) for 72 hours without charging you. Then they can apply to a judge for another 72 hours. This appeared to be their intention because we went into the cell around 13 00 hours on Tuesday and up to 17 hours the next day, Mr. Vyphuis was telling our lawyers that the police were still to complete their investigation into a very brief incident that lasted just for ten minutes.
What was there to investigate? And why after 35 hours, the police couldn’t wrap up their probe? Putting us on bail was the simplest thing to do. The police could have subsequently charged us and summoned us to go to court. No one in this country would believe that I would escape if the police issued a summons to me. So why the refusal to grant station bail?
I believe and so were our lawyers that the timing was insidious. On Friday afternoon, December 24, the police could have charged us with the simple sin of traffic obstruction and the possibility was very strong that we would not have found a sitting magistrate. The next working court date would have been December 28.
So some senior police officers and some Ministers succeeded in sending me to the uncivilized Brickdam lock up for two days and two nights ( I will do a separate column on the incredibly savage Brickdam lockup). It was clear to me and my lawyers that they wanted to rough me up. They could not provide themselves with the evidence. There was no evidence that the traffic was disrupted.
The police transmission sets between the officers on the scene and Mr. Vyphuis and the Commissioner related a communication that affirmed that there was no traffic jam.
So lacking proof of wrong-doing, they plotted to have us at Brickdam from December 21 to December 28. They planned to stretch us out to endure the holiday season in the Brickdam lock-up but the judiciary intervened.
This article would not be complete without the mention of the disaster that exists at the Le Repentir cemetery. You have to see this thing to believe it. It is a huge environmental tragedy. Our task was to bring to the attention of Guyana, this unfolding madness.
We didn’t go to picket a Minister’s office. We didn’t perform a demonstration outside some government building. We were involved in getting Guyanese to understand that the dump site at Le Repentir is one of the country’s most tragic disasters. It is my belief that this thing will cause skin and related diseases among people who live in the surrounding areas.
Minister Robeson Benn went to the site and made reference to attention-seekers. But if we didn’t publicize this monster in Le Repentir, Benn would not have been there in the first place.
For sensitizing Georgetowners to this huge environmental catastrophe we were placed in the uncivilized Brickdam lock-up for two full days. A parting word –- how could any community live alongside that tragedy and not raise their voices.
When me, Benschop and Christopher Ram were there, not one resident came up and spoke to us. Is Guyana dead?

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