‘Tortured’ soldier released

Aug 25, 2011 News

– opts for honourable discharge

A soldier, whose relatives had alleged that he was tortured, has been granted permission to leave the Guyana Defence Force.
The permission was granted yesterday after Private Dane Wilson opted to leave as against being transferred to another unit.
Wilson’s mother, Avril Haley, met with Chief-of-Staff (COS) Commodore Gary Best and other senior officers of the GDF, yesterday. She told Kaieteur News that Best offered her son the option of leaving the army or being transferred to another unit.

Dane Wilson

The young Private, a father of two, who was busted from a Lance Corporal on more than one occasion, chose to leave the army he had served for close to eight years. This was after several requests to leave were turned down by the GDF.
“Every time he apply for SOS, it is not being granted. If he get a stripe today, the next couple months he getting lock up for something, and he lose he stripe. He ain’t making progress in there,” Haley had told this newspaper in an interview earlier this week.
She said that yesterday her son was instructed to prepare an SOS which will enable him to leave the military honourably.
Haley had expressed concern for her son’s safety, following reports that he was being inhumanely treated while in custody at army headquarters, Camp Ayanganna.
Avril Haley had told Kaieteur News that she had received reports that Private Wilson was stripped, beaten and made to lie on a wet concrete floor for more than a day as punishment for reportedly refusing to perform guard duties last week.
She even claimed that photographs of him stripped naked were taken by several persons on their cellular phone.
The army had however denied that its officers had tortured Wilson, but had pledged to investigate allegations of his treatment while he was in custody.
According to Haley, during the meeting with the Chief-of-Staff, at which she was accompanied by her older son, Wilson was summoned and he indicated that he did receive humiliating treatment and named a Captain as the main perpetrator.

Commodore Gary Best

Kaieteur News was told that the Chief-of-Staff asked why the Private did not relate that information when he was first questioned by senior officers of the GDF, including Welfare Officer, Lieutenant Deon Heyliger.
But Haley believes that her son was intimidated during the initial interview.
“I understand the level of intimidation that goes on in there. I will not disclose who told me what had happened to my son, but I told him (COS) exactly what I was told,” Haley said.
The woman stated that Commodore Best has assured her that the GDF will be investigating the allegations and the soldiers who are found guilty will be disciplined.