Imprisoned on treason charges in December 2010…Monroe family spend first Christmas together in two years

Dec 25, 2012 News

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Two days before Christmas Day, Major Bruce Munroe and his wife, Carol Ann, were putting the finishing touches to their home when someone beamed an immensely bright light into their Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara residence.
Carol peered outside, and what happened next would wash away all thoughts of Christmas. It would separate husband and wife for a long and traumatic year.
Christmas is extra special for Bruce and Carol Munroe, since it was on Boxing Day that they became husband and wife. Plans for a party to celebrate the occasion were foremost in their thoughts on December 23, 2010.
“The children were in bed, the living room was in order, the curtains looked so beautiful and my husband and I decided that we will put the final touches to our bedroom,” Carol said.
“I recall feeling a bit tired and thirsty so my husband went to the kitchen to get a drink of water for me.”
As she sat waiting for her husband to return, a bright light was suddenly beamed into their house. Her first thought was that the light was from a car’s headlights.
“But then the light remained there so I sent my husband to see who it was.”
Mrs. Munroe also looked outside. She was astonished to see that several heavily-armed policemen had surrounded their home.
Even then, Mrs. Munroe said that being arrested was the last thought in her mind. But that is exactly what happened. The policemen escorted the couple to CID Headquarters, Eve Leary.
Little did the couple realize that the drive from Soesdyke to Georgetown would have been their last few hours together except for their brief court appearances which followed.
At Eve Leary, the Munroes were told that they were being held “for attempt to commit a felony”. They were kept together on a bench at the station until 23:00 hours on Christmas Eve Day.
The gravity of their situation began to sink in after they were separated and taken to different locations where they remained until Christmas Day. As the days went by the Munroes said they had no idea what would come next.  Mrs. Munroe was placed in the lockups at the East La Penitence Police Station. And she is claustrophobic.
She described the cell as a dungeon. For her husband, who was being held at the Brickdam Police Station lock-ups, it was worse.
A few days later the couple was informed that they were being charged with treason against the state.
Despite the gravity of the allegation, the Monroes said that they tried to remain optimistic that they would eventually be vindicated and reunited with their children and family.
But they couldn’t help thinking how their Christmas plans for the children had been ruined.
“We had so many plans for the children. For them the high point during the season was always to wake up and see the Christmas tree and their gifts, but all of that had changed; we weren’t around for them; there was no tree and gifts.”
Mrs. Munroe said they had also planned to take their children out on Christmas Eve Day to do the final shopping and they would have been given the chance to pick out two items that they wanted for the Christmas.

Christmas behind bars
On December 28, 2010, Guyana Defence Force Major, Bruce Munroe, his wife Carol-Ann Munroe, and former soldier Leonard Wharton were remanded on charges of treason.
It was alleged that the three between September 1, 2009 and September 15, 2010 had intended to levy war against the President and Government of Guyana to depose the President.
Major Munroe was remanded at the Georgetown Prisons while his wife was incarcerated at the New Amsterdam Prisons.
She spoke of fighting her claustrophobia by keeping her eyes closed through her year-long stint in the solitary confinement. She marked the objects she needed and existed by tough.
But it was not always like that. At first she was in the general population. Somebody decided that she should suffer so they placed her in solitary confinement coming out of the cell for one hour each day to bathe, wash the utensils and some other chore.
As the days turned into weeks and the weeks in months the Munroes said their faith in God and their love for each other enabled them to endure their incarceration.
But many days Mrs. Munroe would imagine how Christmas would have been had they been at home.
“I sat many days in prison and tried picturing how beautiful my house would look and how the children would have been smiling when they woke up Christmas morning, but it was all in my head and I soon had to come to grips with reality.”
“Having to relive what occurred on Christmas 2010 was nothing easy and I never envisioned spending a Christmas away from my children and my husband, it was even more sad that it would have been our wedding anniversary and we were separated.”
December 2011 was a very hard time for the couple who only communicated during their brief court appearances and through letters they often wrote to each other.
For the Munroe’s Christmas 2011 was one of the most dreadful periods of their lives. On Christmas Day 2011, Mrs. Munroe said she was allowed a few privileges which she was deprived of all year round.
“The morning we were treated to breakfast, there was tea with coffee which was considered a luxury in prison; we had pepper pot and bread; for lunch we had a very nice meal compared to what we were served all year round.” But for the incarcerated couple, all the Christmas Day delicacies meant nothing.
But Mrs. Munroe received one precious Christmas Day ‘gift’: a chance to make a one-minute phone call from prison to a relative of her choice. Mrs. Munroe called her two children.
“It was a very emotional telephone conversation between me and my children. My mother was also there so that made my Christmas Day a little pleasant but I wished nothing more than to be reunited with my husband and family.”
Mr. Munroe also spoke of the fine delicacies he was treated to on Christmas Day while in prison.
“Very early in the morning we were treated to sweets and cigarette and a fine breakfast but I couldn’t partake since all that was on my mind was my two children and what my wife must have been going through.”
Finally, in March, 2012, after a lengthy trial, the charges against Mr. Munroe and his wife were dismissed after a ruling that the charges against the accused did not exist by law and was faulty.
With tears of joy, the couple walked out of the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

Reunited
This December, the Munroes will be spending Christmas in their home with their children for the first time in two years. But their celebration will forever be marred by memories of December 2010 and Christmas 2011. The past year in prison has changed their entire outlook of Christmas.

For Mrs. Monroe, the once simple task of decorating her home seems hard as it brings back terrible memories of the bright light which beamed into her house on December 23, 2010.
For her husband it will always be the fear of disappointing his children or the fear of not being around on Christmas Day. For the children is the fear of being separated from their parents.
While Mr. and Mrs. Munroe said they are both happy to be spending this Christmas at home, the experience of being incarcerated has given their family a new perspective of Christmas.
“Prior to this it was about shopping and getting the home right, getting the perfect curtains, the perfect gifts and matching furniture but now while we do some of what we used to do, the most important thing is being around our children and each other,” Mrs. Munroe related.
For Mr. Munroe this time of the year is all about appreciating family and having his family next to him.
“During this time, use it to send time with family. Appreciate it for all its worth and when you sit at the table to feast, thank God that you have the opportunity to spend time with family…family is the most important thing. When that is taken from you then you realize how much it really matters to have them around.”
Now if there is one family that got their wish this Christmas it’s definitely the Munroes as today Christmas Day 2012 they have their most precious gift—the company of each other.

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