Latest update November 27th, 2024 1:00 AM
Four break out of Court lockups…One shot dead, one recaptured
A manhunt is underway for two prisoners who were among four that staged an embarrassing breakout from the lock-ups at the recently renovated Georgetown Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
Up to press time one had been recovered and another shot dead at Fort Wellington, West Coast Berbice.
Twenty-eight-year-old Vickram Persaud, of Doctor’s Dam, La Grange, West Bank Demerara was shot to his abdomen and his head.
He was caught up in one of the roadblocks set up soon after the escape. His body was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation shortly before 21:00hrs last evening.
Another prisoner, Steve Richard Bacchus, one of the four escapees, yesterday had his freedom cut short when he was dragged out of a minibus at Hadfield Street, Georgetown, moments later.
The two prisoners at large are facing murder and armed robbery charges. They were identified as Randolph Marques of East Ruimveldt, Georgetown and Keron Cummings of Sophia.
The breakout occurred around 12:45 hrs during a heavy downpour, while the men were awaiting their scheduled court appearances.
They escaped by ripping the grill work and the mesh that covered the window at the back of the building to provide ventilation to prisoners in the holding cell.
They then proceeded to climb down the back wall and scale the fence, cutting a stand of razor wire at the top of the fence.
Kaieteur News understands that their escape was facilitated by the fact that there were no police patrols at the back of the building.
Police in a release said that four prisoners who were among others in the lock-ups at the Court, waiting to be taken before a Magistrate, broke out and escaped after damaging the grill and wood work.
The release further added that Bacchus was recaptured in Hadfield Street, while efforts are continuing by the police to recapture the others who are still at large.
Bacchus, 21, was charged with the murder of Police Special Constable Quincy Wright at Guyhoc Park, Georgetown, on January 24, last.
He was also held in connection with the stealing of a gun from a security guard on January 22, last in Sophia. The guard’s colleague was shot and injured.
Persaud was indicted for killing Police Constable Michael Cumberbatch at North Sophia during an altercation.
Marques was facing the court for the murder of Patsan security guard, Bharat Ramcharran, who was shot and killed during a robbery on April 24, last. Cummings was in court on twelve different charges, including carjackings and armed robberies.
He was also charged with three counts of robbery under arms committed on three individuals on February 20, last, at Lamaha Park, Georgetown.
Kaieteur News was informed that ranks were on their way to the holding cell which is located in the lower flat of the building when an alarm was raised by an officer.
Upon checking, the discovery was made and roadblocks were immediately set up in and around the city. Bacchus was recaptured at one of the roadblocks and taken back to the Camp Street Prison.
A senior police official blamed the breakout on poor work by the contractors who were tasked with the multi-million-dollar renovation of the entire Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
“They never did any repairs to the actual lock-ups. The grillwork that the prisoners bore through was there before the renovation, the contractor never strengthened it. We had pointed out several things that were wrong with the lock-ups but they never corrected it,” the official told this newspaper.
According to the official, the sanitary condition in the lock-ups is so deplorable that the ranks have to sit outside and monitor all the prisoners, including high-profile ones, from the yard.
“It was raining heavily and since the place was stinking, the ranks had to vacate the area. That gave the prisoners the opportunity to do what they did,” the official stated.
He however pointed out that that did not exonerate the ranks stationed at the lock-up from their responsibility to ensure that the security of the prisoners.
Only recently prison authorities claimed to thwart an escape plan by a group of prisoners in the cat walk section. Officials had placed Calvin Bailey whom they claimed was the head of the plan in the strong cell (solitary confinement) in an effort to separate him from other inmates.
Questions are now being raised whether yesterday’s breakout was the plan prison officials thought they had thwarted.
Kaieteur News understands that the manhunt is being aided by the involvement of ranks from the newly formed police SWAT Unit.
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