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What’s the arrangement between Robert Gates and the Georgetown Prisons?
Several questions have been raised after convicted felon and former murder accused, Robert Gates, who says he is serving a 48-month prison sentence, was allowed to wander in and around the environs of the High Court.
“Prisoner” Robert Gates (left) who is serving a 48 months sentence walks freely in the Georgetown High Court compound.
Gates, a former policeman, testifying before the Commission of Inquiry into the death of Walter Rodney, alleged that he was sent to infiltrate the Working People’s Alliance in the years leading up to Rodney’s death.
Gates, who goes by several aliases, was charged back in 2010 for obtaining money by false pretense after he fleeced unsuspecting persons using the ruse that he owned a car dealership. Gates was another witness called to give evidence in the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry.
According to Gates, the charges for which he has been convicted were allegedly “trumped” up because of his intention to give evidence at the commission. He was charged in 2010 when the commission was not even considered.
However, it was only on Friday when Gates disclosed that he was “serving” the sentence that persons realized that he had been coming to the commission since its inception in April without any apparent prison guard.
Gates, during all hearings, was seated at back of the room with a woman next to him. Neither prison guard nor police would be seen accompanying him to the commission.
At Friday’s session, Gates, during the break around 11:00hrs, got up and went outside. He wandered around the High Court compound, then stepped outside of the environs of the High Court to get snacks.
Minutes after the session adjourned on Friday, Gates and the female proceeded to walk outside of the court compound. The two stood by the gate at the Charlotte Street entrance of the High Court. A check at the High Court lockup stated that Gates was not a prisoner there. The procedure is for the prison to notify the court’s lockup about the “prisoner”.
It is unclear whether there is some “special arrangement” between Gates and the commission or the Guyana Prison Service. In normal circumstances, prisoners who are brought from the Camp Street jail to give court evidence are accompanied by a Prison Guard, who promptly follows the inmate around. When the inmate is finished, a prison vehicle would be waiting for that inmate to be taken back to prison.
Commission lawyer Glenn Hanoman, when questioned about Gates, said that the idea of a commission of inquiry being held was floated over 30 years. When asked about the conditions for Gates and the fact that there is no prison guard around him, Hanoman said there’s a reason for it and it was part of a plan.
Hanoman said that it should not be obvious that Gates is a prisoner. In his explanation to Kaieteur News, Hanoman said that Gates has raised issues about his safety. He said that there are prisoners in the jail who might want to harm him.
He added that he believes that Gates’s “security” arrangement might change since he has started to give evidence.
Asked about the purpose of having Gates there from the start of the commission in April, Hanoman said he was not sure when he would have “fall” in. He said that he felt that Gates was a good alternate witness.
He said that before Gates was brought the commission needed to get an order from the prisons. He said that the commission put all the dates in but still had to follow the order served to the prison. Hanoman maintained that if the order is given for five days, he has to come out for that particular time.
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