Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
Camp Street inferno… “I would not wish a death like that on a dog”
– Slain guard’s mom expresses sympathy to parents of son’s alleged killer
Relatives of the prisoners who perished in last Thursday’s inferno are receiving sympathy from an
Rayon Paddy
unexpected source: the mother of a security guard that one of the prisoners was accused of killing.
That woman is Gloria Stewart, whose son, security guard Wilfred Stewart, was shot dead in December 2014, when gunmen stormed Sterling Products Limited on the East Bank of Demerara.
Stewart, 45, a Beharry Group of Companies security guard, of Graham’s Hall, East Coast Demerara, was shot in the groin and hip as he sat in a security hut, after the gunmen, who reportedly arrived in a silver-grey car, forced their way through the main gate. He was pronounced dead at the East Bank Demerara Regional Health Centre.
Stewart had worked as a guard with the Beharry Group of Companies for over ten years.
Three men were subsequently charged for Stewart’s murder. One of them was 27-year-old Rayon Paddy. His body was among the 17 that prison authorities recovered.
Gloria Stewart’s reaction to the news of the tragedy was perhaps typical of a mother who knows how it feels to lose a son.
“When I heard, I was so sorry. I would not wish a death like that on a dog. It is very unfortunate that prisoners would do something like that. I am sure that not all who died lit that fire.
“They say burning and drowning are horrible deaths. I can’t bring myself to say ‘good for them.’ Some people are saying to me, ‘Gloria, you get your reward.’ I can’t say so. It will never bring back my son. Nothing that they say or do can bring back my son.
“If I could meet the parents (of the dead prisoners), I would offer them condolences. They did not send them (their sons) out to steal. I hope that God can console the parents, even Paddy’s parents.”
But even as she grieves for those parents, Mrs. Stewart admits that she still hasn’t quite gotten over the death of her own son.
He is survived by two daughters, and his wife was expecting a third child when he was slain. But even that joy was denied his family when the baby was stillborn. That additional misfortune happened just a few days before what was to have been Mr. Stewart’s forty-sixth birth anniversary.
“I still cry sometimes,” Mrs. Stewart admitted. “I could never get over it, but God has given me eight other children. God is keeping me strong. I have been very devoted to going to church (since his death). He’s buried not far from my church-yard at Graham’s Hall.”
Along with Rayon Paddy, two other suspects, Uree Voswick and Orin Arthur were also charged in connection with Wilfred Stewart’s murder.
Several of the other prisoners who perished were also on remand for murder.
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