PI into KNews grenade attack...‘Fed up’ prisoner clears courtroom

PI into KNews grenade attack…‘Fed up’ prisoner clears courtroom

Nov 25, 2016 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

Pandemonium broke out inside the Georgetown Magistrates Court in the courtroom of Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan after 25-year-old Leroy Williams, burst through a door to the prisoners’ chute demanding “Nobody move”.
Williams is a prisoner on remand for the grenade attack on Kaieteur News.
The prisoner had stormed back into the courtroom after another sitting of the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) into the matter ended. He was being escorted to the holding cell.
He chucked the police rank who was escorting him, after the man had loosened his handcuffs in the process of escorting him to the washroom.
The prisoner then ran up the stairs, knocked on the door to enter the courtroom, and as soon as the orderly opened the door, thinking it was one of his colleagues, a frenzied Williams appeared and shouted at the top of his voice as if he were a gunman or terrorist, ¡°Nobody move.¡±
¡°I fed up of jail, I fed up of jail. I want a quicker trial,¡± he continued.
Persons, including reporters, quickly ran out the courtroom through the lone door. It was pandemonium. The Chief Magistrate came off the bench and retired to her chambers.
Proceedings were briefly adjourned as ranks made efforts to restrain the prisoner. .
At the time, yesterday, several police ranks were standing guard with high powered firearms around the court.
This is not the first time that Williams has behaved in this matter. But yesterday’s incident was the worst of them all.
In the end, he was restrained and locked away in the Police Outpost.
A few months ago, Williams hurled a bottle of water at a female reporter who was standing on the court stairway, capturing video footage of prisoners as they were being taken to the prison van.
The reporter was at the time taking footage with her cellular phone. Williams threw the bottle at her striking her in the upper chest. She was standing approximately 15 feet from him.
The matter was reported to police.
Meanwhile, the PI into offence continued with Detective Corporal Junior Blair being cross examined.
Corporal Blair is the Subordinate Officer (SO) in charge of the Forensic Video Unit at Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown.
Williams, Janeil Howard, 20, of 322 Section ‘C’ Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara, and Alfie Garraway, 36, of Norton Street, Lodge, Georgetown, are accused of conspiring together with other persons to cause an explosion by way of grenade, likely to endanger lives and cause damage to property. Garraway is currently out on $300,000 High Court bail.
The other two accused remain on remand.
Howard is unrepresented by an attorney. Alfie Garraway is being represented by Attorneys Stanley Moore and Glenn Hanoman, while Attorney Neil Bollers is defending Williams.
Moore and Bollers grilled the witnesses for over an hour with questions.
Corporal Blair had earlier given testimony in relation to CCTV footage retrieved from Kaieteur News building which he extracted onto three compact discs. The discs with the footages were admitted to form part of the prosecution’s evidence, after its contents were revealed to the court.
The witness was re-examined by Police Prosecutor Neville Jeffers.
Prosecutor Jeffers will be recalling Somal Sharma, Network Administrator at Kaieteur News and another police witness to testify on December 1.
According to reports, on the day in question, a security staffer heard an unusual sound near Publisher of Kaieteur News Glenn Lall’s vehicle, PRR 8398, which was parked on the western side of the newspaper’s Saffon Street, Georgetown office. On checking the front of the vehicle, the staffer spotted a grenade lying near one of the front tyres. Video footage from the company’s CCTV cameras showed a grey-coloured vehicle, slowing as it approached Lall’s vehicle. The driver accelerated after the explosive device was thrown.
Shemar Wilson also known as ‘Abdue’ is still wanted by the police for questioning in relation to the grenade attack. He is 20 years of age and his last known addresses have been given as 43 North Sophia and 51 West LaPenitence, Georgetown.