Charge dismissed against 'drunken' ex-cop found in Soesdyke home

Charge dismissed against ‘drunken’ ex-cop found in Soesdyke home

Jun 29, 2017 News

Former Police Constable Parmanand Sookdeo after he was caught and tied up in the house

A charge of intent to commit a felony has been dismissed against former Police Constable Parmanand Sookdeo, who was reportedly in an intoxicated state when he was caught in the home of a Soesdyke, East Coast Demerara family.
At the time of the incident, Sookdeo was a member of the Guyana Police Force.
He has since been discharged. Sookdeo, 24, of Tain Village, Port Mourant Berbice, was freed of the charge yesterday by Magistrate Dylon Bess, who ruled that the prosecution led insufficient evidence to establish the elements of the offence.
It was alleged that on January 8, at Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara, Sookdeo entered the dwelling house of Nandkishore Persaud, with intent to commit a felony.
According to reports, Sookdeo was caught in the home around 03:00hrs, after a resident heard strange noises in his unoccupied upper flat.
The resident said that he alerted his son-in law, and after checking outside the property, the two ventured to the area from which the sounds had come.
He stated that the intruder said he was a policeman and that he had a gun. It is alleged that the former cop scrambled one of the men, but they eventually tied him up. Ranks from the Timehri Police Station were contacted and identified the intruder as one of their colleagues.
The former Police constable who was represented by Attorney-at-Law Bernard Da Silva had been released on $75,000 bail pending trial.
During Sookdeo’s initial court hearing in January, Attorney DaSilva had said that his client was arrested due to a misunderstanding.
According to Da Silva, his client was in a drunken state at the time. He said that on the night of the incident, Sookdeo was consuming alcohol at a house with some friends. The attorney said that his client left the home and went to the public road and was unable to recognize the house he was at.
Da Silva explained that his client is not familiar with the area, since he had only been moved to the Timehri Police Station two months prior to the incident.
The lawyer disclosed that his client ventured into the wrong home after attempts made by him to call his friends for directions were to no avail.
Da Silva further stated that the occupants of the home thought his client was a thief and dealt him a sound thrashing. “But it wasn’t until he (Sookdeo) identified himself as a police officer they stopped beating him”, the lawyer pointed out.