MP Harry Gill faces charge for alleged assault - PPP sees plot to keep him from Friday’s no-confidence vote

MP Harry Gill faces charge for alleged assault – PPP sees plot to keep him from Friday’s no-confidence vote

Dec 19, 2018 News

MP Harry Gill

Opposition Parliamentarian, Harry Gill, is set to appear in a West Berbice court today to answer to an assault charge. His party, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), believes that it is a plot to derail Friday’s no-confidence motion against the Coalition Government which is set to be considered in the National Assembly.
PPP’s General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo, claimed this week that plans are afoot to disrupt the vote, a claim that has been dismissed as ‘hot air’ by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.
In fact, Nagamootoo insisted that the motion be debated Friday, as the administration has nothing to fear.
According to Gill, he received a summons from the police yesterday to present himself to the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court at 9am.
The MP is charged with assaulting Carol Joseph, a councilor of the Region 5 area.
The PPP yesterday said that the charge would come less than 24 hours after its leader, Jagdeo, issued a warning of the Government’s plans.
“We believe this is a deliberate act to detain one of our MPs to reduce our numbers in Parliament on Friday to ensure the failure of the no-confidence vote. This summons is completely without any basis whatsoever.”

Region 5 APNU councilor, Carol Joseph

The party claimed that on Wednesday, November 07, Gill “was viciously assaulted with a chain by the former RDC Region 5 Councillor and PNC activist, Carol Smith Joseph in the presence of Police Inspector Rose and the GECOM Supervisor, Clearmont Mingo, while he was videoing Joseph’s tantrum behaviour, which was hostile to himself and the People’s Progressive Party.”
Gill is claiming that although this assault was witnessed by a senior police officer who admitted on video that he “observed” the assault, Carol Smith Joseph was neither arrested nor charged.
“We are convinced that Carol Smith Joseph had motive for wanting to harm this PPP/C Member of Parliament, as he had earlier exposed her years of addiction to the drug, Pethidine, costing taxpayers millions of dollars, and had also reported on the corruption and abuse of the residents at the Hugo Chavez Centre in Region 5 under her watch.”
PPP pointed out that it was Gill who complained to the police of being assaulted.
“It now turns out that the complainant, MP Harry Gill, is the one being charged. We have no doubt that this charge is being instituted to prevent our Member of Parliament from attending Parliament on Friday. We call upon the DPP Office to immediately intervene and terminate this baseless charge against MP Harry Gill, lest that office continues to bear the public perception that it is inflicted by politics and unscrupulous politicians.”

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