Requiem for a fallen Presidential Guard

Aug 25, 2019 Murder and Mystery, News

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By Michael Jordan

The woman in the apartment came to her verandah almost as soon after I had pressed the buzzer a second time. She had been expecting me, since I had visited the previous day. She had agreed to have her son check her CCTV camera, for activities that had occurred on Monday July 1, 2019.

I knew that the detectives, looking into the same case, had viewed images on security cameras at a nearby supermarket. They had found no leads there. For some reason, they had not checked at this neighbouring residence. Had I found something that the cops had missed? I hadn’t.
The woman’s cameras failed to provide any clues as to how Presidential Guard, Constable Winston Cooper, had ended up injured and dying on Mandela Avenue last month.
The little I have learned is that Presidential Guard Winston Cooper was affable, quiet, came from a Christian home, had served in the Guyana Defence Force for eleven years, became a presidential guard three years ago, and that there are two people who might have wished him harm.
I also learned that the 32-year-old liked to walk, and that may also serve as a clue to his fate.
Cooper is believed to have stepped out of his mother’s home, located near the corner of Mandela Avenue in East Ruimveldt, at around five o’clock on the morning of Monday, July 1, 2019. He then walked north along Mandela Avenue, to begin another round of duty at the Presidential Guard Headquarters.
At around six-thirty, Cooper’s mother, Loraine Peters, received a call that her son had been found unconscious in the vicinity of the National Gymnasium.
First responders from the Guyana Fire Service had taken him to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Still unconscious, Cooper was admitted to the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. He had sustained a head injury and one of his shoulders was also fractured.

According to his mother, the medical staff who were treating her son informed her that his injuries were severe, and that he could be “coming (recover) or going (die).”
While he remained unconscious, he appeared “to show signs of coming around,” and was transferred to the High Dependency Unit (HDU).
Mrs. Peters said that the doctors eventually advised that Winston be discharged, since they had given him every possible treatment. According to the mother, it was also suggested that Winston might regain consciousness if he was surrounded by people whose voices he recognised.
She was also cautioned that recovery would take months or even years.
Relatives agreed to have him discharged, but on Wednesday August 14, 2019, Winston Cooper “began to breathe heavily.” Relatives hurriedly took him back to the GPHC, where he succumbed.
Meanwhile, ranks from the Police Traffic Department and CID Headquarters, sought to ascertain how Cooper had sustained his injuries. The security guards who had worked the night shifts at the gymnasium and nearby supermarket reportedly said they had neither seen nor heard anything amiss.
For about two hours, investigators pored over the CCTV footage from the Mandela Avenue Supermarket that is close to the National Gymnasium.
Unfortunately, the cameras were not focused on the area where Cooper was found. In the darkness, the security equipment reportedly only picked up the flashing lights of the ambulance as it arrived to transport the injured presidential guard to hospital.
And while the cameras at the home of the female resident I spoke to could pick up images at the opposite side of Mandela Avenue, the woman informed me that, as a precaution against theft, they had positioned the cameras to focus on the family’s vehicles, which were parked in their premises.
By then, ranks from the Force’s Major Crimes Unit had also joined the investigation. They had received information that a very persistent woman had been furious with Cooper for breaking up with her. Cooper had reportedly confided in close associates of having received threats.
The detectives questioned the woman and her husband, but reportedly found nothing to implicate them.
Even the post mortem report, which gave Cooper’s death as being due to “complications caused by head injuries,” provided no new leads.
A traffic official did tell me that he was informed that the injuries did not appear to have been caused by a vehicular accident. That was contradicted by another rank. Police are said to be awaiting a more detailed post mortem report.
So, was Constable Cooper struck down by a callous hit-and-run driver while walking to work? Or was he attacked by individuals who had a grudge against him?
His mother, Loraine Peters, has declined to get into such speculation.
Her response to such questions was: “My son has to get justice and he will get justice. We serve a living God.”
She is also appealing to persons who may have information that could lead to the apprehending of any suspects to contact the police.

If you have any information about this unusual case or any other, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown office, or by telephone.
We can be reached on telephone numbers 592-225-8473, 592-225-8458, 592-225-8465, or 592-225-8491. You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at 592-645-2447, or his email address: [email protected]

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