Special Branch police rank reported sick to go on robbery

Jan 05, 2020 News

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– Was the driver of get-away car

By Shikema Dey

Following Friday night’s dramatic face off between a gang of bandits and an armed Tuschen resident during a botched robbery, the Guyana Police Force has revealed that one of the detained men is a serving member of the Force.

He has been identified as 24-year-old Police Constable, Jonathan Harry, of Lot 124 East Ruimveldt. He was attached to the Special Branch at Eve Leary, Georgetown.
Kaieteur News was informed that Harry was scheduled for duty but he reported sick. However, it appeared that Constable Harry was well enough to be the getaway driver in the robbery that left one of his accomplices dead, another wounded and the others captured except for one female who is still on the run.
The bandits were attempting to rob a Chinese Restaurant at Tuschen, West Coast Demerara, when their plans were cut short after a neighbour who is also a licensed firearm holder, intervened.
The incident reportedly occurred at around 21:00hrs.
Police said that the gang went to 5-Star Chinese Restaurant located at 695 Tuschen New Housing Scheme, East Bank Essequibo; two were armed with cutlasses and one with a handgun.
The proprietor of the business, 43-year-old Guang Hong Wang, her husband and a customer; 37-year-old Navindra Lakahalall were in the restaurant at the time when one of the suspects entered with a woman and purchased two beers.

The duo, after consuming the beers, called for a case of beer. When the owner proceeded to deliver the case to them, the male suspect pulled out a gun and proceeded to rob her.
The men turned and relieved Lakahalall of one silver-coloured chain and a sum of cash.
Plans cut short
A licensed holder of a handgun who lives nearby heard the commotion and immediately went to investigate.

The man disclosed to Kaieteur News that he was at home eating dinner when he heard someone in the restaurant speaking in English. According to him, he found this strange.
“I found it strange because they usually communicate in their language, and at that hour, the woman won’t have people over so she was telling the person, something about money, that she didn’t have any…that she went to Georgetown and I realise that something was wrong.”
The man relayed that he picked up his firearm and called out to the woman, attracting the bandits’ attention.
“One of the guys leaned out from the room with the gun pointed at me and I fired a shot and took cover…and they inside screaming kill duh man, kill duh man.
One of them came outside with a cutlass as I was crouching by the door and he fired a chop and I shoot (one of the bandits, who turned out to be known robber Mark Prince) and run to the back of the building.”
He explained that the other suspects ran out of the building but before following them, he circled back to ensure the woman and her husband were safe.
After exiting, the resident was told by a neighbour that the bandits had escaped in a Black Bluebird PTT 8606, which reportedly belongs to a woman who resides at Coldingen, East Coast Demerara. They had left their wounded accomplice, Mark Prince, at the scene.
The resident then entered his car and proceeded to follow the men who were later apprehended at a police roadblock in front of the Den Amstel Police Station.
“I never lose track of the car; I was always behind them and they got caught at the roadblock.”
Police identified the occupants as Police Constable Jonathan Harry, Shaquille Wilbury, of Buxton, East Coast Demerara who was in the back seat with a gunshot wound and 20-year-old Akande Ross of Herstelling, East Bank Demerara.
Wilbury is now a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital in a stable condition. According to reports, Harry identified himself as a police rank when he was taken to the station.
An unlicensed pistol with an empty magazine was found in the vehicle and a sum of cash and cellular phones were found on the persons of the suspects.
Mark Prince was found motionless with a gunshot wound to the neck, a cutlass in his right hand and a haversack on his back containing $130,000. He was taken to the Leonora Cottage Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The dead serial robber
The slain bandit, Mark Prince, also known as ‘Fine Man’ has had numerous run-ins with the law.
In 2016, the police issued a wanted bulletin for the then 36-year-old with his address give as 169 James and Curtis Streets, Albouystown. Prince was wanted in connection with a robbery under arms.
Then in 2017, Prince charged jointly with Regan Singh, for trailing a businessman from a city bank and robbing him.
The charge alleged that Prince, in the company of others, robbed Herman Bello, of $488,000, and two cellular phones.
According to information, on the day in question, Bello after withdrawing the cash, placed it in his shoulder bag along with his two cellular phones, then exited the bank.
The man proceeded to his vehicle, which was parked on Lamaha Street.
Prince exited a vehicle, which was parked in same vicinity and demanded that the man hand over the bag with the cash while pointing a gun to his face.
The businessman, fearful for his life, handed over the bag with the cash.
Singh, who was waiting in a car drove up and Prince entered the vehicle and escaped.
Then again in 2018, Prince was among six men who were nabbed at a police roadblock on the Grove Public Road, East Bank Demerara. The men, while on bail for various criminal offences, had attempted to commit an armed robbery on poultry farmer Michael Chang Yuen, 69, a Chinese national.
They were in possession of two 9MM Glock pistols, with 22 live rounds; a Beretta Pistol with 11 rounds; a. 32 Taurus Pistol with six live rounds; along with a sledgehammer, two pairs of latex gloves, and trade plates.
Police had said that the vehicle the suspects were in was stolen from its owner during an armed robbery.

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