Mazaruni escapee spotted at Itaballi

Mar 09, 2020 News

Prison authorities are hoping that they can recapture Mazaruni Prison escapee Christopher Punch, who escaped two Saturdays ago.

Christopher Punch

Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels said that authorities received word that the 29-year-old was seen at Itaballi, the logging and mining community located on the bank of the Essequibo River.
The area is upriver from the Mazaruni Prison. Punch is serving a nine-year sentence for simple larceny and attempted larceny of motorcycles in Linden. Some Mazaruni escapees have managed to reach as far as Puruni and Sharima, and even to Linden.
Those with money may buy clothing and blend into the communities. Samuels said that there is always a risk of prisoners escaping while working outdoors.
“There is always a risk of escape, since the jungle is near.” However, some escapees without knowledge of the terrain end up “going around in circles” in the jungle, and remaining in close proximity of the prison.
According to a police report, Punch, of Lot 28 El Dorado Village, West Coast Berbice, who was a trustee at the prison, made his escape while he and six others were sent to the prison dairy farm to tend to the livestock.
He was said to have asked a prison warder permission to urinate in some nearby bushes. He then headed to the area.
Some hours later, the prison warder was rounding up the other inmates and realised that Punch was missing. He is said to be dark brown in complexion, slim, tall with a tattoo of clasped hands and a scripture from the Bible on his left arm, hair on chest and scars on his upper back.
According to information received, Punch was charged in April last year for the theft of four motorcycles between February 28 and March 1, 2019.