GECOM arson accused released without charge, after being lied on

Aug 22, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – Driver of the Region 10 Regional Chairman, Roy Marshall, who was accused of being the mastermind behind the GECOM Linden Branch 2020 fire, was released from police custody without any charge and claims it was after former Community Development Officer, Byron Kendell, confessed to police that he initially lied on him, during his interrogation. Kendell who was charged and remanded for unlawfully and maliciously setting fire to GECOM’s Wismar Office in 2020, was recently released on bail from the High Court, police sources confirmed.

Mr. Roy Marshall

Speaking on the matter in an exclusive interview with Kaieteur News, Marshall denied all charges that he was accused of, which is providing the funds, a total of $150,000 to pay the persons who would actually carry out the act. Those persons allegedly turned out to be Marlon Hunter and Teon February, who police said allegedly confessed to setting the building on fire. They remain on remand.
Marshall said during the interrogation, he was shown a video interview by police where Kendell claimed it was Marshall who approached him about setting the building on fire and then handed him a package that contained $150,000. “In the interview and this is the most integral part of everything, Byron Kendell said and I quote, ‘My name is Byron Kendell, I am the CDO; after the election, I realised nothing not gon go on for me, a gon lose mah job and a day I just sit down jussa and Roy Marshall, the Regional Chairman’s driver come to me and say aye Moogie, this thing can’t go down suh, place gotta blaze and I turn and point to the GECOM building and said, that gotta bun and I get a package hay for you. In the package get $150,000 to pay the men them $75,000, $75,000’,” Marshall quoted as what he saw Kendell saying on the video interview.
Marshall said he was shocked at what he was being accused of and questioned whether Kendell was pressured or coerced into making such a confession, which implicated him into something he knows nothing about. When asked what he believed would have prompted Kendell to make such a claim, Marshall said he believes Kendell envies him. Marshall disclosed that on the fourth day of being in custody, investigators informed him that Kendell allegedly confessed to lying on Marshall in the previous interview, but stated he has a witness that saw Marshall deliver the package to him.

Mr. Byron Kendell

“My response was, I am happy that God would have placed in his heart for him to speak the truth…….then I politely asked the officer, if a person can go to that limit to lie on an individual, what other credibility can you have in such a person and I think for a moment I may have paralyzed the panel with that response,” Marshall said. He said he was immediately released from custody. Marshall is now calling for a public apology from the Guyana Police Force for what he described as the most terrifying night of his life. He said the principles and practices governing an arrest were not followed and he was kept in custody beyond 72 hours. It was more than 12 hours after the arrest that the allegation was formally put to him. “My rights were not read, the refusal to say what I was being arrested for, for taking me out of the jurisdiction and so I am calling for an apology for the vicious arrest, insult to my name, almost defamation of my character, along with other things. It still hurts; my wife and children are affected greatly in the night.
My son is still jumping out of his sleep,” he related.
A fire on July 14, 2020, destroyed the office of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Building at First Alley. The incident occurred just before 2 a.m. The female security guard said she was in the security hut at the front of the building when she heard an explosion at the back of the building; upon checking, she saw two males running up the road west into First Alley and by that time, the upper flat of the building was already on fire. The upper flat was burnt with the roof completely gutted. The building was being rented by GECOM.

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