Matters before the court involving GPF ranks

Oct 03, 2021 News

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The Court Journal…

By Renay Sambach

Kaieteur News – A total of 29 ranks are presently before the court on various criminal charges and this has been confirmed by Commissioner of Police (Ag), Nigel Hoppie.

In this edition of The Court Journal, I will highlight some of the criminal matters that have brought members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) before the court.
In January 2021, a cop was charged for hosting a private party. The officer, Timothy Morrison, who is attached to the Impact Base at the Brickdam Police Station, was charged with Breach of Restriction on Social Activities.
The cop was without legal representation when he appeared in the Leonora Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Zameena Alli-Seepaul. He had denied the charge which stated that on November 14, 2020, at Fellowship, West Bank Demerara, he hosted a private party.
Officer Morrison was placed on bail in the sum of $15,000, pending the outcome of the matter.
The following month, a member of the GPF was taken to court for causing death by dangerous driving. The Police Constable of the Tactical Service Unit had appeared in the Providence Magistrate’s Court before Principal Magistrate, Judy Latchman.
The defendant, Steffon Ramsay, pleaded not guilty to the charge which alleged that on January 5, last, he drove minibus PWW 7172 owned by the GPF in a manner dangerous to the public, causing the death of Dulmatie Deochand called ‘Aunty Dolly’, 59, of Section ‘C’ Block Y, Golden Grove, East Bank Demerara.

Ramsay was released on $600,000, bail for the offence.
It was reported that the accident occurred at 07:26hrs on the Nandy Park Public Road, East Bank Demerara, while the rush-hour three-lane system was in place.
According to reports, before the mother of four met her demise, she was heading to her workplace, M.S. Hack 7 Sons Supermarket.
Reports are that the minibus driven by the police constable was heading north along the western side of the eastern carriageway. At the time, the traffic was converted into a three-lane system heading to the city.
Ramsay reportedly told police that he was driving at a slow rate when he saw the woman approaching the pedestrian crossing. He further stated that as he was about eight feet away from the crossing, the woman started to cross the road on the pedestrian crossing.
Upon seeing this, Ramsay claimed that he tried to swerve to avoid a collision, but ended up hitting the 59-year-old. Deochand fell as a result of the colision. She was picked up in an unconscious state and rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where doctors pronounced her dead on arrival.
When this publication had contacted the family, they related that the woman suffered a broken neck, broken arm, and bruises to her face. A hole was seen on the left side of her face too.

POLICE MULTI-MILLION FRAUD
Before the court too are several members of the Force who allegedly misappropriated millions of dollars that were entrusted to the GPF’s Finance Department.

The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), an arm of the GPF, had charged and placed before the court those believed to have had a hand in the misappropriation.
A total of 11 members of the Force were charged and their matters are being heard in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before the Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan.
The ranks who are facing fraud charges are: Deputy Commander of Division 4 ‘B’ – Senior Superintendent Lorraine Saul, Police Finance Officer – Superintendent Marcelene Washington, former Deputy Finance Officer – Deputy Superintendent Frank Jackman-Wilburg, and former Deputy Finance Officer – Assistant Superintendent Roxanne Griffith-Adams. When the matter was heard in court Saul and Washington were out of the jurisdiction.
Other ranks that were charged are: Officer-in-Charge at the Police Finance Department (ag), Assistant Superintendent Kurt Smith; former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Kevin Adonis; Sergeants Jermaine Fraser and Michael Corbin; Corporal Rawle Haynes and Constables, Jenneka Carmichael and Tatyana Smith.
Saul, Washington, Jackman-Wilburg, Griffith-Adams and Kurt Smith were charged for conspiracy to commit fraud, in relation to the falsification of meals payment.
Adonis, Haynes, Fraser and Corbin were slapped with allegedly stealing millions of dollars that were allocated for ranks who performed extra duties while Tatyana Smith and Carmichael were charged for erasing critical data in one of the fraud cases.

The most recent matter is that of Saul, Washington and Griffith-Adams. The trio were slapped with one joint conspiracy to commit a felony charge and Saul was slapped with an individual falsification of the account charge.
The charge involving Saul, Washington and Griffith-Adams, was laid indictable and they were not required to enter a plea.
According to facts of the aforementioned charge, Saul was stationed at the Felix Austin Police College Mess, as the Officer-in-charge, and on the date mentioned in the charge, she created feeding accounts for ranks that were performing fixed point duties. It is alleged that the accounts Saul prepared were for duties that never existed. It is further alleged that Saul conspired with Washington, Jackman-Wilburg and Griffith-Adams who approved and processed the accounts at the Police Finance Department.
Another case involves Saul, Washington and Jackman-Wilburg. They were slapped with two joint conspiracies to commit felony charges. Saul was also slapped with two individual counts of falsification of accounts.
A week before those charges were filed in court, a matter involving Saul and Kurt Smith was called. For that case, both charges allege that the duo conspired with others to falsify meals payment.
According to the police facts, Saul was the Officer-in-charge of the Brickdam Police Station’s Other Ranks Mess before she was moved. The Mess provides breakfast, lunch and dinner to ranks stationed at various stations and locations within Regional Division 4A.
Moreover, Jenneka Carmichael of Lot 121 Onderneeming, West Coast Berbice, and Tatyana Smith, 21, of Lot 43 Third Street, Alberttown, on April 21, 2021, appeared before Chief Magistrate McLennan and were placed on $150,000 bail each for allegedly deleting electronic data relevant to one of the fraud cases.

They denied the charge which alleges that between January 28, 2021, and February 4, 2021, at the GPF’s Headquarters, Eve Leary, Kingston, Georgetown, they intentionally and without lawful excuse or justification, deleted electronic data from the GPF’s computer that was in the administrative office of the Felix Austin Police College Mess.
According to the facts of the charge, Carmichael and Smith are clerks at the Felix Austin Police College. They were charged by SOCU. Last year, an investigation was launched into the alleged misappropriation of $150M from the Police Finance Department. SOCU carried out the probe and several senior officials were either sent on leave or relocated. A few of the officers were already placed before the court for fraud charges.
However, it is alleged that before SOCU could have accessed the computers with the related data, the women had deleted the data. The women are said to be the only persons with access to the computers.

On March 26, 2021, former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Kevin Adonis of 95, Stewartville, West Coast Demerara, and three other members of the GPF, made their first court appearance after they were slapped with a $19M fraud charge.
Also charged were: Rawle Haynes of Hydronie, East Bank Essequibo; Jermaine Fraser of 4116 Phase One West Minster, West Bank Demerara, and Michael Corbin of 315 First Avenue, La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara. The four men appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Fraser, Haynes, Corbin and Adonis were slapped with a joint charge, while Corbin and Haynes were slapped with individual charges. They were not required to plead to the indictable charges after they were read to them.
In August 2021, a Corporal was remanded for extorting over $400,000 from a suspect’s relative
The cop, Omale Damon, was caught in a sting operation collecting money from the suspect’s relative. It is alleged that Damon swindled over $400,000 from the woman claiming that he could get her relative released from police custody.
Damon had appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before the Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan, where he was slapped with three counts of corrupt transactions. He denied the charges which allege that in March, 2021, he collected a total of $400,000 for the release of a person in custody for the possession of firearm. He was also charged for collecting $80,000 for the release of the motor vehicle the suspect was driving.
The court heard that shortly after receiving the first $200,000 the defendant requested another $200,000 which was given to him after he told the woman that the other officers involved wanted more money.
The woman later requested that Damon release the motor vehicle the suspect was driving when he was arrested for the illegal possession of firearm, and in return the defendant requested another $200,000.
However, the woman informed him that she did not have any money and later sought help from the girlfriend of the person that was in custody. The girlfriend then reported the matter to the police and a sting operation was carried out. This led to Damon being caught in the act receiving $80,000 from the girlfriend – the $80,000 was later recovered.
The defendant was arrested and subsequently charged for three counts of corrupt transactions. On his second court appearance before a different Magistrate, Damon was granted bail.

 

 

 

 

 

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