Habeas corpus filed against Police Commissioner over Mohamed’s security guard’s detention beyond 72-hours

Jul 12, 2026 News

(Kaieteur News) – A Fixed Date Application for a writ of habeas corpus was filed in the High Court on Saturday against Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken, challenging the continued detention of Mark Richmond beyond the constitutionally mandated 72-hour limit.

Habeas corpus filed against Police Commissioner over Mohamed’s security guard’s detention beyond 72-hours

Mark Richmond

The application, brought by Attorney-at-Law Damien Da Silva, describes Richmond’s ongoing confinement as “unlawful and wrongful” and seeks an order compelling the Guyana Police Force to immediately produce him before the court so the legality of his detention can be determined. The filing argues that Richmond’s right to personal liberty under Section 139 of the Constitution has been flagrantly breached.

Court documents reviewed by Kaieteur News indicate that police ranks visited Richmond’s Werk-en-Rust home on July 7, telling his wife he was wanted for questioning. After speaking by phone with an officer at the scene, Richmond turned himself in voluntarily, accompanied by his attorney, at CID Headquarters, Eve Leary, at approximately 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8.

That timestamp is central to the application: the 72-hour window during which police may hold a suspect without judicial authorisation expired at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 11. Richmond has not been charged, has not been brought before a magistrate, and according to the defense, no court order extending his detention has been produced.

Da Silva told this publication he has been unable to get any information on his client’s status.

“No one is willing to speak with me, nobody is at Eve Leary. Doors are locked. And I can’t speak to no one. No investigating rank. No police rank has formally put any allegation to Mark Richmond, even though he’s wanted for questioning…,” Da Silva stated.

He added that no extension order had been shown to either him or his client, and confirmed a tentative hearing before Justice Sherdell Isaacs at 9:00 a.m. Monday.

The application also alleges that Richmond has been repeatedly shuttled between CID Headquarters on Vlissengen Road and the Kitty Police Station, and subjected to continuous questioning without legal counsel present, conditions the defense characterizes as “oppressive” and designed to wear down his will. The filing further argues that the investigation can proceed without Richmond’s continued incarceration, pointing to his full cooperation since the outset.

Richmond, a security checker with Mohamed’s Enterprise, was detained as police reopened their investigation into the March 2021 killing of Ricardo Fagundes, known as “Paper Shorts.” Fagundes was shot more than 20 times outside Palm Court on Main Street, Georgetown, by two men who emerged from a heavily tinted white Toyota Fielder; a burnt-out vehicle was later found along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

Ricardo Fagundes called ‘Paper Shorts’

Richmond was named early in the investigation but was never arrested, and had since filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Detective Sergeant Dion Bascom, who publicly implicated him in the killing. Richmond has denied Bascom’s allegations, while Bascom has maintained that evidence links Richmond to the crime and has alleged a cover-up by his superiors in the case, as well as implicating members of the Mohamed family.

Nearly five years after the killing, Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed, Richmond’s employer, has publicly defended his security guard, insisting police are overlooking another suspect: the owner of the car allegedly used in the killing, whom he says investigators have not questioned. Mohamed has also suggested Richmond’s arrest may be connected to his own recent public allegations regarding the president’s farm holdings.

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