Charges of forcible entry, riotous damage read to 18
Waddell accused of aiding, abetting
Warrants issued for Bynoe, Benschop
Stabroek News
July 10, 2002
Eighteen persons were yesterday charged with forcible entry and riotous damage to property following last Wednesday's attack on the Office of the President, which left two protesters dead and several others injured.
The 18 appeared before acting Chief Magistrate, Juliet Holder-Allen, along with the nineteenth accused, TV personality, Ronald Waddell who was charged with aiding, abetting, counselling and procuring the committal of the forcible entry.
They were all sent off on bail at a hearing, which was delayed by a bomb scare at the Georgetown Magistrate's Court. Warrants were also issued for the arrest of two other persons: the alleged leader of the march, Phillip Bynoe and TV personality Mark Benschop.
At 10:05 am yesterday, all personnel were asked to vacate the Brickdam building following an anonymous alert that there was a bomb in the building. For more than thirty minutes, court staff as well as the magistrates were forced to line the pavements across from the courthouse while police searched the complex. However, while the building was evacuated, the prisoners were not removed from the holding cell in the compound; some of them refused to be removed.
After police searched the complex, which had been cordoned off earlier in the morning, proceedings resumed at 10:40 am, at which time the 19 prisoners appeared before an overcrowded courtroom. There they chanted "we are working together ... pulling together" among other things.
All the defendants were allegedly part of the group of protestors led by Bynoe last Wednesday, which marched from Victoria Village, ECD, to the city where they were said to have committed several acts, including the forceful entry of the OP, during which a security guard was assaulted, workers of the Accounts section of the OP terrorised and office equipment was damaged. The situation spiralled out of control resulting in the deaths of two persons, and the arrest of others who police allege committed the offences.
Bynoe and Benschop, for whom police had issued wanted bulletins, are also charged with taking part in an illegal procession and arrest warrants were formally issued for the two men.
Meanwhile, appearing for the defendants were attorneys Mortimer Coddette, Roysdale Forde, Shawn Allicock, Emily Dodson, Robert Corbin and Nigel Niles. Also on record for the accused were Attorneys Basil Williams, Nigel Hughes and Fidela Corbin.
According to the particulars of the two indictable charges, it is alleged that the accused, entered, with violence, the Accounts office of the OP and also, being riotously assembled, to the disturbance of the public peace, unlawfully and with force, damaged the Accounts office of the OP, a building belonging to the state.
According to the summary charge of taking part in an illegal procession, it is alleged they were part of last Wednesday's procession for which permission was not granted by the Chief Officer of Police.
Formally charged with the indictable offences, all 19 defendants were required to be placed in the prisoner's docks for the charges to be read to them. But the docks failed to accommodate all of the accused and some were forced to stand on a bench, placed alongside the docks, where they heard the charges.
The other accused in the matter are Ralph Caesar of Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara; Karen Reece, 31, of One Mile Squatting Area Linden; Anjie Howard, 21, of Lot 15 Vigilance ECD; Charles Marks, 46, of 394 West Ruimveldt, Georgetown; James Franklyn, 23, of Lot 30 Belfield ECD; Steve Paul, 32, of Annandale, ECD; Oswald Clarke known as 'Wiley,' 22, of Victoria Village, ECD; Robert Prince known as 'Premi,' 50, of Lot 4 Cove and John, ECD; Forbes Prince of Lot 153 Wismar Housing Scheme, Linden; Julian Proctor, 19, of Enmore, ECD; Michael Anthony Waldron of Nabaclis ECD; Calvin Anderson, 17, of 68 Friendship ECD; Meltia Ellis, 24, of 22 One Mile Linden; Kenneth McBean, 33, of Industrial Area Linden; Charles Smith of Buxton; Mark Glasgow, 27; Kevin Marks of Lot 6 Nabaclis, ECD and a minor.
While not required to plead to the indictable offences, they each pleaded not guilty to the summary charge.
Appearing for Waddell and Caesar, Codette, told the court that his client, Waddell, was nowhere around the procession on the day of the incident. Further, he said, there was an independent cameraman who was willing to come forward and testify to the same. Of Caesar he said, his client had been shot in his abdomen and thigh and while he should have been sent to a hospital he was locked-up. Codette said when he met his client he had found him bleeding. Subsequently, he revealed, his client who was denied medication, received treatment from doctors who advised that he should have been admitted. Coddette told the court his client had been innocently lured into the fracas of last Wednesday's activities after assuming the procession had been going to OP for a peaceful sit-in. he said as they were assembling, shots were fired from across the road, causing the crowd to panic. He related that the gate of OP had been open and people ran `helter-skelter' for cover from the prevailing fire. When they got into the compound, he said, they were locked in a room where they were shot at.
Meanwhile, Dodson in her submissions told the court that her clients; Reece and Howard are peaceful citizens who are honestly seeking a better way of life. She said that Reece has three children and is a baker by trade, while Howard is a mother of one and engages in poultry farming.
Niles appeared for Charles Marks, James Franklin, Steve Paul and Oswald Clarke. Marks is a mechanic and a father of seven, while Franklin is said to be a shopkeeper. Paul, a father of two, is a farmer while Clarke is a vendor.
Meanwhile, appearing for Proctor, Waldron, Anderson, Dean, Ellis and Kevin Marks, Corbin in his address to the court, said that his clients were Guyanese young people. Young men, he said, who are hoping to have a future in Guyana and see the future looking bleak. He maintained his clients had all the intentions of defending themselves in the matter and noted to the court that there was no likelihood of his clients absconding since they were known in their respective communities. He also submitted that despite what has been said in the press or printed in the newspapers, his clients were not criminals or bandits and were entitled to a fair hearing.
Corbin also related to the court that it was only upon the filing of a writ of habeas corpus by Attorney Basil Williams, that the defendants were produced before the court. He said they had all been penalised in a very significant way, having been incarcerated for so long.
Police Prosecutor, Inspector Gordon Peters, while conceding the offences to be bailable asked the magistrate to view with seriousness, the nature of the offences and the area where they were committed. He also made mention to the court that it was likely that more serious charges would be laid against some of the defendants. And even as the police continue their investigations, he said, there was also the possibility that there may be tampering with witnesses.
While considering his argument, the magistrate submitted that the defendants were in police custody long enough for all the charges against them to be laid. Waddell and Forbes Prince were each released on $55,000 bail, while Charles Marks, Waldron, Smith, Robert Prince, Kevin Marks, Paul and Ellis were placed on $35,000 bail; Glasgow and Franklyn were released on $30,000 bail, Proctor, McBean, Clarke and Caeser on $25,000 bail, Anderson and the minor on $20,000 and the two females among the group, Reece and Howard were released on $10,000 bail. Each of the accused was only granted bail upon the presentation of a bailor, some of whom were family members of the accused.
Explaining the conditions of their release on bail, the magistrate instructed the defendants that they were not to be involved in any similar activities and should they be brought before the court for any reason, they would be remanded to prison.
She also instructed the bailors that their names would be recorded on the defendants' recognisance and should any of the defendants for any reason fail to return to court, their bail would be escheated and they would be taken into custody.
The matter was adjourned until July 29 for report.