A handful of persons turned out on in front of City Hall on Thursday afternoon to protest the Mayor, Patricia Chase-Green and Town Clerk, Royston King.
At the forefront of the demonstration today, holding a placard in defence of her now deceased nephew, Marlon Fredricks, a vendor, who was killed on January 14, 2018, on Regent Street, Georgetown, was Pearl Younge.
Younge, with tears in her eyes, expressed distress at the fact that her nephew’s killer, identified as a City Constabulary Officer, was charged for manslaughter and not murder.
“The man [Fredricks] was shot at close range, very close range. This is very serious and we’re angry, aggrieved and angry at the way that the Constab handled this thing…Manslaughter has special reasons. The charge should be one of murder and not manslaughter,” she told media operatives today.
The elderly woman further blamed City Hall for the obvious lack of training displayed by the Constabulary Officer who she said brutally attacked her relative.
She also called on the relevant authorities to step in and implement measures to prevent a reoccurrence.
“You and I as well could have been hurt because some untrained maniac is just moving around…There are certain procedures that should be followed before using force and I’m wondering if these constables are trained to use force. You can’t just shoot a person like that or use excessive force on an unarmed person like that…We [relatives] were in close proximity…I hope that the relevant authorities will see and look into this thing so that we wont have a reoccurrence of this thing,” she said.
Additionally, other persons who stood in support of the woman touched on allegations made that City Hall was the entity that paid $800,000 in bail for the release of the implicated City Constabulary officer.
“There are many things that City Hall has done…I’m out here this week because City Hall says that they’re cash strapped. They have no money. They wanna put a fee on garbage and everything but they can find $800,000 plus legal fees to bail [the] Constable who murdered a vendor. [Who] shot him in the back, shot him in cold blood,” activist, Don Singh said.
He called on the Local Government Commission and the Communities Minister, Ronald Bulkan to intervene as there is need for significant change.
At the scene of protest, he also sarcastically questioned whether the standard operations for city police was “shoot first, ask questions later?”
The small group vowed to return again next Thursday to continue their protest.
It was previously reported that Marlon Fredricks, was arrested by police and then shot by a city constabulary officer one day later, after it was alleged that the wanted man was attempting to escape lawful custody.
The incident occurred just outside the City Constabulary outpost on Regent Street.
Fredricks was shot and killed in the presence of his mother, Claudette Fredericks, who had gone to the outpost to visit him, INews understands.
Police in a subsequent release had detailed that Fredricks “who was in custody at the Outpost for assaulting a peace officer and simple larceny, allegedly forced his way outside of the lockup when it was opened to let out another prisoner… A struggle reportedly ensued between the victim and the lance corporal who tried to restrain him and in the process the prisoner ran out the Outpost and was fatally shot once in the lower back by the Lance Corporal who was armed with a service pistol.”
Eyewitnesses reported however, that the man was not attempting to escape custody but was running towards his mother when he saw her.
Since then, Fredricks’ mother was quoted in the media calling for justice for her son.
Mayor of Georgetown, Patricia Chase-Green disclosed that the Guyana Police Force had taken over the matter, while highlighting that the M&CC’s city constabulary department intends to do everything to bring closure, depending on the outcome of the police investigations.
