-Police retract wanted bulletin of Nero
Twenty-two prisoners who were remanded to the now gutted Camp Street Prison for petty and non-voilent crimes were on Monday granted bail following hearings before six Magistrates at the Lusignan Penitentiary.
The decision to grant bail for the petty and bailable crimes was taken at a meeting of the National Security Council by Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, as a means of easing the congestion at the East Coast Correctional facility.
This comes on the heels of hundreds of inmates being transferred from the now completely gutted Camp Street Prison to the other correctional facilities.
It was previously reported that some 100 prisoners had to be relocated to the Timehri Prison while the others were transferred to the compound of the Lusignan Prison on the East Coast. It has also been indicated that some of the prisoners are being prepared to be taken to the Mazaruni Prison, while the Timehri Prison will receive more.
Following an attack staged by prisoners at the Camp Street Prison on Sunday, which resulted in the building being set alight and correctional officers being shot at and injured with their own firearms as well as make shift weapons, five hard core criminals, who were armed, managed to escape by hijacking a vehicle and holding its driver,Matthew Shivtahal, hostage. the vehicle has since been recovered abandoned and the driver was later found alive.
Twenty-two year old Shivtahal was earlier tonight found walking along the Annandale Railway Embankment, East Coast Demerara.
The man’s relatives have confirmed that he is safe and is with the police.
The young man allegedly told police that the escapees released him in the vicinity of the Buxton Backlands.
Up to press time, Prison Officials have not released an official statement as to how many prisoners – of the 1018 which was accounted for as at Sunday morning- are still in custody.
However, unconfirmed reports in other sections of the media are stating that the number of prisoners unaccounted for in total are nine (9).
Meanwhile, the Guyana Police Force is now retracting its wanted bulletin issued for murder accused Sherwin Nero, aka Sherwin Moses c/d Catty, citing that “the prisoner was positively identified and accounted for by a Senior Prison Official.”
This bit of information now leaves the identities of only three of the five confirmed escapees known.
