Senior Superintendent and Officer in Charge of the Mazaruni Prison Alexander Hopkinson was today remanded to prison over the brazen daylight escape of death row prisoner Royden Williams, also known as “Smallie” which occurred on May 19.
Hopkinson along with three other prison officials and two civilians appeared before the Bartica Magistrate’s Court today where they were charged with conspiring to facilitate the escape of the notorious mass murderer.
Hopkinson, a 59-year-old father of six, resided at Five Miles Bartica Housing Scheme in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
Meanwhile, the others who have been charged are Rajmohan Autor, 48, of Parika, East Bank Essequibo (EBE); Frangeliz Jugandry Flores Perez, 28, a Venezuelan national of Kitty, Georgetown; Omar Witherspoon, 26 of Stanleytown, New Amsterdam, Berbice; Conroy Hosannah, 35 of East Canje, Berbice; and Oldfield Romulus, 50, of Victoria Cumberland Village, East Canje, Berbice.
The matter has been adjourned to June 22.
Meanwhile, the massive manhunt continues for Smallie.
Williams, commonly known as “Smallie”, made a daring escape from the maximum-security Mazaruni Prison on May 19, with the assistance of heavily armed individuals. The escape occurred in broad daylight and involved the use of a speedboat.
During the escape, the escort party accompanying Williams was attacked with AK-47 rifles by the individuals on the boat, which was in the Mazaruni River. Following the escape, a reward of $10 million was announced by the Guyana Police Force for any information leading to Williams’s arrest.
Williams is a convicted mass murderer, having been found guilty of the Bartica Massacre in 2008. During that incident, he and his accomplices ambushed and killed 12 individuals, including three Policemen.
Further, Williams was sentenced to death for the murder of Guyana Defence Force (GDF) member Corporal Ivor Williams, on January 23, 2008.
Williams had previously escaped from the Camp Street Prison on July 9, 2017, but was eventually recaptured on October 10, 2017, on the Weldaad Public Road, West Coast Berbice.
