State House attacker Bethel Ikena Chinezie remains hospitalised at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) as investigators continue to question him in relation to the attack at the official residence of the First Family which occurred on December 15, 2022.
This is according to Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn.
“I know that the assailant and the police rank who was severely injured, they’re both still in hospital and there have been attempts at questioning…I think those are still underway as they recover and remember and when we get that information, along with the…investigation, we’ll get better updates,” Benn told reporters on the sidelines of an event today.
Moreover, there have been reports that the wife of the suspect is being prevented from visiting him at the GPHC, but Benn said this should not be the case.
“I don’t think as of now, there is really any reason why she couldn’t visit…she would have to more or less meet him in the presence of a police rank,” the Minister explained.
Chinezie, a 25-year-old Nigerian national, was shot thrice by presidential guards after he attempted to infiltrate State House in an apparent attempt to assassinate President Dr Irfaan Ali.
Chinezie had arrived in Guyana on March 13, 2020, and was previously employed with a security company.
At around 07:30h on the day of the attack, Chinezie approached the security detail at a southern guard hut in the compound of State House, located near Carmichael Street, with a demand to see the President. He was cautioned about having to be processed before entering the compound, but he resisted being processed, then whipped out a knife from a pouch he was carrying and used same to stab Teon Perreira, one of the guards, five times about his body and to his neck. After injuring Perreira, Chienzie relieved a female guard of her firearm and retreated from the guard hut.
It was then that shots rang out in the usually quiet neighbourhood. Civilian footage captured Chinezie walking backwards from the guard hut while continuing to exchange gunfire with the Presidential Guards and other ranks. The severely injured Nigerian national was later surrounded, intercepted, and disarmed by ranks.
Both the injured guard and the attacker were rushed to the GPHC.
Meanwhile, the injured presidential guard was promoted to the rank of Corporal. He received his new stripe from Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Ali, from his hospital bed.
