ON January 15, 2008 and February 7, 2008 my premises, occupied by me and my wife, one of whom is infirm, was bombarded with Molotov cocktails. The police at the Anna Regina Police Station described the incident as attempted felony, since purportedly there was no incendiary evidence. The act of harassment was not an isolated incident but part of a pattern of harassment to which my wife and I have been subjected by employees of a businessman.
I had cause to report the incidents, including attempted burglaries, blatant obstruction of my property and on two occasions these three men tried to torch my home. I was soundly asleep with my wife in my two-storey home when I was jolted and awakened to a crashing noise. I did not venture out my bedroom since I saw them earlier drinking rum in the yard next to mine. I telephoned the Anna Regina Police Station and the police arrived to investigate.
Upon the police’s arrival, I went with detectives Gangoo and Deochan to my verandah, where we observed several pieces of broken mineral water bottles and what appeared to be a wick. Both officers examined the materials and decided that they would take some back to their office to be tested for finger prints.  At around 08:00 h, both officers arrived at my residence the next day to continue investigation into the matter.  At that point I requested my wife to check around the yard to see if there was anything suspicious, my wife discovered several shards of broken bottles similar to that found on the verandah, along with a piece of cloth soaked with gasoline hanging on the neighbouring fence and the same type of mineral water bottles in the yard.
This was brought to detective Deochan’s attention but to date no suspect has been taken into custody.
Everytime I contacted Sgt Bowman of the CID department at the station to find out about the matter, he would tell me that it is with the DPP.
Editor, I have lost confidence in the police here at Anna Regina since they can be seen socialising very often with the suspected perpetrators. I know of many cases of attempted rapes, arsons and burglaries which are all being covered up by certain officers which were brought to my attention by the families.
According to the investigators at the Anna Regina Police Station, one of two files is lodged there; while another- the analyst’s report on the evidence collected – is yet to be returned from Georgetown. This report is necessary for continued investigations on the Essequibo Coast. Hypothetically, evidence collected may have taken no more than a week, following the respective incidents, to be dispatched to the analyst in Georgetown. Such evidence, therefore, has been in Georgetown presumably for more than two years to date, still awaiting a report.
My matter, compared to an actual malicious fire is criminally-inferior, but apparently not insignificant, since according to the Criminal Law Offences Act:
“Everyone who unlawfully and maliciously places or throws in, into, upon, under, against,
or near any building, any explosive substance, with intent to destroy or damage any building…
Whether or not any explosion takes place, and whether or not any damage is actually caused, be
Guilty of felony and liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.”
There is a certain trauma which has accompanied these criminal acts, so as long as the investigations remain suspended and the felonies unsolved, the victims justifiably dread a repeat of such villainy.
I am not undiscerning of the slothfulness which characterizes some investigations, but I believe for a report to be two years overdue is less than desirable.
Hooligans who sought to torch my property, mindful of lives within, are still roaming free. Stalled investigations will empower anyone but the victims. The Guyana Police Force owes me better.
It is frightening that one day we may lose our lives and property to these perpetrators if no action is taken by the higher authority, as I have read lately in your newspaper with the elderly woman on the West Bank Demerara who lost her life in circumstances suspected to be arson.