THREE prison escapees who were recently recaptured by the Joint Services after ‘digging’ their way out of the Lusignan jail, were charged on Monday with escaping from lawful custody.

Between July 23 and the wee hours of July 24, the 13 fugitives reportedly burrowed their way out of the holding area via a five-foot-deep tunnel next to the fence at the Lusignan Prison, East Coast Demerara.

The recaptured prisoners, Shawn Harris, Kerry Cromwell and Pascal Smith, all appeared before Magistrate Peter Hugh, at the Cove and John Magistrate’s Court, charged separately.
The men confessed to the offence and were each sentenced to one year imprisonment.

According to the police, Harris was on Monday, July 31 recaptured by the Joint Services in the bottom flat of a two-storey house at Mocha, East Bank Demerara (EBD) without any incident, while the day before, Cromwell, who was accompanied by his mother, surrendered to police at the Brickdam Police Station.
And on Friday, July 28, Smith was arrested by the police in a pit latrine in Barr Street, Kitty.
However, on Sunday, July 30, Clive Forde, aka “El Sinkie” another Lusignan prison escapee, was shot dead during a confrontation with the Joint Services in a squatting area in East La Penitence. A handgun was recovered near his body.

Last week, seven inmates who’d escaped from the Lusignan facility were also charged before Magistrate Hugh for escaping from lawful custody.
The recaptured prisoners, Odel Roberts, Jamal Forde, Rayon Jones, Winston Long, Teshawn McKenzie, Jason Howard and Jamal Joseph were all charged separately.
Forde, Long and Joseph confessed to the offence and were each sentenced to one year imprisonment, while McKenzie, Jones, Howard and Roberts pleaded not guilty and were remanded until August 11.
Meanwhile, Lusignan escapee, Paul Goriah is still on the run. So, too, are three of the Georgetown Prison escapees, Cobena Stephens, aka “OJ”; Mark Royden Williams and Uree Varswyk.

Cromwell, 24, is on remand since April 2016 after being charged with the murder of Linden minibus driver, Alvin Lorrimer.
Lorrimer, who usually plied his trade at the Linden Bus park here in the city, was shot while he was standing outside his bus seeking passengers on March 21, 2016.
Smith, 25, was in June 2017 remanded to prison on a murder charge after he appeared before City Magistrate Leron Daly.Smith was not required to plead to the indictable charge, which alleged that on May 27 at Alexander Street, Georgetown, he murdered John Houston.
Shawn Harris, age 29, was charged in February 2017 for the murder of 42-year-old Sunil Singh, a homeless man who had attempted to break up an altercation at the Blue Martini nightclub between the bartender there, Charles Del Valenzuela, and three men who demanded entry to the club.
In February 2016, Shawn Harris a/k “Bruk Up”, was charged for allegedly staging a daylight robbery at the Bank of Baroda branch at Montrose, East Coast Demerara.

Three other men were also charged in connection with the incident. He was remanded to prison after appearing before Magistrate Zamilla Ally-Seepaul at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court the following month.