A MILITARY court late yesterday found Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Second Lieutenant Duane Rigby guilty on one of four charges he faced, stemming from a boating mishap with a civilian vessel on the evening of December 8, 2008, on the Cuyuni River near the Venezuelan border.

The court, with Major Lawrence Fraser sitting as President and including retired High Court Judge Winston Moore as Judge Advocate, and five panelists with the ranks of Captain and Coast Guard Lieutenant, convicted the junior officer of being out of barracks after 18:00 h, without permission from Battalion Headquarters, according to reports reaching the Guyana Chronicle.

However, the sentence as recommended by the court in accordance with court martial procedures, remains sub judice until confirmation today by Chief-of-Staff of the GDF, Commodore Gary Best, the Chronicle learnt.

At the time of the incident, which claimed the lives of two army ranks, Corporal 19012 Wesley Hopkinson and Private 20523 Colwin Harris, Rigby was officer-in–charge of the Eteringbang border location where they were stationed.

Attorney-at-law Melissa Yearwood-Stewart who presented the GDF’s case called five witnesses, while the defence which did not call any witness, was led by Attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes, in association with attorneys, retired Colonel Gregory Gaskin and Ms Tanya Warren.

Rigby, however made an unsworn statement from the docks.

The body of Hopkinson, of Victoria Village, East Coast Demerara, was retrieved on the morning of December 11, some 15 miles from the scene of the accident.

The remains of Harris, who hailed from Friendship, another ECD village, were recovered on December 13 at the mouth of the Ekereku River.

Immediately following the accident, the GDF launched an intensive search for the missing ranks, as well as a Board of Inquiry (BOI).