Monday 19th
Craig woman reportedly killed by supernatural forces

A 43-year-old mother of five was found dead, face down in a drain at Craig, East Bank Demerara, where she resided. Initial suggestions by relatives are that the woman, Marcelle Cummings, was killed by some supernatural force which had been troubling her.
Marcelle, who once worked as a conductress on a minibus that her brother owned, and more recently with a fishing trawler company, reportedly documented her life and the way she would meet her demise. When her body was discovered, the position she was in and the location were just as she had documented in the books. The books were found under her bed at her home at Lot 183 Third Street, Craig, East Bank Demerara.

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Pensioner struck dead on East Coast Road by police vehicle

SIXTY–THREE–YEAR-OLD, Chanderpaul Sookdai of Bee Hive Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara was struck down by a car driven by a policeman, and was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Police investigations revealed that Sookdai was riding a bicycle at the time of the accident with the private motor car driven by a policeman, who is now under close arrest as investigations continue.

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Sueria Manufacturing Inc. opens factory at Eccles

A US$2M candy factory has officially been opened at Eccles Industrial Site, East Bank Demerara, putting ‘Kaieteur’ candies in five fruit flavours and three varieties of mint on the local market.

President Donald Ramotar graced the occasion, and shared the sweets with Sueria’s CEO, Teshawna Lall, First Lady Deolatchmee Ramotar, and Kaieteur News’ Publisher Glen Lall. The company, Sueria Manufacturing Inc., also produces peanuts, and will expand its operations to cater for plantain chips and chewing gum. The company is currently providing employment for more than 20 persons, and its planned expansion will eventually provide hundreds of jobs.
Although the factory is a 24-hour operation and is almost completely automated, there is still need for persons to man the machines.

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Tuesday 20th

Prison escapee shot dead by Police

THE Guyana Police Force has confirmed that escaped prisoner, 28-year-old Vickram Persaud, called ‘Lil John’, was shot dead “during an armed confrontation with the police” at Fort Wellington, West Coast Berbice.

The police said Persaud, of Doctor Dam in La Grange, West Bank Demerara, had earlier escaped from the lock-ups at the Georgetown Magistrates Courts, where he was waiting to attend court.

The police said an unlicensed .38 revolver has been recovered.

Persaud was charged with the murder of Tactical Services Unit (TSU) Constable Michael Cumberbatch in September last year. Keron Cummings, 26, of Sophia, and Randolph Marks, 20, of East Ruimveldt, Georgetown had also escaped from the lock-ups at the same time.

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24-yr-old mother dies three days after delivering baby in N/A

THE Berbice Regional Health Authority (BRHA) is investigating the death of 24-year-old Marissa Lagoudoue, which occurred just under three days after she had delivered a baby boy at the New Amsterdam Hospital.
Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Vishwa Mahadeo said an independent evaluation into the mother’s death is currently ongoing at the health institution. He also noted that several factors could have contributed to Lagoudoue’s demise.

At Lagoudoue’s 41 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam residence, a relative was observed feeding the newborn baby with a syringe. His great aunt, Candace, has promised his dying mother that she would take care of the newborn and his four-year-old brother.

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Troy Resources Ltd launches US$77M Karouni Gold Project

“GUYANA is well poised (for an economic take-off) because of its mineral wealth,” Chief Executive Officer of Troy Resources Limited-Guyana, Ken Nilsson, said as the company launched its US$77M Karouni Gold Project at the Omai Linden Stock Yard. He spoke of almost 600 job opportunities for Guyanese.

The company was established in 1987, and is a junior gold producer with operations in Australia, Mongolia, Northern Europe, Brazil and Argentina. The company has forged a proven record of fast-track mine development, low-cost operations, strategic acquisitions, and exploration discoveries.

Since its inception, Troy Resources Limited-Guyana has continued to look for opportunities to create value for its shareholders through focused exploration in Brazil and Argentina, and more recently with its acquisition of the Karouni project in Guyana.

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Wednesday, 21st

Schoolboy disappears along Siriki trail

FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD Charity Secondary School student, Ruel Fredericks has gone missing while walking along a trail at Siriki, in the Upper Pomeroon River.

Reports are that the teenager, who lives with his parents at New Haven Housing Scheme at Siriki, left home walking along a lonely trail in the interior to collect a bicycle from a relative some distance away, but he has not been seen since.

Mother of the missing teenager, Ms. Shavon Fredericks, said she believes that her son was strayed away by evil forces, and she is calling for prayers.

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N/A man kills child mother, then attempts suicide

AN 18-year-old female was reportedly stabbed to death by her 48-year-old lover from whom she had separated for about a week, after they had been together for more than two years; and from a union with whom a child was conceived. The child is now four months old.

Onicka Greaves was fatally stabbed by Robert Sandy, her former lover, who then attempted suicide by drinking a poisonous substance. However, he survived and was taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital.

Speaking with this publication, the murdered girl’s mother, Abiola Greaves, said that her daughter had ended the relationship with the man and had moved to Georgetown the same week, but he had been calling her and threatening that “something will happen” if she should go with someone else.

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Guyana on track to host 44th Annual CDB Board of Governors meeting

ON MAY 28 and 29, Guyana will host the Annual Board of Governors’ Meeting of the Region’s premiere development institution and leader in economic and financial system, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Board of Governors, Dr. Ashni Singh, while speaking on the National Communications Network (NCN) on the issue of Guyana’s preparedness with regard to its hosting of the bank’s 44th Annual Board of Governors’ Meeting, said the country is on track to host the event.

He said planning and preparation for the meeting, which started some time ago, have intensified over recent days and weeks.

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Thursday, 22nd

Essequibo girl dies in suicide pact between teenage cousins in love

A SUICIDE pact between two cousins on the Essequibo Coast, who were said to be in love with each other, ended tragically when 13-year-old, Nishanna Persaud of Bush Lot Village succumbed after ingesting a poisonous substance about two weeks ago.

Persaud, a student of Cotton Field Secondary, and her 15-year-old cousin, Shiv Persaud, fell deeply in love, and decided to end their lives in a tragic manner after their parents had sternly objected to their love affair.

The two young lovers reportedly decided, on April 29th, to end their lives by suicide, and went to a deserted area some five miles aback of their village and drank a poisonous substance.

Shiv phoned his parents and told them that he and Nishanna had both consumed poison and were dying in the backdam. Relatives rushed to the location and found them in a helpless condition. They were rushed to the Suddie Hospital and admitted. However Nishanna succumbed after fighting for her life for some two weeks, but Shiv was discharged from the hospital a few days ago.

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Uitvlugt Estate staff down tools over colleagues’ dismissal

WORKERS of the Uitvlugt Sugar Estate are currently on strike to express displeasure and disagreement at the dismissal of some of their co-workers; but the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) says the workers were dismissed for serious misconduct in the execution of their duties.
Uitvlugt Estate workers say that as workers approach retirement age, GuySuCo routinely dismisses them for frivolous reasons.

One worker, who has been dismissed after more than 39 years in the industry’s employ, disclosed that he cannot comprehend the reason for his dismissal. He explained that an extremely dry crop season resulted in approximately 0.1 per cent of ten acres of cane not being adequately planted, and this caused his dismissal from GuySuCo.

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Third prison escapee caught

THE third of four prisoners who escaped from the Georgetown Magistrates Courts Holding Cell on Monday was found hiding under a bed in a house on Freeman Street, East La Penitence in Georgetown.
Police received word about the development and rushed to the area, and the fugitive, 20-year-old Randolph Marks of East Ruimveldt, Georgetown, was handed over to them.

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Friday, May 23, 2014

Mark ‘Polo’ wanted by CANU

THE Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) is requesting information on the whereabouts of Mark ‘Polo’ of Cooper Street, Albouystown.

‘Polo’ is wanted in connection with narcotics found at the Ogle International Airport on Wednesday, May 21, 2014.

CANU can be contacted at telephone number 227-3507. A quantity of cocaine and marijuana was found in a suitcase of a Barbados-bound female passenger at the Ogle International Airport. The woman, said to be in police custody, is believed to be linked with ‘Polo’.

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Workers of budget cut agencies feeling squeeze

THE imminent arrival of the salary date for this month in the Public Service has brought home, with stark clarity, the full impact of the 2014 Appropriation Act, which was passed in the National Assembly subsequent to the $37.4B Opposition-led cut from the $220B national budget.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, said the impact would no doubt take its toll on the livelihoods of the affected workers, particularly those at Office of the President and its subvention agencies.

Both the capital and current expenditure programmes for administrative services for the Office of the President were disapproved by the political Opposition in Parliament.

“The impact, were it to be felt, would essentially see us putting up the ‘For Rent’ or ‘For Sale’ sign, as there is no money in the kitty…nothing to support even the most routine activities of the Office of the President and the subvention agencies under the Office of the President,” Dr. Luncheon told reporters.

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Missing Palmyra resident found dead in bed
THE remains of 63-year-old Sunny Clifford, called ‘Sonny,’ of Palmyra Village, East Canje, Berbice were discovered in an advanced state of decomposition at his residence ten days after he had last been seen by neighbours.

The bottles from which he may have taken his alcoholic beverages were also found on the foam mattress where his body lay when the Guyana Chronicle visited.

A relative, Nadira Persaud, recounted that her uncle, who lived alone, suffered from tuberculosis. “He did not work,” she said, “but sometimes he would stay away for two or three days, and then come back. So when I did not see him, I was not worried.”

His neighbours complained of an obnoxious stench. “I got my son,” Nadira said, “and he accompanied me. When we got in the house, he was lying on the mattress.”

Sonny has since been buried at Alness Village, where he spent his boyhood years.

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Saturday, 24th

Bhojpuri Music and Cultural Troupe from India here

THE Bhojpuri Music and Cultural Troupe from India is here in time for the country’s Independence celebrations, and will treat the Guyanese people, compliments of the Guyanese and Indian Governments.

The visitors, led by playback singer Kalpana Patowary and her husband Parwaz Khan, arrived in the country with the rest of their team, comprising Saroj Mazumdar, Amar Nathram, Bijay Chouhan and Raja Das, all musicians.

The group will perform at the Indian Monument Gardens in Georgetown, at State House in New Amsterdam, and later at the Theatre Guild Playhouse in the City.

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IDB seeking innovators from Guyana for community projects

THE Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is seeking proposals from Guyanese civil society and non-government organisations (NGOs) to fund innovative community-based projects, starting from US$300,000 to a maximum of US$750,000.

According to a statement from the bank, project proposals should focus on highly innovative solutions that will solve community problems and support community-based development.

“CSOs and NGOs will have the opportunity to pitch and present their most innovative solutions to the IDB, and the winners will get the IDB’s support to incubate, develop, or scale up those solutions,” the bank stated.

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Unemployed teen remanded after marijuana, cocaine bust

NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD, Anastasia Latoya Crawford of 29 Fort Street, Kingston was remanded to prison following a drug bust last Wednesday at Ogle International Airport, East Coast Demerara.

She pleaded not guilty to both charges, one of which said that on Wednesday, May 21, at Ogle International Airport, she had in her possession 5.574 kgs of cannabis sativa (marijuana) for the purpose of trafficking.

Crawford also denied that on the same day she had 2.286 kg of cocaine to traffick.

According to the prosecutor, when questioned, the defendant said she had been offered US$15,000 by someone called Mark ‘Polo’ to transport the illegal substance to Barbados, and she had received an advance of G$50,000, with the remainder to be handed over on her arrival in the Caribbean island.

She will return to Sparendaam court on Tuesday.