TWENTY-three-year-old Tiffon Osafo Peters of East Ruimveldt, Georgetown was found hanging in a cell at the East Ruimveldt Police Outpost lockups last evening by another prisoner inside the cell.This newspaper has been informed by police sources that Peters had ripped his shirt to construct a rope which he used to hang himself from the grillwork of the lockups.

The dead man’s mother, Mrs Helena Harte Peters, confirmed last evening at the Police Outpost that her son had been a patient of Dr. Bhiro Harry’s, and that she had seen her son earlier in the day when she showed up at the outpost to take him medication and meals.

According to the woman, she was not aware of her son’s death until she showed up at the police outpost to bring him dinner. She said that when she arrived at the facility, she immediately got the feeling that something was wrong; and when she entered the police station, she was told that her son had hanged himself.

The woman said she was very angry because, when she arrived earlier at the facility, the police rank on duty had refused to hand her son’s belongs over to her. She added that she does not believe her son had met his demise by hanging himself.

The Guyana Chronicle was on hand when the woman arrived with a gift bag in her hands with meals for the young man. Prior to her arrival, an ambulance was at the facility with personnel from the Georgetown Public Hospital, who had showed up to certify that the young man was indeed dead.

This publication was informed that another prisoner who had been placed in the lockups only fifteen minutes before Peters had been seen hanging made the discovery of the tragedy. The two men had not been known to each other.

Police sources confirmed that Peters was alive when the second prisoner from Kaneville saw Peters being ushered into the lockups. The prisoner explained to police ranks that he had decided to lie down and take a nap, and in the space of a few seconds he heard the other prisoner, Peters, panting for breath; and when he opened his eyes, he saw him hanging and raised an alarm, alerting police ranks on duty.

A Police press release issued last evening said Peters had been detained for simple larceny, being accused of taking $25,000 from one Dhanwattie Singh of Houston, East Bank Demerara in an incident which reportedly occurred at Vlissengen Road and Mandela Avenue.

Peters had been slated to appear in court this morning to answer to that charge.

The matter will be engaging the Police Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), according to the police release.

Peters’s mother is refuting the claims that her son had stolen money from anyone. She explained that her son, a mental case, had opened the door of the car the woman was driving and he and the woman had begun hurling remarks at each other. The matter was then reported to the police, and her son had been arrested and charged for the offence. She said her son has been in the lockups since Wednesday afternoon.

The recent development saw several persons gathering outside of the lockups when they heard of the death, since many of them had known Peters by his call name, “Vest boy”.

His mother said she had pleaded with her son to turn to God so that he could be helped with his mental illness.

This is now the third patient of Dr. Harry to have acted in a very strange manner within the last two months. On Christmas Eve Day, a woman who had also been a patient of the Doctor’s clinic jumped to her death from the Demerara Harbour Bridge, and just last week, another patient took a wood and beat his bedridden father to death. He has since been charged and remanded to prison, while efforts are being made to have his condition evaluated to ascertain if he undergo stand trial for his father’s murder.

(By Leroy Smith)