…mother pleads for support, urges thorough probe

CARLA BOBB, the mother of 26- year-old Winston Hinds, the prisoner who was on Friday last shot dead at the Timehri Prison, is calling on the relevant authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident, claiming the post mortem findings are in contradiction with the explanation given to her by the prison authorities.

Bobb said that she witnessed the post mortem of her son and the findings show that he was shot to the abdomen, while the prison authorities are saying that he was shot while trying to escape. She said if he was shot while escaping he would have been more than likely hit on the back and not the abdomen. “I feel really bad about it, I feel real hurt because I think the jail is supposed to take care of your children when they are in prison,” the mother of six said.

She said that with her son being placed at the Timehri Prison which was deemed a ‘safe’ prison, she felt a bit relieved, but this feeling quickly dwindled when he was allegedly chopped last year and she was never informed by the authorities but by fellow inmates. “They never called me, is the prisoners called me and tell me what happened, and when I go down they tell me what go down.”
Hinds was remanded to prison in January 2016, for the February 2015 killing of Richard Remington. Remington’s decomposing remains were found in a clump of bushes along a track, in the vicinity of Matthew’s Lane in the Christianburg/ Cholmondeley Hill area, in Wismar, Linden on February 12th 2015.
Bobb however, is professing her son’s innocence in the matter, since she claims he was not even in Linden at the time. She alleged that her son was being harassed by police officers in Linden and she sent him away to Georgetown where he was living for over a year. “He was living in Georgetown, he came up here to collect some money, because he and a police had a problem and I get him out of Linden and after like a year or something he came to Linden to pick up some money from me and he didn’t spend any night, he spent like a half day and they picked him up.”

Bobb said that she is a single parent and is deeply pained by the incident. She said that the prison authorities did reach out to her and offer their sympathy. She said that the officer that shot him also apologised for the incident and explained that he aimed at shooting at his foot. “I really can’t fight fire with fire because I am very poor. I spoke to him just the day before he died and he didn’t tell me about any fight or anything, he just told me he love me and to take care,” the grieving mother said.
Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels had noted that the murder accused had repeatedly ignored all warnings issued by the prison officers. Samuels said that several prisoners, who were armed with improvised weapons, were involved in ‘a serious physical altercation.’ Hinds will be buried on Saturday 12th August. The Guyana Prison Service is assisting with arrangements.