…former treason accused couple demands apology, compensation from PPP

ON December 23, 2010, ret’d Major Bruce Munroe and his wife, Carol- Ann Munroe, who then was the head of her own private institution at Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara, had no idea that their dreams of a blissful Christmas would be shattered.

And let alone, they would not only miss spending Christmas together with their children that year, but the following one as well.

It was on that evening while decorating their home and putting their two small children to bed, ages four and eight, that their home was searched and ransacked in the most arbitrary way.

They were separated from their kids and like convicted criminals, whisked away by a battery of police officers in dark clothes with large guns.

It is for this and other events that subsequently followed, allegedly under the direction of former Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, and other political strong houses, that they believe warrant an equally resounding public apology as well as to be compensated for the plethora of damages caused as a result of being wrongfully charged, arrested and imprisoned. The Munroes made this resoundingly clear on Mark Benschop’s Radio programme, Straight Talk, recently.

As they shared the horrific and damning anecdotes, revealing their inhumane and vindictive treatment from the time they were approached by officers at their homes, to the last court ruling, both Carol- Ann and her husband, fought to hold back tears as they stepped a moment back into memory lane. A lane that changed their entire life, all for something they vehemently say they are not guilty of and was later exonerated by Chief Magistrate, Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.

It all started when they peeped out their front window and saw their home surrounded by lights. Their worst fear was then confirmed; that they were surrounded by law enforcement officers.

“It was alarming Mark, so many police dressed in this dark uniform, heavily armed all around, they were just scattered all over the place, they were in the street, they were in the yard, they were everywhere,” Carol- Ann related to host, Mark Benschop. They then bolted their way into their home to illegally search it, as they did not present any legal search warrant or even their names. After ransacking the entire home, they were then told they needed to get someone to look after their kids, who were tucked into bed, and to head down to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Eve Leary.

While she urged her husband to call his chief in the army, who at that time was Commandant Brig. Gary Bess, Chief of Staff, since as a major, he should have been treated with more respect.

INSTRUCTIONS
The officers told them that Bess as well as his immediate boss at the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) Col. Ret’d Chabilall Ramsarup was aware of what was transpiring and he cannot do anything about it because the instructions are from ‘higher up’.

At CID, they realised that former soldier, Leonard Junior Wharton, and his wife, Fay Wharton, whom the Munroes rented a property from, had also been arrested for the same offence, one they were completely oblivious as to what it was. After a while, they were then told they would be spending the night at separate lock ups. The men were taken to Brickdam, while the women were taken to East La Penitence.

It was there, the real horror story started. “The prison was very rowdy, the place was stink, hot and wrenched with urine and had a plunging smell… I can smell that smell, almost eight years later in my head,” Wharton said.

“They were screaming, people have to go down to the back, and Mrs Wharton and I made our way down to the back, the concrete was filthy, we were sitting there on the bare tiles, we were sitting opposite the toilet that was overflowing,” Carol- Ann related.

In that condition, they spent Christmas. Their parents, who got a lawyer, were not allowed to see them and it was at subsequent visits at CID, where the ‘so-called’ investigation continued. They were told they were charged with treason. Treason is a capital offence, where one is accused of betraying their country, especially by attempting to kill or overthrow the sovereign or government. Carol Ann Munroe was the first woman to be charged with treason in the Caribbean and South America.

At this time, Bruce was told to listen to some recordings, which he said were conversations he had with people, some he recognised and some he didn’t, but nothing to implicate him in such a serious offence. The treason charged also stemmed from the July 2009 fire at the Ministry of Health which was initially blamed on a gang of convicts Colin Jones, Clayton Westford and Keith Ferrier. Bruce said that when he heard he and his wife were being charged with treason, which he said can only result in two things: being free of the charge or placed on death row, his knees buckled.

WEAK
“As much as my training did for me, I felt my knees went weak, and I could feel everything drain from me, my wife grabbed hold of me and she shook me and she said look at me, look at me, we know the Father that we serve and this too shall pass. I think that those words of encouragement from my wife, something like it grabbed my knees and strengthened them back, I almost fell in a pile when I heard treason,” he said.

It was on December 28, 2010 that they made their first court appearance at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court before Magistrate, Priya Beharry to answer to the charges of which they all answered, not guilty. They were represented by a battery of lawyers including Nigel Hughes and now Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon.

“To see myself who thought so highly of my country, that fateful morning of December 27 and 28, 2010, placed in shackles – hands and feet – and walked out of Brickdam as a senior army officer, not paraded by police officers, by junior ranks, which is unheard of in that profession, never once and equivalent rank came an escorted me, which was breaking all rules. I had to mourn and swallow my pride that morning and I walked through that court,” Ret’d Major, Munroe said while holding back tears.

As for Carol- Ann, she was given the most humiliating and degrading entry and was shackled by the feet and hands. While her daughter Hannah and son Immanuel tried to grab them to kiss them, they were denied that privilege. Her parents walked with money in hopes she would be bailed but she knew that treason was an unbailable offence, it was worse than murder.

She watched her daughter, who was asthmatic, cried for her dear mommy and fainted. She had to be rushed to the hospital immediately.

“It was traumatising all around,” she said, adding: “There were taking me from my son, there was nothing on my mind other than my son.”

Little Immanuel was born premature and had a lot of complications, including an incomplete oesophagus. Only days prior, he spent days in hospital for chronic asthma. “He didn’t know what it was to not have his mother there,” she said.

For the next 15 months, the husband and wife, along with Wharton were on remand at the Camp Street and New Amsterdam prisons.

Carol was placed in solitary confinement for 23 hours, another instruction, she said, allegedly from Clement Rohee. The trio was given as much support from many persons, who knew, their arrest and charge, was nothing but a political gimmick. They were respectable and loving people, who served their country without fear or favour.

According to Bruce, he enlisted in the army in 1992 and after rapid elevation in rank, was given a chance to serve the U.S army who vowed to pay off all his debts to the Government of Guyana. He, however, opted to return home to serve his country, which was in keeping with his father’s footsteps, and this, he said, was his treatment for being patriotic.

The couple is demanding a public apology, particularly from Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, whom according to Mrs. Munroe, in a letter to the Editor, screamed on television every night, “We got three of them right now in prison charged with plotting to overthrow the government. He should be bold enough to apologise after all.”

Financially, she said her family suffered a lot from the ordeal. Both she and her husband worked since they were 16 and 17 years respectively to ensure their family’s foundation was set. That foundation dwindled within months.

“We have loss so much financially, emotionally and psychologically,” she said. The stigma attached to their name caused her husband to be turned down from job after job, after he chose to resign from the army.

Their business, a blooming private school, was shattered because persons did not want to be associated with a school of which the principal went to jail. Their children’s college fund was emptied on legal fees. A plethora of their human and legal rights was denied and for human rights activists, Mr. Monroe is of the firm belief the PPP should do the humble thing and apologise.