WHAT would have otherwise been an exciting show was brought to an abrupt halt on Sunday night, as alleged intense cunning and crookery on the part of one of the promoters resulted in great violence and vandalism from patrons at the ‘Destra Berbice Inferno’.

This event was promoted by the overseas-based Slaughter House Promotions, headed by U.S.-based Guyanese Keith Mordle as the CEO and was carded for the New Amsterdam Technical Institute ground.
Investigations carried out by this newspaper revealed that the Events Coordinator who was kicked out of the Fire Fest Productions for the same reason was indeed robbing the promoter and ‘lying through his teeth’ about paying persons to properly promote the show. The CEO told the Guyana Chronicle that every entity and individual that was supposed to be paid with monies Mordle made available to aid in the promotion of the show, was either part paid or not paid at all, even though he had informed him everyone had been paid in full, with only two persons having minor balances.
On Sunday night, artiste Rick Ramoutar  was dragged from the stage by his manager in full view of the public because he was not paid a dime until then. What happened after was quite dramatic, and fuelled the crowd’s anger. The members of the Mingles Sound Machine Band then systematically turned off power and walked off stage with their instruments, while Crown Vibes Entertainment turned off all power and stage lights too, since they also had not been paid.

The Horror story
The event was actually a ‘wind down’ feature for Berbicians, after their Mash festivities, and was hosted at the New Amsterdam Technical Institute ground.
All seemed to be going well and though the event started fairly beyond its 20:00 hrs stipulated time, patrons were having a ball when disaster suddenly struck around 21:45 hrs.
As Mordle himself greeted the revelling crowd and introduced the first artiste, Chutney singer Rick Ramoutar of Trinidad, the singer had just begun his first song when he was dragged from the stage by a Rastafarian man, which some people are actually claiming was Trinidad soca artiste Destra Garcia’s manager. Minutes after, the lights and soundmen and band members detached all electrical appliances and left the stage, and the crowd realising what was happening erupted in anger and violence.
The ‘Destra Berbice Inferno’ was to feature performances by Destra; Jamaican reggae and dancehall queen ‘Cecile’; chutney star Rick Ramoutar; U.S.-based chutney singer Jun Jeezy; and Guyana’s Marlon ‘Malo’ Webster.
Chants of ‘we want back we money’erupted, and patrons began to rain bottles on the promoters who were attempting to escape in a car.
Angry patrons attacked the promoter’s car even as the six police officers present attempted to take control.
Patrons swarmed the car and after breaking into it took away the box containing the night’s earnings and ticket stubs. It was not until the police fired a warning shot into the air that the crowd eased off a little, but continued to rain bottles on the car as it sped away.
All over the street and compound  were groups of angry patrons ranting and raving as they screamed and shrieked angrily for a refund.

The promoter speaks
In an interview yesterday, Slaughter House Promotions Keith Mordle told the Guyana Chronicle that he had met Panday through a close associate whilst at a party in Guyana and he had voiced his intentions of promoting the show. He said Panday declared that he had all the contacts for sponsorship and other promotional deals, emphasising that he had worked with some of the top entertainment and promoting companies in Guyana.
He won Mordle’s heart, so most of the promotional aspects were left to him. Mordle said that on a weekly basis he paid Panday some US$200 to execute his duties and Panday would regularly inform him via telephone that ‘things were going well’.
He said that on the night before the show they hosted a ‘Meet and Greet Party’ in honour of the artistes at the Castle Nightclub in New Amsterdam, and made over $300,000 which Panday has also failed to turn over to him.
According to Mordle, Panday had told him that he  acquired some $2.5M from Digicel; $2M from Banks DIH Limited; and $500,000 from Giftland Officemax. He said upon arriving in Guyana and contacting these three entities, he was shocked when he was told a few days before the show that such information was never passed to Panday at any time.
The very saddened promoter said that Panday told him he was required to pay $200,000 for the Technical Institute ground. He said the man  (Panday) said he had  owed only a balance of $35, 000 which according to Mordle turned out to be another lie. He said on approaching the management there to clear this balance, he realised that Panday had made a settlement with them to pay $120,000 for the ground and not the $200, 000 he had previously delared.
Mordle said monies were provided to Panday to pay Rick Ramoutar an advance of US$1,500, which he  had wired to him from  New York. He said Panday had informed him that this sum  had already been paid. The promoter said on the night of the show, he almost dropped dead when he was informed by Rick and his manager that the advance was never paid.
Mordle said he was almost close to death’s door when Crown Vibes attempted to shut off the lights and power over what he thought was a $120,000 balance. He said as he attempted to pay that balance which was earlier dictated by Panday, he was informed by Crown Vibes personnel that the balance was $716,000. Mordle and a few associates confronted Panday who was trying to make good his escape, and he rigged up a story of having informed the promoter that the balance was indeed the amount announced.
To add more stress to the promoter’s already heart-rending situation, a large stack of tickets and an undeclared sum of cash had mysteriously disappeared from the Candy Shop in New Amsterdam, which was the only authorised ticket outlet. Later,  these tickets began showing up at the gate with forged signatures, and the ticket holders all declared that they had indeed purchased the tickets at the Candy Shop.
It was all chaos and confusion yesterday, since Destra and Rick Ramoutar were still at the hotel with a huge bill in front of them, which Panday had informed was already taken care of.
Mordle further informed that Panday went ahead without his permission and gave the food sale franchise to the White Castle Fish Shop, even though he had told him not to.
The promoter is speaking of close to $6M in losses from funds taken from the gates by the public, and the unaccounted sums which Panday has allegedly disappeared with.
Up to press time the Events Coordinator could not be located and his cellular phone was still going to voicemail. His relatives are very tight-lipped and are refusing to comment on the issue.