Prison escapee calls girlfriend in NA

Kelly Ann Martin, a remanded prisoner at the New Amsterdam Female Prison and reputed to be the girlfriend of convicted Bartica massacre felon Mark Royden Williams, also called ‘Smallie’, is now being treated as a high-profile prisoner after Williams had reportedly contacted her on Wednesday with a promise that he was

Mark Royden Williams, also called ‘Smallie’

going to assist her to escape from lawful custody.

A resident of ‘B’ Field Sophia in Demerara, Martin faces a series of charges, among which is an allegation that she had a CS smoke grenade on her person without being the holder of the relevant licence.

The forgoing information was supplied to this publication on Friday by Commander of ‘B’ Division, Assistant Commissioner Ian Amsterdam, who said this female prisoner has allegedly received telephone calls on two occasions after the Camp Street jailbreak and fire last Sunday; thus all precautions are being taken to prevent Martin’s breakout.

“Usually, (prisoners) are taken the day before to court, so we will have to treat her as a high-profile prisoner using our standard operating procedure for high-profile prisoners or the movement of high-profile prisoners,” Amsterdam said.

Martin was on Thursday scheduled to appear in a court in Demerara, but she was not allowed to depart the New Amsterdam Prison. Magistrate Pernita Singh visited the New Amsterdam Prison and further remanded Martin.

According to Amsterdam, “We know that the entire court system, especially on the East Coast, was disrupted because of what transpired on Sunday. They actually had to open six courts at the Lusignan Training Centre. There they dealt with those prisoners who were there at Lusignan. So the actual court system is not regular. She is in there on several offences: narcotics the grenade and ammunition… She is remanded on the grenade and ammunition charges, (but) she had her bail reduced on the narcotics charge.”

Security has been beefed up in Berbice. This, the Commander told media operatives at a press conference in his office on Friday, was one strategy being used to prevent the escapees from getting into the division which he commands.

“So far, we have had a few reports of sightings of the wanted men. (The reports) have all been checked out, but of course with no success. The joint services are helping us to provide security at the New Amsterdam Prisons on a 24-hour basis,” the commander explained.

The New Amsterdam Prison is currently housing 81 prisoners who were transported from Lusignan in two batches. This was done to ease the congestion at the Lusignan Prison.

On Thursday, Magistrate Pernita Singh reduced the bail of some remanded prisoners who were housed in the New Amsterdam Prisons, while others were sent on their own recognisance. This process saw 20 prisoners being released from the New Amsterdam Prison.

According to Amsterdam, the entire division, including the New Amsterdam Prisons, could be considered as being calm.