Quindon Bacchus’s murder: Cop accused of obstructing justice released on $250,000 bail

Almost two months after he was remanded to prison for allegedly attempting to obstruct the course of justice in the fatal shooting of Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara (ECD) resident, Quindon Bacchus, Police Sergeant Dameion McLennon has been released on $250,000 bail.
Sergeant McLennon, 35, of B Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown, was initially arraigned before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan on July 6 and was remanded to prison.
During those proceedings, Police Prosecutor Neville Jeffers objected to Sergeant McLennon being released on bail on the ground that he may interfere with the witnesses in the matter.
As such, his lawyer, Bernard Da Silva, subsequently made a bail request on his behalf before Demerara High Court Judge Sandil Kissoon. But the Judge refused the application on the sole basis that Bacchus’s death is a public interest matter which has attracted widespread protest.
In light of this, Da Silva made a similar request before Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George, SC, who granted Sergeant McLennon bail in the aforesaid sum with no conditions attached.
In the bail application before Justice George, Da Silva submitted that the offence for which his client is charged is eminently bailable and that it is a serious allegation yet to be proven.
The defence counsel, moreover, advanced that his client’s continued incarceration “has the potential to cause [him] to unnecessarily endure the exposure of inhumane and unhygienic conditions, coupled with the exposure of the many health hazards while in prison”.
McLennon, up and until the time of being charged, had served the Guyana Police Force for more than 13 years, was recently promoted to the rank of Cadet Officer, had no prior antecedents, and is the holder of a Bachelor’s degree in management from the University of Guyana (UG).
He is currently pursuing graduate studies.
Sergeant McLennon and his colleague, Police Lance Corporal Thurston Simon, 24, of Bareroot, East Coast Demerara (ECD), are accused of wilfully attempting to obstruct the course of justice by giving false information to the Police, in the course of the investigation into the death of 23-year-old Bacchus. They allegedly committed the offence on June 30 at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown. At this first court hearing, Simon was remanded to prison by the Chief Magistrate. It is, however, unclear if he has been granted bail as several phone calls to his lawyer, Everton Singh-Lammy on Wednesday, went unanswered.
The case against him and Sergeant McLennon continues on September 20 for report and fixture of trial date. Bacchus was shot dead on June 10 by Police Lance Corporal Kristoff De Nobrega.
Lance Corporal De Nobrega of Downer Canal, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, was slapped with a murder charge. The case against him will continue before Magistrate Fabayo Azore on October 5 for disclosure of statements and fixture of a date for commencement of the Preliminary Inquiry.
He, too, is being represented by Da Silva.
Bacchus was fatally shot about the body several times during a Police sting operation. It was reported that on June 10, the three Police ranks were conducting an intelligence-led operation in the Haslington New Scheme, ECD, after receiving some information earlier in the day.
The ranks went to Bacchus’s home, where he was seen with a firearm in his possession. He had reportedly intended to sell the weapon to one of the Policemen. As such, De Nobrega, the plainclothes rank, who was armed, made arrangements to purchase the firearm from Bacchus.
But in the process of handing over the firearm to the rank, an alarm was raised, resulting in Bacchus running in a southern direction and discharging a round in the rank’s direction.
Police Headquarters said that the rank drew his service pistol and returned fire.
Police said Bacchus then ran further south and jumped into a yard, and the rank gave chase. While the rank was near Bacchus, the man allegedly discharged several other rounds towards the rank, and the rank took cover and returned fire, hitting the now deceased man about his body.
Bacchus reportedly fell to the ground, along with the firearm, which was later identified as a .380 pistol with a magazine that still had one round. He was picked up in a conscious state and escorted to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he died while receiving treatment.
The incident was probed by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) which had made recommendations to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for the Police ranks to be charged. Bacchus’s killing resulted in several violent protests in his community and surrounding villages. (G1)