Wanted bulletin re-issued for Georgetown, Lusignan prison escapees

As the search continues for two inmates who escaped from the Georgetown and Lusignan Prisons last July, the Guyana Police Force is seeking the help of the general public in locating the two fugitives.
The issuance of wanted bulletins for these two escapees comes on the one year anniversary of the deadly July 9th 2017 jailbreak and fire, and the July 24th escape from the Lusignan Prisons.
The inmates being sought: Cobena Stephens of Lot 82 Gopie Street, Middle Walk, Buxton, East Coast Demerara, and Paul Goriah of Grove Squatting Area, East Bank Demerara, are wanted by the Police for the offence of escaping from lawful custody (Georgetown and Lusignan Prisons) on July 09 and 24, 2017 respectively.
In efforts to recapture these inmates, the Force is appealing to members of the public, as well as the men’s relatives and friends, to provide the GPF with any relevant information regarding the whereabouts of these escapees, so that they can be safely captured and returned to the prison.
They are also pleading with the escapees to surrender to the Police or relevant authority in order to avoid any serious confrontation that would likely result in the use of force being employed in their apprehension. The Police are assuring that all information received in regard to this appeal would be treated with the strictest confidence.
“All information will be treated with a high degree of confidence, and also the rights of those escapees will be respected and upheld,” the Police have said.
Anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of either Cobena Stephens, called OJ, and/or Paul Goriah, is asked to contact the Police on telephone numbers 225-6411, 225-8196, 225-2227, 227-1149, 226-7065, 911, or the nearest Police station.

During the July 9th uprising of 2017, some 80 per cent of the Camp Street Prisons were destroyed by fire, and prison warden Odinga Wickham was killed, while several others were injured after several inmates escaped. The jailbreak was said to be the master plan of convicted Bartica and Lusignan killer, Royden “Mark” Williams, and former Tactical Services Unit (TSU) rank Uree Varswyck, who had been charged with two counts of murder. The two, along with Stafrei Alexander Hopkinson, who also was charged with two counts of murder; Desmond James, and another inmate, managed to overpower a guard at the gate and escape onto Camp Street. However, the inmate returned into the Prison compound after he was reportedly left behind by Williams, Varswyck, Hopkinson and James, who had hijacked a car and made good their escape.
With the exception of Varswyck, who was shot and killed in Linden back in September, the other three were recaptured on separate occasions. However, on the night of the uprising, while inmates were being relocated from Camp Street to the Lusignan Prison, another four, including Cobena Stephens, managed to elude authorities.
Remanded Shawn Collins was rearrested hours later on Hadfield Street, while the other two escapees – Mohamed Pokhan and Anthony Marcus – walked into the Georgetown Public Hospital compound the day after the fire, both in a drunken stupor with gunshot injuries. They were treated and released into the custody of Prison authorities.
Meanwhile about two weeks after the Camp Street uprising, 13 inmates at the Lusignan Prison also escaped through a tunnel by digging a hole under the perimeter fence. Later that night, however, Odel Roberts, Jamal Forde, Rayon Jones, Winston Long, Jason Howard, Teshawn McKenzie and Jamal Joseph were recaptured.
A few days later, murder accused Clive Forde was shot and killed during a shootout with the Police; while escapees Pascal Smith, Shawn Harris and Kendall Skeet were recaptured. Another escapee, Kerry Cromwell, surrendered to authorities, while Paul Goriah still remains on the run.
Last week, Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels, told media operatives during a press conference that although the search is not making headlines, the Prison Service and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) are still hunting for the two prisoners at large.
“While it is not in the news every day, there are a lot of persons who have escaped over the years. Efforts are always being made in order to have these persons recaptured,” Samuels said, adding that information pertaining to escaped prisoners is always being circulated with the intention of having them recaptured.
“We would do circulation of names and possible descriptions. We have prison officers who are familiar with these persons who are constantly looking for them in villages that they are from, and so on. We have Police (ranks) who are on general patrol and so on; and (we) have not given up in the hunt for these persons,” the Prison Director explained.

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