Businessman Nazar Mohamed has appealed for the release of his son, Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed, from the Lusignan Prison and called for Special Branch Head, Senior Superintendent Prem Narine, to be arrested and charged with attempted murder over the October 12 shooting in Kitty.
In an emotional public statement shared on his daughter Hana Mohamed’s Facebook page, Mohamed alleged that his son was being politically persecuted and questioned why Narine remained free while the Opposition Leader was being held on remand.
“I could have lost my son,” he said, recalling the alarm he experienced when his daughter awakened him with news of the shooting.
His appeal comes amid continuing controversy over surveillance recordings of the incident and forensic documents recording the detection of particles consistent with gunshot residue in hand samples collected during the investigation. The circumstances of the shooting, the recovery of a firearm and the interpretation of the evidence remain contested.
Mohamed said he and his daughter rushed to the Kitty Police Station, uncertain initially whether they should instead go to a hospital. There, he said, they found Azruddin, his driver Eugene Thorne and videographer Mario Mohamed in handcuffs.
He recalled expressing relief that the three were alive, saying the encounter could have ended in their deaths.
Mohamed alleged that Narine fired repeatedly towards the vehicle carrying the men and maintained that his son had done nothing to warrant the shooting. He also disputed the circumstances surrounding the reported discovery of a firearm in the vehicle.
According to Mohamed, a policeman drove the car to the station, where it remained outside before being brought into the compound. He said police searched it with a dog and alleged that a gun was subsequently discovered during a brief absence of attorney Siand Dhurjon.
The Opposition Leader has separately alleged that the weapon was planted. Police have maintained that an unlicensed firearm and ammunition were recovered from the vehicle. [
Nazar Mohamed also recounted an exchange with Narine at the station, saying he challenged the officer over his conduct and told him that he would have to account before Allah on the Day of Judgement. He denied that his remarks constituted a threat and alleged that only part of the exchange had been presented.
Turning to his son’s detention, Mohamed called for bail so that the Opposition Leader could defend the charges against him while out of custody.
He alleged that his son was being held in solitary confinement under harsh conditions and appealed to the judiciary and law-enforcement authorities to act independently.
“We need to have true justice. We need to have a professional police force. We need to have separation of powers,” he said.
Azruddin Mohamed has made allegations about his detention conditions in a sworn affidavit, including that he is confined for almost the entire day and subjected to continuous lighting. The Guyana Prison Service has previously rejected allegations that he is being treated inhumanely.
Forensic documents
The forensic documents supplied to this publication identify Azruddin Mohamed and Mario Jonathon Mohamed—not Thorne—as the two men whose hands were sampled.
In his October 13 statement, Police Corporal Haszel Williams, a crime-scene rank attached to the Criminal Investigation Department’s Crime Laboratory, describes collecting samples from both hands of the two men at the Kitty Police Station.
Williams states that he used eight gunshot-residue stubs, placing them in separate boxes and transparent evidence bags which were sealed with evidence tape and marked for identification.
An accompanying Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory certificate records October 13 as both the evidence-submission and analysis date and identifies Williams as the submitting officer.
The laboratory examined four stubs labelled right palm, left palm, right back and left back using scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy.
It recorded nine particles consistent with gunshot residue on the right-palm stub, more than 30 on the left-palm stub, three on the right-back stub and 15 on the left-back stub. The certificate classifies the overall finding as “very high”.
However, the supplied certificate page reports findings for one sample set. While Williams’s statement identifies both men as having been sampled, it does not assign each man to a particular evidence marking.
Williams also describes visiting Barr Street after collecting the hand samples and recovering five suspected spent shells near and within Narine’s property.
He says one was found on the southern parapet, obliquely opposite the house, while four were recovered in the yard—three near the gate and one beside a vehicle. According to his statement, the items were photographed before collection, packaged separately according to their recovery locations and submitted for analysis.
The government has alleged that shots were fired from the vehicle carrying Mohamed and his employees outside Narine’s residence and that the officer returned fire. Mohamed denies that anyone in the vehicle discharged a weapon.
Mohamed, Thorne and Mario Mohamed pleaded not guilty on October 16 to charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Magistrate Faith McGusty granted each bail totalling $750,000. The case was subsequently adjourned to November 27.
Newly circulated footage appeared to show Narine firing towards the vehicle. The recordings have prompted calls for an independent investigation into his conduct.
The Director of Public Prosecutions’ Chambers, however, warned on November 9 against assessing excerpts separately from witness statements and the rest of the prosecution’s evidence.
It said the footage addressed in its statement came from a prosecution witness’s home-camera system and had been disclosed to defence counsel on November 6. It maintained that the evidence was for the court to determine and warned that the circulation and distortion of partial evidence could prejudice a fair trial.
The Opposition Leader’s current remand arises from separate cybercrime proceedings concerning the alleged unauthorised obtaining and disclosure of surveillance footage. Magistrate Abigail Gibbs refused him bail on October 30.
A preliminary ruling on the Attorney General’s application to strike out portions of the affidavit supporting his High Court bail challenge is scheduled for November 13. The substantive hearing is fixed for November 23, although his attorneys have filed a fresh application seeking earlier interim relief.
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