WAKENAAM: Handcuffed prisoner escapes from police

Last Updated on Tuesday, 28 June 2016, 9:39 by Denis Chabrol

A search was continuing Tuesday morning  for a handcuffed prisoner who escaped from police and fled into a clump of bushes shortly after he arrived on the Essequibo Island of Wakenaam.

A senior police officer said the policeman from whom the prisoner escaped would eventually be placed under close arrest. He said the prisoner dashed from the policeman shortly disembarking a speedboat on the island and got away in thick vegetation.

The prisoner was being transported from Georgetown via Parika to Wakenaam so that he could have attended Wakenaam Court.

He was accused of stealing several cows.

The Deputy Divisional Commander for Essequibo Coast and Islands has since gone to Wakenaam to supervise the search.

Other sources said the man has in the past escaped from police while in custody for other offences.

He has been also accused of stealing sheep and taking them to Parika.