Last Updated on Sunday, 1 November 2026, 22:15 by Written By Denis Chabrol
The opposition Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) Sunday night recommended that the police force cease investigating how a detainee died in custody at the Vreed-en-Hoop police station and instead order an investigation led by coroner who has the power of a magistrate.
The dead man has been identified as 32-year old Gavin Kennard Douglas, a labourer of Crane Housing Scheme, West Coast Demerara. He was held for a probe into an alleged armed robbery and died shortly after he was “restrained” by law men, the police force said.
“A coroner’s inquest must be held promptly. The family must be permitted an independent pathologist at the post mortem,” FGM leader Amanza Walton-Desir said in a statement.
In urging the President Irfaan Ali-led administration to remove the probe from the police force’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), she advised that all al Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) video footage, station diaries and lockup records from the Vreed-en-Hoop police station be secured immediately. Ms Walton-Desir said the police allegedly involved must be named and removed from frontline duty pending the outcome, and the findings must be made public.
“The burden of explaining this death lies on the State, not on a grieving family,” said Ms Desir, a lawyer by profession.
The FGM leader argued that the investigation into his death cannot be left to the police, as the OPR is a unit of the Guyana Police Force, sitting within the same chain of command as the ranks whose conduct is in question. “That is the police investigating themselves, and no family nor the Guyanese public can be expected to accept its conclusions,” she said. She cited Article 154A of the Constitution that requires the rights recognised in the treaties listed in the Fourth Schedule, among them the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture, to be respected and upheld by every organ and agency of Government. Article 6 of the Covenant protects the right to life, and Article 12 of the Convention requires a prompt and impartial investigation wherever there are reasonable grounds to believe that an act of torture has been committed, and Article 16 extends that obligation to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. “Whatever the investigation ultimately finds, it cannot be impartial while the Force is left to sit in judgment on itself,” she added.
The Guyana Police Force said in a statement that Douglas was arrested on Saturday October 31, 2026, in connection with an alleged robbery under arms that occurred on Wednesday October 28, 2026, at New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara. Police said he was escorted to the Vreed-en-Hoop police station at approximately 11:36hrs. “About 12:00hrs, while being placed into the lockups, he became aggressive and resisted police ranks. Douglas was subsequently restrained and placed into the lockups. At approximately 12:45hrs, Douglas was observed frothing at the mouth during a check of the lockups,” police said in a statement. Police said Douglas died while receiving medical attention at the West Demerara Regional Hospital.
In condemning “in the strongest possible terms” Douglas’ death, the FGM leader said the police force’s account contains a major gap. “Nothing the police have said so far explains how a man in their care was found in medical distress less than an hour after they say they restrained him,” she said, noting that he was presumed innocent and the State had a duty to protect his life and welfare.
The FGM leader dismissed Home Affairs Minister Oneidge Walrond’s statement earlier Sunday, saying she failed to announce any new step that was being taken to ensure a fair and transparent probe. “Not once does the Minister say what she will do. She holds political responsibility for the Guyana Police Force. She could have called for the evidence to be secured. She could have called for the ranks involved to be removed from frontline duty. She could have called for the investigation to be placed beyond the reach of the Force. She chose instead to speak in a voice in which no one, including herself, is responsible for anything,” Ms Walton-Desir also said.
Main opposition We Invest in Nationhood’s (WIN) parliamentarian, Dr Gordon Barker said the emotional account given by the father in a video, together with the disturbing images reportedly showing the young man’s body, raises serious questions that demand urgent, independent and transparent investigation. He said if those allegations are substantiated, those responsible must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. “There must be no protection, interference or preferential treatment for anyone implicated. We must never allow a culture of impunity to develop within institutions entrusted with protecting the people of Guyana,” he also said.
