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murdering 23-year-old Kyle Chase during a scuffle on December 31, 2019, at Mazaruni Street, Guyhoc Park, Georgetown.

He was charged and remanded to prison on January 6, 2020. The State’s case is that Thomas and Chase shared a relationship with an individual who invited them to her home on the night in question.

While at the house, an argument ensued which lead to a scuffle. Both Thomas and Chase were accompanied by one of their cousins who were also involved in the scuffle.

During the process, Thomas was allegedly struck in the head which rendered him unconscious. He subsequently regained consciousness at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

It was then that he was informed that Chase was stabbed and that he subsequently succumbed to his injuries. Thomas has maintained his innocence since the incident.

In a statement on Thursday, Dexter Todd and Associates Law Firm said the trial commenced on May 30, 2023.

According to the statement, the trial lasted for four days during which Thomas claimed that he was attacked by Chase and one of his cousins at his then girlfriend’s home.

As a result, he said he lost consciousness twice and was unaware of who stabbed Chase and how he got stabbed.

“He (Thomas) highlighted to the court that he did not commit the offense and had no intention of causing any harm to the deceased,” the statement noted.

The statement further added that there was no witness in the matter who could have contradicted Thomas’ account.

“The witnesses also failed to establish that Thomas had any intention to cause injury to the deceased or that he actually inflicted the wound,” according to Dexter Todd and Associates

As such, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty in the matter, setting Thomas free.

murder of Coast Guard Lieutenant, Rondel Anthony Douglas, was on Thursday remanded to prison after he was charged with the crime.

Parris called ‘Stewie’, 25, of Section C, Block ‘Y’, Sophia, appeared before Magistrate Sherdell Isaacs in Georgetown Magistrates’ Court One.

He was charged with murder committed on Douglas in the course or furtherance of a robbery which occurred on June 7, 2023 at Cul-de-Sac Street, North Ruimvedlt, Georgetown.

Douglas was not required to plea to the indictable charge and was remanded to prison; the case was adjourned to July 14, 2023, for report and statements.

Investigators made a breakthrough in the case after Parris and one of his accomplices, Randy Wrights, reportedly confessed to their involvement in the murder during questioning. Parris reportedly confessed to being the one who fatally shot Douglas.

Parris was arrested by the Police on Tuesday after a wanted bulletin was issued for him while Wrights was apprehended on Wednesday night.

The News Room was informed that Parris reportedly provided detectives with a detailed account of what transpired.

He claimed that he was contracted to rob Douglas of his car by two men, who allegedly wanted to pay $700,000 for it. However, after the men found out that Douglas was killed, they refused to purchase the car.

As such, the car was abandoned at Stone Avenue, Georgetown, where it was recovered by the Police on Friday.

As the investigation continues, the Police are currently pursuing the alleged mastermind identified as ‘Fox’ and two other men who allegedly contracted Parris to rob Douglas. Wrights remains in custody.

Vishani@newsroom.gy

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has declared a majority of the results of this year’s Local Government Election but in some areas, ties have been recorded.

In the municipalities of Mahdia and Bartica, for example, the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) and the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) won an equal number of constituencies. That means they will have the same number of councillors.

In town councils, the Mayor is usually elected by the councillors. Similarly, in the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs), the Chairman is elected by councillors.

So what happens?

First, the electoral systems used must be understood.

Let’s use the example of Mahdia. Here, candidates for the two parties won two constituencies each and as such, will both get four Council seats.

Elections for the constituency seats used the First Past the Post system. There is also a Proportional Representation portion of the elections to elect councillors. In the Proportional Representation portion, commonly called the popular vote, APNU’s 327 votes were lower than the PPP/C’s 330 votes in Mahdia.

This illustrates that the PPP won the popular vote even though the two parties tied in the constituencies. And the PPP/C’s General Secretary Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo believes that winning this popular vote means that the PPP will get the Mayorship of Mahdia.

Does the law agree?

In short, the answer is yes.

Based on 2018 amendments to the Local Authorities (Elections) Act, the councillors will engage in up to three rounds of voting to determine the Chairperson or Mayor. Here, the councillor with the highest number of votes would be elected Chairperson or Mayor.

If, after three rounds, no single candidate gets a greater number of votes, the Clerk is required to record the disposition of each councillor present and voting.

Having done so, the law says: “… the Clerk shall then compute the numeric seat value apportioned to each of the councillors present and voting who were selected on the basis of the Proportional Representation component of the election at which they were duly elected councillors and, in addition, assign these results accordingly to the candidate for whom each councillor voted and the Clerk shall then tally the result for each candidate and the candidate securing the greatest number shall immediately be declared by the Clerk to be duly elected as Chairman.”

In simpler terms, the Clerk calculates the number of votes each PR candidate-turned-councillor got at the Local Government Elections.

That figure is then assigned to the candidates for Mayor or Chairperson nominated and voted for by the councillors. In these circumstances, those candidates could be either APNU-nominated or a PPP-nominated councillor for Mayor or Chairperson.

The candidate with the highest number of votes will be duly elected the Chairperson or Mayor, meaning the party with the popular vote (that is, a higher number of votes in the Proportional Representation portion) gets the Chairmanship or Mayorship.

And if all of those procedures fail, there is one other way of breaking a deadlock.

At that point, the Clerk, acting in the presence of a designated Magistrate, the councillor present and members of the public, shall choose one of the candidates by lot – essentially, some randomised method of selection will be used to determine the Mayor. It could be as simple as putting names in a bag and pulling out one.

set to control 66 of the 80 local authority areas across the country.

On Thursday, he provided further internal party analysis, pointing out that PPP/C representatives are set to occupy 906 of 1,220 seats in Neighbourhood Democratic Councils and municipal councils across the country.

This is an increase from the 779 seats the PPP/C secured in 2018 while the APNU along with its coalition partner AFC, at the time, won 390 seats.

In 2023, the APNU contested on its own and is down to 275 seats which is roughly 22 per cent of all the seats in the country.

“…And they are claiming that the PPP did not achieve what they set out to do.

“By any definition, anywhere in the world, 75 per cent win is a massive win by any standard,” Jagdeo contended.

He said the PPP/C’s figures correspond with those of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and according to Jagdeo, the fact is that more people voted for the PPP than APNU.

“That is a fact. APNU cannot change this, GHK Lall cannot change this, the Cathy Hughes who has been speaking can’t change this, Norton can’t change this,” Jagdeo argued.

He noted that one of the lies told by Norton at a press conference held earlier on Thursday was that the APNU had won Platanca, East Bank Berbice – a PPP stronghold.

But Jagdeo noted that while the win is projected by only five votes, the matter remains contentious because the PPP received an additional five votes. As a result, the PPP/C has requested a recount of this area.

The PPP has, however, won the popular vote in this area with 39 to 31 on the Proportional Representation front.

Jagdeo also rejected claims by Norton that the APNU had a whitewashed victory across Region Five.

He pointed out that in the Woodland/Farm NDC, there is a tie. Meanwhile, at #5 Village, the PPP increased its votes from five in 2018 to 206 in 2023. Additionally, the PPP secured six seats at ‘C’ Field, an increase from three in 2018.

At Hamlet/Chance, where the PPP could not field candidates in 2018, they secured 102 votes. The situation was the same in other areas including at Blairmont.

And then in Region Four, Jagdeo said at Buxton in Constituencies One and Two, the PPP picked up 114 and 40 votes, respectively, having contested the areas for the first time.

“So, we picked up even in their strongholds, significant votes in places where we couldn’t field candidates before,” Jagdeo said.

Turning his attention to the capital, Georgetown, Jagdeo pointed out that the APNU’s votes in the city actually dropped with the PPP picking up two additional constituencies.

The PPP won a total of five of the 15 seats. Jagdeo claimed the APNU votes dropped by almost 400 in the city while the PPP went from 750 in 2018 to 12, 553 in 2023.

Jagdeo went through similar comparisons in Bartica, Linden and the wider Region 10 area.

He said claims that the low turnout at the polls was a rejection of PPP were also false, noting that this is a historic feature of local polls.

“They should be worried that with this small turnout, we trounced them,” Jagdeo said.

an accident claimed the lives of three porters on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway, charges against the driver were dismissed on Wednesday after the affected families agreed to be compensated.

The driver, Shawn Lim of Hyde Park, Timehri, East Bank Demerara, was charged with three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

The accident, which occurred at around 23:30 hrs on August 3, 2022, claimed the lives of Michael Edwards of Timehri Base Road, Wilfred Phillips and Alicious Squad, both from the Pomeroon River along the Essequibo Coast.

The case was being heard at the Diamond Magistrate’s Court before Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman.

The court confirmed that the charges were dismissed after the families informed the court of their decision to accept compensation from Lim.

The News Room was reliably informed that a sum of $9M was reportedly paid to the families of the victims, with each of them accepting $3M.

At the time of the accident, the porters were passengers of motor lorry GNN 4083 which toppled while traversing along the Soesdyke/Linden Highway.

According to the Police report, the lorry was proceeding north along the Highway when the driver alleged that he saw something run across the road and he swerved to avoid a collision and lost control of the vehicle.

The left side wheel collided with the barranca causing the vehicle to turn turtle in a nearby ditch.

As a result, the three victims who were all seated on top of some utility poles in the tray of the lorry were pinned at the bottom of the vehicle.

They were pronounced dead at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre.