Georgetown: People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Member of Parliament (MP) Harry Gill was on Tuesday released on self-bail after appearing at the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court to answer a charge of assault on former Regional Democratic Councillor of Region 5, and People’s National Congress (PNC) activist, Carol Smith Joseph.
The Court Prosecutor told the Magistrate that she is related to Carol Joseph and as such, will recuse herself from the trial. The trial is set for February 06, 2019.
According to a press statement by the PPP/C, “We believe this may be a deliberate act to detain one of our MPs as an attempt to reduce our numbers in Parliament on Friday to ensure the failure of the no-confidence vote.”
The Party is maintaining that the charge against Gill is baseless. Weeks ago, it is alleged that Gill was viciously assaulted with a chain by Joseph in the presence of Police Inspector Rose and the GECOM Supervisor, Clermont Mingo.
Gill was at the time videoing Joseph’s alleged hostile behaviour towards him and the PPP.
However, even though the senior police officer reportedly admitted on video that he “observed” the assault, Joseph was neither arrested, nor charged.
“It is instructive to note that it is Harry Gill who, a few minutes after, made a report of this assault to the Fort Wellington Police Station upon the advice of the senior police officer, Inspector Rose, and requested that the matter be investigated. It now turns out that the complainant, MP Harry Gill, is the one being charged,” the PPP said.
Gill was summoned to court less than 24 hours after the Leader of the Opposition, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo called upon authorities and the National Assembly to implement measures that will protect MPs and ensure that the “no-confidence” motion slated for Friday can go forward unhindered.
Jagdeo had predicted that the PNC/APNU will do everything possible to prevent the vote from taking place.
“We hope this charge is not being instituted to prevent our Member of Parliament from attending Parliament on Friday,” the PPP statement said while making a call for the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) to immediately intervene and terminate the charge against Gill, “lest that office continues to bear the public perception that it is infected by politics and politicians.”
Joseph who is no stranger to controversy had to resign from her position as a senior PNC member on the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) in Region 5 after she found herself at the center of allegations of using her office to get preferential treatment at the Fort Wellington Hospital to procure prescription narcotic, Pethidine for her personal use.
In a recording circulated on social media, Gill was seen videoing the Local Government Election (LGE) material delivery process when Joseph who began to be verbally abusive towards Gill decided to approach him with a chain wrapped in her hand shoving him and almost hitting the phone he was using to make the video out of his hand.
During the process the parliamentarian receive a two inch scratch on his hand. The former Region Five council continued her verbal abuse and Gill later made a report at the Fort Wellington Police Station.
Reports indicate that Ms. Joseph has a Pethidine addiction and while as a senior APNU/AFC member on the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) she used her influence to gain access to the morphine like medication.
In an investigation Member of Parliament Harry Gill exposed the abuse where Joseph forced nurses on duty on several occasions when she showed up at the hospital for a pethidine fix. In the course of the investigation a nurse was also transferred from the hospital for refusing Ms. Joseph request for high doses of the opium like drug.
The nurse was transferred from the Fort Wellington Hospital to a health centre in Bath Settlement, a transfer she objects to.
The nurse later related to the media that she was punished for doing the right thing. Carol Joseph was forced to subsequently resign as a Councillor as a result of the investigation into her drug addiction.
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