Police will rely on eyewitnesses to solve alleged Parliament assault

…as Conference Center’s cameras prove unreliable

…Harmon confident investigation will vindicate Sarabo-Halley

By Lisa Hamilton
Camera footage of the period during which Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy allegedly assaulted Opposition MP Tabitha Sarabo-Halley on the corridors of the Arthur Chung Conference Center (ACCC) have proven unreliable. The police are now relying on the account of eye-witnesses to determine what took place.

At a late-night press conference on Wednesday, Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon said that a team of persons reviewed the camera footage but, unfortunately, the interaction between McCoy and Sarabo-Halley was not within the sight of any of the cameras.

Thus far, Sarabo-Halley has reported to the police that the Minister hit her to the temple after confronting her while she was on the corridors of the ACCC on her way to the restroom. On the other hand, while McCoy admitted to engaging in a verbal altercation with Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield and later approaching Sarabo-Halley, he denied that any part of his body or any item of his touched her.

“The video footage, it offers you evidence of what may have happened before and after. It offers you evidence of an irate Kwame McCoy shaking his phone but the point where the actual incident would have taken place, there is not sufficient coverage by the cameras,” Harmon explained to the media, adding that this has long been an issue at the ACCC.

In saying so, he referenced the incident in which Opposition MP Cathy Hughes said that her laptop was taken from her bag and missing during an initial search of several MPs but turned up aback her seat subsequently. Harmon said the same happened to MP Haimraj Rajkumar whereby his laptop “disappeared” in the dome where camera coverage is an issue.

The Opposition Leader has met with the managers of ACCC to address the issue of sufficient coverage by cameras, as well as with the Prime Minister, Speaker and Clerk of the National Assembly and the Government Chief Whip.

However, continuing on the matter of the alleged assault, the Opposition Leader said: “So we have to now rely on the eye-witness evidence and I can say to you that the police were here for a good part of the afternoon and took several statements. I believe that they are moving at a very rapid pace and that they should be able to wrap up the investigation in a very short space of time.”

Harmon believes that the completed investigation will result in the verification of Sarabo-Halley’s account of what took place. Meanwhile, Sarabo-Halley has seen a doctor and the outcoming report is expected to aid the investigation.

In his remarks to the media, the Opposition Leader lamented that respect for women has “sunken to new lows” and emphasized that it is the responsibility of every Guyanese to ensure that persons who engage in such actions, especially against women, are held accountable.

He said that, in doing their part, all APNU+AFC Opposition MPs have decided to make “certain demands” given that an apology from McCoy will not be adequate. The MPs will also decide whether the incident and its resolution will affect their participation in the ongoing consideration of Budget 2021 estimates.

Added to this, the Opposition Leader labelled “absurd” the allegations of PPP/C Ministers that the alleged physical assault of Sarabo-Halley was made to paint the Government in a bad light and deflect from other matters currently painting the Opposition in a bad light.

“I think it’s stretching the imagination to actually believe that were to be a strategy on our part to have one of our female MPs make an allegation like that as part of some strategy. I don’t think that makes any sense whatsoever,” Harmon said.

During the press conference, remarks also came from Opposition MP and attorney-at-law Amaza Walton-Desir who said that she fully believes Sarabo-Halley’s account of what took place as McCoy has a history of such acts and the MP was visibly distraught when she recounted the alleged incident to her.

She said: “I was one of the first persons that Ms Halley encountered after the incident and I can say that I witnessed a very shaken and distraught individual. I want to register my complete and utter disappointment that senior politicians on the Government’s side would see to make light of this incident.”