I condemn in the strongest possible terms the death of Gavin KennardDouglas, a 32-year-old man who entered the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station live on Saturday 31 October 2026 and died while in police custody. By the Guyana Police Force’s own account, Mr. Douglas was taken to the station at about 11:36 hrs., was restrained by ranks at about 12:00 hrs. after allegedly resisting, and was found frothing at the mouth in the lockups at about 12:45hrs. He died at the West Demerara Regional Hospital.
Whatever he was accused of, Gavin Douglas was presumed innocent. He was in the custody of the State, which owed him a duty to protect his life and his welfare. 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. I extend my deepest condolences to his family, who deserve the truth and not a press release.
The investigation into his death cannot be left to the police. The Office of Professional Responsibility 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 are investigating themselves, and no family nor the Guyanese public can be expected to accept its conclusions.
Article 154A of the Constitution 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.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Oneidge Walrond, has now spoken, and her statement makes the case for an independent investigation better than I could. She accepts that when a person is taken into police custody, the State assumes a responsibility for that person’s safety and wellbeing. She accepts that the allegations surrounding Mr. Douglas’ death are serious and cannot be dismissed. Yet having conceded all of this, she asks the nation to rely on the Office of Professional Responsibility and says she expects its investigation to be impartial. Impartiality cannot be ordered into a unit of the very Force whose ranks are under scrutiny.
Every commitment in her statement is in the passive voice. The facts must beestablished. Accountability must follow. Justice must be allowed to takeitscourse. Not once does the Minister say what she will do. She holds political responsibility for the Guyana Police Force. She could have called for theevidence to be secured. She could have called for the ranks involvedtoberemoved from frontline duty. She could have called for the investigationtobeplaced beyond the reach of the Force. She chose instead to speak in a voiceinwhich no one, including herself, is responsible for anything.
I therefore call on the Government of President Irfaan Ali to remove thisinvestigation from the Office of Professional Responsibility and place it withabody independent of the Guyana Police Force. A coroner’s inquest must beheld promptly. The family must be permitted an independent pathologist at the post mortem. All CCTV footage, station diaries and lockup records fromthe Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station must be secured immediately. The ranksinvolved must be named and removed from frontline duty pendingtheoutcome, and the findings must be made public. The burden of explainingthisdeath lies on the State, not on a grieving family.
Guyana is now a State in which a man can be found in medical distress inapolice lockup within an hour of being restrained, and die. The Government of President Irfaan Ali owes the nation a full and honest account. We standwiththe family of Gavin Douglas, and we will not allow his death to be quietly filedaway.
