Minister Ally met with late Prison Officer’s family-Mother believes efforts were made to save son’s life

DPI, GUYANA, Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Minister of Social Protection Amna Ally, last evening, visited relatives of the late Prison Warder, Odinga Wickham to offer condolences to the family members. The prison officer died on Sunday, during the fire at the Camp Street Prison, from gunshot and stab wounds.

Annetta Wickham, mother of the late officer Wickham explained, that Sunday evening after learning of the incident, she went to the Georgetown Public Hospital Cooperation (GPHC) where she was told her son was in emergency surgery.

“When I came home I was greeted with my neighbor giving me sympathy and so I said for what? The doctor told me he is alive and they are doing emergency surgery. So they said no. It’s posted on Facebook and so…,” this is how Annetta Wickham said she learnt of her son’s passing.

Wickham’s mother believes that the medical team made efforts to save her son’s life, “They were working yes, because when I saw him, he was dead but you could see that they were busy, they had all these straps on him in his mouth…,” however sadly the injuries were too serious.

Minister Ally noted that it was most unfortunate that medical care could not have saved Officer Wickham’s life.

The Minister said, that during the fire at the Georgetown Prisons, she was in contact with Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence at all times, who guaranteed that the best systems were put in place to deal with the tragic incident.

Minister Ally plans to meet with the family at a later date to offer the Ministry of Social Protection’s support to the late prison warder’s Mother, Fiancée and daughter.