Teen ‘threatened to kill’ Guyana leader

An Irish teenager has been charged with threatening to shoot and kill the president of Guyana during what his lawyer said was an alcohol-fuelled conversation with two of the leader’s bodyguards.

Cillian James Crossan from Ardee, Co Louth, a 17-year-old volunteer with an aid group, was joking when he said he would shoot and kill president Donald Ramotar and said it because he did not believe the two men were really bodyguards, defence lawyer Glenn Hanoman said.

“He had been drinking beer since early in the morning and had even mixed rum and beer and had them at the same time. I think that was the main factor at play when he argued with two of the guards.”

The incident occurred on Sunday at a rodeo in the rugged and remote Rupununi region along the country’s border with Brazil. The president was not there at the time.

However, according to a report in the Guyana Times, the court was told that a ministerial permanent secretary allegedly overheard the comment and approached the young man and asked him what he had said. The newspaper said the defendant repeated that he would shoot the president in the head.

According to the Guyana Times, representatives of the European High Commission and the Irish consulate were in court for the hearing.

Crossan pleaded not guilty to the charge before a local magistrate and was released on the equivalent of about €220 bail over the objections of prosecutor Vishnu Hunte.

“The threat was directed to none other than the president of Guyana, his excellency Donald Ramotar, by a foreign national,” Mr Hunte said. “There is therefore a likelihood that he may flee the jurisdiction since he is not a resident of Guyana.”

The matter was adjourned until May 30 with the defendant required to report to a local police station. The offence is classed as a minor crime and Crossan, in Guyana for a year as a volunteer with the British group Project Trust, faces a maximum fine of €750.