A convicted rapist, who was serving a 15-year sentence at the Mazaruni Prison is now dead after complaining about chest and abdominal pains while executing duties at the prison on Tuesday.
Reports are that 40-year-old Stanford Dick, who hailed from Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara (WCD), had been behind bars since 2011 for rape and would usually perform garden duties at the Mazaruni Prison.
This newspaper was told that at about 04:05h on Tuesday, while attending to the grass and shrubs in the area, the man complained to prison officers that he was unwell and suffering from pains about his stomach and chest.
He was subsequently taken to the Bartica Regional Hospital where he was admitted and later died.
According to the police, there were no visible marks of violence on the man’s body when they escorted him to obtain medical attention. However, it is unclear as to how the man met his demise.
The body is presently at that hospital’s mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination (PME).
Investigations into the prisoner’s death continue.
In August 2011, Dick was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for rape committed on a 53-year-old woman.
Dick had appeared at the criminal assizes and pleaded guilty to the two criminal charges.
The offences were said to have been committed on October 28, 2008.
During the court proceedings, the court heard that the man had first planned to rape the woman’s 14-year-old daughter, but after the mother pleaded with the accused not to subject her daughter to such an act, he decided to commit the offence on her instead.
The same night, the woman and her daughter reported the matter to the police and Dick was arrested and charged.
The Judge had requested a probation report, but that report was unfavourable to the accused.
