…mother of slain prison officer recounts hearing dreadful news of son’s death
Thirty-three-year-old Odinga Wickham, the prison officer who succumbed after he was shot multiple times during the Camp Street Prison unrest on Sunday, was the sole breadwinner for his family.
This is according to Annette Wickham, the mother of the dead officer, who broke down in tears as she spoke about her son to media operatives on Monday.
“…is meh eldest child… He’s 33, ah mind him without [his] father. It’s hard, it’s hard. I keep asking the guards, I keep asking his colleagues, did he hit the prisoner? [Colleague] said “no ma’am, we gonna get down to the story”…Who’s gonna look after me? Who is gonna look after his daughter?” the grieving mother cried on Monday.
According to the heartbroken mother, at about 16:30h on Sunday, she received information that the Camp Street Prison was on fire and recalled calling her son but those calls went unanswered. She said she immediately prepared to head the Georgetown Public Hospital as news of prison officers being injured spread.
However, shortly before leaving home, a family member, who worked at the Georgetown Public Hospital, called her and informed her that her son was injured.
“When I went down there, I spend a long time outside. The guards wouldn’t allow me to go in. I seh I have my ID card, do you want me to show my ID card? I’m the mother of Odinga Wickham and then a female guard said ‘come’ and she put me in a corner of the hospital to stand up, and I stood there. By the time a receptionist came and she took me into the doctor. The doctor seh “Ms Wickham, how are you? What can I say to you? Your son got four gunshot wounds…two to the chest”…He said he [Wickham] is doing a surgery straight away and I cannot see him now, come back tomorrow morning at eight o’clock,” the distressed woman recalled.
She noted that the doctor sought to comfort her, and she “took his words for granted” and left the hospital with the intention of returning the following morning.
However, as soon as the man’s mother arrived home, she was greeted by neighbours who gave her their sympathies while revealing to her that news entities were reporting that her son had died.
She added that this information was later confirmed by two nurses.
In tears, the dead man’s mother disclosed that Wickham is the father of a four-year-old and is also engaged.
Tony Brandon, Wickham’s fiancée, was unable to speak with media operatives as she was still in a state of disbelief.
Following the attack by prisoners at the Camp Street Prison, Wickham was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital with gunshot injuries and died while in the emergency theatre.
He was one of several prison officers hospitalised from shots fired from the marauding inmates.
The prison warden was described as a very hard working and friendly man.
The unrest resulted in the Camp Street Prison being burnt to the ground and the escape of four hardcore murderers.
