With no temporary building identified just yet to house the Director of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP’s) Chambers, employees have commenced the herculean task of sorting the thousands of depositions, case jackets and other important files that were displaced during last Saturday’s fire.
When the News Room returned to the partially fire-ravaged building at Eve Leary, Georgetown, officials from the DPP’s Chambers were huddled around a large pile of files in fervent attempts to reassemble them.
Others, including the DPP’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Liz Rahaman, were seen removing burnt debris from offices.
“The entire staff has banded together and we are trying desperately to get ourselves back on our feet,” Rahaman told the News Room.
“We all understand fully our function here, within the entire criminal justice system…the faster we are able to function humanly possible, we are going to resume our duties… some of us are sweeping, some of us are sorting files, depositions, statements, all the legal matters,” she explained.
The DPP’s Chambers, she said, remains closed indefinitely until the “herculean task” is completed.
“Without a doubt, it is a herculean task but Madam DPP, all of us here – we are doing what is humanly possible to resume our work within the shortest possible time,” she added.
The DPP’s office was spared from the fire that gutted the Police Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), the Police’s Construction Office and dorm section on November 20. In the chaos to save the building, the thousands of files at the office were left in disarray as officers rushed to save them.
It was said that 98 per cent of the DPP’s critical case jackets, hard drives and other files were saved from the fire.
Meanwhile, the investigation into the fire is still ongoing; Fire Chief Kalamadeen Edoo said the probe will be concluded on Thursday. Ranks who stayed at the dorms had to be questioned by the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) in their bid to determine what really caused the fire.
It is the second major blow to the force, the first being the fire that destroyed 80% of the Brickdam Police Station back in October.
