There will be a full investigation into the Prison Authority’s early release of Bibi Gopaul, the woman found guilty of murdering her daughter Neesa Gopual.
This is according to Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo who spoke at a press conference hosted at the People’s Progressive Party Civic’s (PPP/C) Georgetown headquarters, Freedom House.
When asked about the matter, the Vice President said an investigation would be done to figure out what went wrong and possibly, whether anyone should be penalised.
“When the full investigation is completed then questions of accountability as to how this happened will be addressed.
“Right now, the position of the Government of Guyana is that this cannot stand,” Jagdeo told reporters.
Gopaul was recalled to prison on Thursday after the Guyana Prison Service released her before the end of her sentence. She was reportedly released several weeks ago, years before she should have been released.
In a statement, the Guyana Prison Service admitted that Gopaul, who was ordered to serve a 25-year prison term for the murder, was recently released from prison as a result of an incorrect calculation of her prison term.
Neesa was murdered in 2010. In 2022, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ordered that Gopaul was to serve 25 years from the date of the conviction with eligibility for parole after 15 years. Neesa’s stepfather, who was initially found guilty of the murder as well, was freed by the CCJ due to insufficient evidence.
Gopaul’s date of conviction was March 5, 2015, but the Prison Service admitted that officials calculated her sentence from the date she was remanded, which is October 10, 2010.
Gopaul was quietly released from prison several weeks ago and was already resettling in her Leonora, West Coast Demerara home. In other media reports, the Prison Director, Nicklon Elliot first denied her early release, then claimed that she had been paroled, before eventually admitting that she was released early.
Them brothers running the prison, surely, their heads on the chopping block.
They have to go.