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People accused of terrorism in Guyana make their first court appearance. (Photo via CMC)
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Seven people, including the Venezuelan national who is alleged to have confessed to being the person who laid a bomb outside a gas station that killed six-year-old Soraya Bourne and injured four others late last month, have been denied bail and remanded into custody when they appeared in a magistrate’s court on Wednesday.
Venezuelan Daniel Alexander Ramirez Poedemo, 33, who is alleged to be the bomber, along with 44-year-old Alexander Bettancourt, 33-year-old and Johnny Boodram and 33-year-old Krystal La Cruz, appeared before Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty on a charge of terrorism, who remanded them into custody. The four were not required to plead to the indictable offences.
The prosecution alleges that Poedemo, on October 26, with the intent to threaten the security and sovereignty of Guyana or to strike terror among its people, used an explosive device at the Mobil Fuel Station at Regent and King Streets, Georgetown, resulting in the death of the six-year-old child.
The court also heard that Boodram aided and abetted Poedemo with the intent to commit the same offence.
Boodram’s defence lawyer, Nikel Puran, told the court that his client is a taxi driver and La Cruz is his customer whom he usually picks up from a bar which she operates and takes her home. The lawyer said Boodram had no knowledge of the circumstances leading to the offence.
They were all remanded into custody until November 12.
The other accused persons, Ramesh Pramdeo, 51, Wayne Corriea, 44 and 33-year-old Jennifer Rodriguez, have been charged with aiding and abetting Poedemo with intent to threaten the security and safety of Guyana to strike terror on the people by the use of an explosive substance by placing it at the gas station resulting in Bourne’s death.
Pramdeo, Correia and Rodriguez appeared remotely before Leonora Magistrate Alisha George because they allegedly committed the offence in East Bank Essequibo, which falls in the West Demerara Magisterial District, between October 24 and 29, 2025.
The Magistrate said a bail application would be considered then, but for now “this is a very serious offence and it has public safety issues”.
Defence Lawyer Bernard Da Silva made an unsuccessful bail application for Pramdeo. They were remanded to prison until November 24.
Da Silva told the court that Correia had Pramdeo requesting that he transport two Venezuelan gold miners.
The lawyer said that he picked up the men at Parika and transported them to a hotel at Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara.
He said that Pramdeo was not the taxi driver who took them to Georgetown, was nowhere near the explosion, had no knowledge of the intent, no agreement, was not present and did not see the explosive device.
There was a heavy police presence at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, with the accused arriving in three vehicles as armed members of the Guyana Police Force patrolled the courthouse compound on foot and in vehicles.
Civilians were barred from standing near the entrance as the accused were escorted in and out and family members of the Venezuelan defendants waited across the street, in front of a nearby church.
Minister of Home Affairs Oneidge Walrond has said that the government will seek the death penalty for anyone convicted of terrorism under Guyana’s laws.
