February 27, 2009
UK-based man found dead
Was bound and gagged, robbery suspected
George Codogan’s D’Urban Backlands house in which he was discovered dead yesterday afternoon.
An elderly man, his hands and feet bound, was found dead in his D’Urban Backlands home yesterday, in an apparent robbery/murder.
George Codogan, believed to be in his late 70’s to early 80’s, was discovered bound and gagged in the upper flat of his Lot 180 D’Urban Backlands home at around 4pm. His brother, Glen Codogan, made the discovery.
His relatives told Stabroek News that George was an UK-based Guyanese who returned home just before Christmas last year. The man, according to them, had planned to sell his house and return to England where his wife and children are. “Look he came home to look after his things and he going back to England in a casket,” an upset relative stated.
Relatives suspect that the perpetrator/s gained entry to the house through ground floor windows which were being repaired. A relative, who saw the man’s body, reported that his hands were tied in front of him with a chequered shirt, while his feet were tied with a handkerchief.
Further, the relative explained that George had some sort of material stuffed in his mouth but there were no marks of violence. They said that he appeared to have been suffocated. “He was lying on his side on the floor in his bedroom with his hands and foot tied up…he was only wearing his boxers and a vest,” a relative said.
According to the relative, the man’s house was clearly ransacked and several electronic items, including a laptop, were missing. The man’s stereo was left abandoned near a window and clothing was scattered about his bedroom. When Stabroek News arrived on the scene shortly after 5pm, the police were already present and carrying out their investigations.
Relatives explained that George had several contractors working on the front windows of his ground floor. Window panes were missing and two large sheets of plywood were used to block entry to the building. However, those sheets of plywood, a relative said, were not properly nailed to the surrounding wall to keep them in place.
A Police rank cordoning the ground floor windows through which George Codogan’s attackers appeared to have gained entry to his house.
Glen had visited his brother early yesterday morning to take him some fruits. He shouted for George several times and after receiving no response he left the bag tied to the gate.
After Glen made several attempts to contact George by telephone but received no response, he visited again and noticed that the plywood blocking one of the windows was out of place.
With further probing, Glen realised he could gain entry to George’s house and it was at this point, he told relatives, he knew something had happened to his brother. He immediately searched the house and soon found George dead in his upper floor bedroom. The police were immediately informed.
George was last seen in his yard by a neighbour shortly after 5pm on Wednesday and relatives said that they had spoken to the man by telephone that same evening. According to them, the attack had to have happened sometime between 6pm Wednesday and yesterday morning.
Approximately three hours after the discovery of George’s body attendants from the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour arrived to cart the body away. Police, up to press time, had not issued a statement on the matter. (Sara Bharrat/Stabroek News)
February 26, 2009
Funeral of De Willem man halted over murder suspicion
Post-mortem shows blunt trauma
Bissoondial Dhanpaul
The funeral of a De Willem man was stopped by police on Tuesday after they received information that he might have been murdered and a post-mortem examination later showed that he died from blunt trauma.
Bissoondial Dhanpaul known as Sona and Malik was pronounced dead on arrival at the Leonora Cottage Hospital last Friday, police said in a press statement issued last evening, and a medical certificate which gave the cause of death as hypertension was issued.
According to the police, Dhanpaul had complained of feeling unwell that day before he was taken to the hospital. However, based on new information received the police halted the man’s funeral and ordered a post-mortem.
The post-mortem was conducted by pathologist Nehaul Singh who gave the cause of death as “hemorrhage of the brain due to blunt trauma. After the post-mortem results were released the reputed wife and son of Dhanpaul were taken into police custody.
Several neighbours were present at Dhanpaul’s Lot 224 Area ‘G’ De Willem, West Coast Demerara home when this newspaper visited shortly after 4 pm yesterday. Stabroek News learnt from them that Dhanpaul’s reputed wife, Lolyn, and their eldest son, Nishal, were taken into custody by ranks from the Leonora Police Station.
According to the neighbours, who explained they were only in the woman’s house until she was released by the police, it was a “sad story”. Dhanpaul, they said, drank a lot and had been unemployed for several years.
“He used to drink he rum steady and would cuss she up all de time,” neighbours told this newspaper. “He would ride around on he bicycle when he drunk and he used to fall down steady.” Further, neighbours said they were told by Lolyn that Dhanpaul woke up about 5 am on Friday, went to the bathroom, and returned to bed and later said he wasn’t feeling well.
“Lolyn say she de still in bed but she know when he get up and go lie down back…she said that when she get up later she go and shake he fuh wake he up but when she turn he over he de done dead so she run with he ah hospital,” one neighbour present at the Lot 224 De Willem house explained. “That woman deh, she does wuk like a man,” yet another neighbour said. “She does go catch shrimp and sell it.” The woman and her son remained in police custody up to press time.
Meanwhile, relatives of the deceased told this newspaper that because Dhanpaul drank a lot he was frequently beaten and abused. “You know how much time he does come at me house…every time he get beat he does run come ah me to show me wa dem do to he,” one of Dhanpaul’s niece said.
The woman said that her uncle had developed his drinking problem over the past decade. Although he didn’t work, the woman reported, relatives who live overseas would send money so that he could maintain his family.
“Lolyn de tell we that de morning (Friday) me uncle get up about 5 o’clock and go to de toilet and then he go back and sleep. She say she de cutting up pumpkin at de time,” Dhanpaul’s niece recalled. “After he wake up back she say he tell she that he na feel good and so she take he to de hospital.”
The deceased man’s relatives told this newspaper that Lolyn had discouraged them from viewing Dhanpaul’s body which is at the West Demerara Regional Hospital mortuary. According to them, the woman was rushing the funeral and refused to wait a few days for Dhanpaul’s relatives to travel here.
“When we de go visit she after he dead people in de street de tell we” that he was beaten three days before, the dead man’s niece said. (Shabna Ullah/Stabroek News)
Manhunt still on for Bartica crime spree fugitive
Ranks of the Joint Services were, up to late yesterday, still combing Arimu Backdam and the Cuyuni environs for the fourth member of a gang suspected in the recent Bartica crime spree.
A senior officer said, since the manhunt started two weeks ago, they have made significant progress but the fugitive, identified only as Lorenzo, remains at large.
The bandit is no stranger to Police and, with quite a checkered background, will be captured in time, the spokesman said. He told the Guyana Chronicle that, contrary to media reports, the man has not been killed.
The bandits ambushed Police early Saturday morning and wounded Lance Corporal Isaacs but three of them, Dwayne Marks called ‘Bully’, 25 and Gavin Gray alias ‘Sweet Eyes’, 27, also of Bartica and Antwan Singh nicknamed ‘Deportee’, 35, of Linden, were gunned down. The dead men had all been on the Police radar for various investigations. (Guyana Cronicle)
February 25, 2009
Body under bridge sparks murder probe At Mon Repos
Police yesterday began a murder investigation after the battered body of Munilall Mangaru, 42, of Lot 134 Mon Repos School Road, East Coast Demerara, was discovered under the Agriculture Road bridge.
The corpse, which bore extensive marks of violence on the head and face, was in the early state of decomposition.
The bloodied body of Munilall Mangaru being pulled from under the bridge yesterday morning. Family members believe Mangaru was severely beaten.
A sister, Anita Sukhdeo told the Guyana Chronicle her brother, a weeder, had been in good health and had no problems with anyone. She lastly saw him Sunday afternoon when he said he was on his way to collect money owed him for weeding jobs.
Grieving: Family members of the deceased.
He lived in the upper flat of his house and rented the downstairs. The father of one, whose wife pre-deceased him, is survived by a brother, four sisters and his mother.
Mangaru was described as a quiet person who went about his business without fuss and his death was a shock to his family.
The dead man was wearing a green hat, a muddied white t-shirt, three-quarters denim pants and a pair of slippers.
His mother, Sumintra Munilall said she last saw him riding his bicycle, on Sunday afternoon, too, but did not get to speak to him.
She said he has a son who resides in Venezuela. As news of the discovery spread, scores of villagers rushed to get a glimpse before the Lyken Funeral Parlour hearse arrived to take away the man’s remains. (Michel Outridge/Guyana Cronicle)
Miner shot dead at White Water
Suspect wanted to do another ‘washdown’
Neville Melville
A 25-year-old miner was shot dead in his camp at White Water Backdam, Konawaruk, Region Eight on Monday, allegedly by an employee who had become enraged after an argument over the operation of a pump; the suspect has not yet been apprehended.
Dead is Neville Melville of Arakaka, North West District who was shot in the head as he lay in bed sleeping with his reputed wife and five-month- old son. He was killed one day before he would have celebrated his 26th birthday.
Police in a press release said that the murder which occurred around 3 am is being investigated and so far ranks have gathered that Melville had an argument earlier with a co-worker over the operation of a pump. Later the sound of a gunshot was heard coming from Melville’s tent in the camp and the suspect was seen leaving. Checks revealed that Melville had been shot to his head.
A warhead was recovered from the scene, the release added.
The man’s body was brought to the city yesterday afternoon and is at the Lyken’s Funeral Home awaiting a post-mortem examination. The man’s family was distraught over the killing when this newspaper visited a relative’s home located in the Georgetown area.
One of his brothers, holding a picture in his hand, stared at a fixed spot ahead of him for most of the time that this newspaper was present. His reputed wife Natasha Sookraj who was sitting in a chair clutching a pillow was grief stricken but she however managed to recount the events leading up to the tragic moment. According to her, Melville, the suspect and another man did a `washdown’ on Saturday but they only managed to get one ounce of raw gold.
After the process was over the other man left the area for Mahdia. The suspect, Melville, his wife and son remained at the camp. Sookraj said that later that day, the suspect asked Melville to “wuk de pump again” since he was apparently dissatisfied with their progress that morning. However Melville in his response said that he was already discouraged and that “the … engine could park”.
The grieving woman told Stabroek News that the conversation was more like raised tones than an argument and the suspect subsequently left the area. She stated that he went to the White Water Landing where he had some drinks.
The suspect she added returned to the camp, which is about two hours walking distance around 10 pm that night. When they woke Sunday morning, she recalled Melville telling her that there wasn’t anything to make stew with. Melville handed the one pennyweight of gold she had left to the suspect telling him to buy some meat, potatoes and a slipper and keep whatever change for himself.
The couple and their baby then started a 20-minute walk to Melville’s uncle’s camp where they spent several hours before returning to their own camp. According to Sookraj, up until they went to bed that night the suspect still had not returned. However the baby woke up twice during the night and they both got up to tend to him.
“Around 3 am I hear a loud explosion that been ringing in me ears”, she recalled adding that when she jumped out of her sleep, she continuously shook Melville to wake him up but to no avail. It was when she saw blood on her hands that she realized that something was wrong and started hollering. According to her, the suspect who had a haversack on his back was seen running out of the tent. She added that the area was lit by a ‘bush lamp”.
Sookraj, making every effort to hold back her tears, told this newspaper that she wrapped her baby in a blanket and although the place was dark with bush all around, somehow managed to reach Melville’s uncle’s camp. Once there, she told him what had happened and he together with a few men from his camp went to the scene.
The woman said that when they came back, they told her that Melville had been shot and was already dead. Asked why the suspect would have been so upset, she said that he wanted to work again because they didn’t get anything much from the `washdown’. She added that as far as she knew this was the first time, the suspect had worked for her husband; he had previously worked for his uncle.
The police came in for high praise from the woman who said that given the distance, ranks from Mahdia were there by early afternoon. Melville would usually move from backdam to backdam and Saturday’s `washdown’ was his first for the year. (Zoisa Fraser/Stabroek News)
February 24, 2009
Greene would ‘love to hear’ from Lindo ‘eyewitness’
Henry Greene
Commissioner of Police Henry Greene says he would “love to hear” what the man who said he witnessed the murder of the eight miners at Lindo Creek and who wants to meet President Bharrat Jagdeo has to say.
Speaking to reporters recently, Greene said that while there has been no further update on the investigation into the deaths of the miners, and they are still awaiting the results of the DNA tests from Jamaica, he wants to know who the mysterious person is.
“I would love to ask whoever this mysterious person is who we hearing about to come forward. I would love to hear what he or she has to say,” the commissioner said.
Stabroek News had reported that the man said he had witnessed what happened at Lindo Creek and that he wanted residents of Berbice River communities to help him to have an audience with the President.
The residents, to whom the man has spoken, told Stabroek News that he has abandoned his home out of fear and currently moves from place to place as he has no fixed place of abode. They said he had been saying the same thing since last June soon after the incident occurred and that back then he had even gone to the police in the area, who did not believe him and ran him off warning him not to repeat what he was saying to anyone.
According to the residents, who are also still fearful, the man had said he wanted to be able to meet President Jagdeo in a public setting to tell his story, so that “if they kill me there the world know.”
According to several residents who have had contact with the man, his account of what occurred at Lindo Creek in early June 2008, has been and continues to be consistent. They said he told them that he was at Leonard Arokium’s camp at Lindo Creek with eight other men.
He related that he had gone off into the bushes “to ease his bowels” when he heard a hail of gunshots. He approached cautiously and from a safe distance, saw a group of approximately five men standing guard while a few others seemed to be questioning the miners as they beat them with sledgehammers; he could hear them hollering, he told the residents.
After a while, the men drenched the camp and the miners with fuel and then lit the camp and its occupants afire, he told the residents. He also claimed that the men stayed there, throwing more fuel whenever the flames began to quell. The man told the residents that the killers then left the area by boat after they were satisfied that the camp and the campers were completely burnt. He recounted to them that while he looked on he trembled with fear at the thought that he might have been caught and killed.
Alliance For Change (AFC) leader, Raphael Trotman had told Stabroek News following the first report that he hoped President Jagdeo meets the man and provides him with the highest security.
Trotman had said that the nation, but more so the relatives of the slain miners need answers as to what would have happened at the camp and why. He said the President should meet the man and hear what he has to say as there is need for answers.
Both Trotman and PNCR leader Robert Corbin had told Stabroek News that they were not surprised that the investigation into the gruesome murders of the miners has stalled. According to Corbin, it was clear that there was some desire on the part of the administration to hide what really happened at Lindo Creek.
‘Still there’
Trotman had charged that there is a major cover-up going on so that the true facts of what happened at the Lindo Creek are not revealed.
He had recalled that Greene had publicly spoken about an eyewitness to the incident but to date there has been no further revelation about this person. Greene was asked about the eyewitness on several occasions after he made the pronouncement, and he has declined to answer; though at one time he hinted that the person might be in prison.
Asked about the witness he spoke about, Greene told reporters last week that “he is there” but would not give any further information. When one reporter suggested that the person is in witness protection Greene said ‘Thank you.” Further, pressed about the person, Greene refused to budge but maintained that his witness is “credible.”
Greene had told reporters that the eyewitness had come forward on July 3, and given investigators a detailed account of what transpired at the camp. Greene had said that the identity of the witness could not be disclosed at that time.
According to Greene, “The eyewitness has said that the men were attacked by ‘Fine Man’ and his gang. They went there at night. Basically, they attacked the men. They tied them up, they cooked, etcetera, and then the next night they were shot and killed.”
He added that the eyewitness related that after the shooting, one of the victims was still alive, and he was beaten with a hammer until he succumbed. “That is what we have. We have how they arrived there, we have all the details. That is all I can give you for now,” Greene had said.
‘Sympathetic’
Meanwhile, Greene said Guyana has to be patient as it waits for the results of the DNA tests, since the Jamaicans have their own issues to deal with. “I think we ought to be a little sympathetic with them [the Jamaicans], they have their own large amount of murders on their hands so I think you know the lab is under pressure, we need to give them more time,” Greene said.
Shortly after samples were taken from the charred remains of the miners for DNA testing in Jamaica, in late July last year, Arokium had told Stabroek News that he was anxiously awaiting their return, since the results could tell a lot more about the massacre, for example, if remains were found that did not belong to any of the eight men who were thought to have died at Camp Lindo. He had hinted that a ninth man could possibly have been at the site.
Arokium has said that he has since given up on ever finding out what happened at his mining camp as according to him “I can’t fight the system” This is also now the conclusion of most of the relatives of the dead men.
The camp owner, who lost his son Dax Arokium and his brother Cecil Arokium in the attack, had said he was also keen on finding out which of the members of the camp sustained the sledgehammer skull wounds as it would indicate who resisted the attackers. The other miners in the camp were Clifton Wong, Nigel Torres, Compton Speirs, Horace Drakes, Bonny Harry and Lancelot Lee.
The police declared that the men were killed by the now dead Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins and his gang but many have doubted this and camp owner, Arokium has publicly stated that his men were killed by members of the joint services, a charge that has since been denied by both the army and the police. (Staff/Stabroek News)
February 23, 2009
Fourth Bartica robbery spree suspect held
A fourth man believed to be the accomplice of the three killed by Joint Services ranks on Saturday at Arimu backdam, Cuyuni was captured later that day. Two women have also reportedly been detained.
Ranks yesterday returned to the area to support those left there to conduct further operations, this newspaper was told. The lawmen are being aided by the Guyana Defence Force’s helicopter. While information as to the exact circumstances of the capture of the man and the two women are sketchy, sources said that they are in custody at the Bartica Police Station.
Meantime, even as Barticians expressed relief at the dismantling of the gang, believed to be behind the spate of gun crimes in the town recently, another robbery occurred in the community yesterday. Sources told this newspaper that at around midday a Brazilian national was robbed by two men.
According to the reports, the robbers snatched gold chains and money from the man but were seen in the act by public-spirited citizens, who informed the police. The police trailed them and captured one man identified as “Funky dread” while his accomplice escaped, the sources said. According to a resident, the robbers are residents and he pointed out that this was how the criminals begin before graduating to bigger crimes.
On Saturday, Joint Services officers shot and killed the alleged mastermind of the spate of gun crimes at Bartica and two of his gang members during an early morning operation at Arimu backdam, Cuyuni. The gang had reportedly ambushed the officers when they went into the area, opening fire and hitting a policeman identified as Lance Corporal Isaacs. Isaacs sustained a gunshot injury to his right forearm and was said to have escaped further injury because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Dwayne Marks called ‘Bully’, 25, of Bartica, who was known to the police, was identified among the dead gunmen. Police named Antwan Singh called ‘Deportee’, 35, of Linden and Gavin Gray called ‘Sweet Eyes’, 27, of Bartica as the other two gunmen who were shot dead.
Marks was said to have orchestrated the string of recent criminal attacks in the community that led to Regional Chairman Holbert Knights calling for increased and active law enforcement at Bartica. Marks was recently before the courts on a charge of discharging a loaded firearm and simple larceny and was out on bail. He was also a suspect in the murder of gas station owner Brandis Roberts who was found in his home with marks of violence to his body on November 20, 2008.
On January 2, 2008, Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle had remanded Marks after he was charged with jumping through the window of a bus to freedom while he was being escorted to court. He was not required to plead to a charge of escaping lawful custody when it was read to him in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
It is alleged that on July 12, 2007, at De Kenderen, West Bank Demerara, being in lawful custody as a remand prisoner on a criminal charge, Marks escaped. Reports are that on the said day, Marks was being escorted to the Camp Street prison, in a 26-seater minibus, after being charged with three counts of break and enter and larceny and armed robbery. He was later recaptured at Bartica. It is unclear what became of that case.
Police, in a press release on Saturday had stated that the joint services officers were responding to a report of an armed robbery at the backdam when they came under fire on the Arimu trail. Police said two .38 revolvers along with eight rounds and one .32 pistol with six matching rounds were recovered from the dead gunmen.
According to the police, the All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) that was stolen from Brazilian miner Osmar Oliveira Da Silva, and which was in possession of the gunmen, was also recovered. Da Silva had been attacked in his camp at Arimu backdam on February 18, by two men armed with firearms and two women.
He was in his camp along with another Brazilian when they were confronted by the perpetrators. The robbers took Da Silva’s ATV. He had tried to resist his attackers and was shot in his left leg by one of the men. The robbers then escaped on the ATV.
Additionally, the police said on Saturday that a resident of Bartica who was the victim of an armed robbery at Mongrippa Hill, Bartica, on February 2, has identified a cell phone found on the body of Gray as his property which was stolen during the robbery.
Miners, particularly Brazilians have been attacked within the past few days, and according to informed sources at Bartica the attacks have been more frequent than reported. Stabroek News was told that police at Bartica had information on the gang and that several attempts were made to capture them, none successful.
However, the police received information late Friday night that the men were spotted at Arimu backdam and a team was mobilized. Sources said that a heavily armed joint services patrol left Bartica for the Arimu backdam just before midnight. This newspaper was told that the police had some intelligence as to the gang’s exact location but when they got there the men ambushed them.
It is believed that Marks might have been alerted about the joint services operation and organized the ambush, but the police reportedly outnumbered the gang. The operation lasted for about 30 minutes. Relief has been expressed by several residents regarding the dismantling of the gang. Investigations are ongoing and those detained are undergoing questioning. (Staff/Stabroek News)
February 22, 2009
Joint Services kill three
Fourth man, girlfriend captured
Dwayne Marks called “Bully”
Three members of the gang that was believed to have carried out a spate of brazen robberies at Bartica and outlying communities were shot dead yesterday during a pre-dawn gunfight with Joint Services ranks at Arimu Backdam, Cuyuni.
Police said that 25-year-old Dwayne Marks called “Bully” of Bartica; Antwan Smith, 35, called “Deportee” of Linden; and Gavin Gray, 27, called “Sweet Eyes” of Bartica, were slain at around 02:30 hrs after opening fire on the ranks who had tracked them down.
A fourth man, identified as Lorenzo De Freitas of Parika, East Bank Essequibo, was captured several hours later by a group of Brazilian miners in the Arimu area. His girlfriend was also captured. Police said that De Freitas was spotted with the other gang members during the shootout, but he managed to escape. A police rank, identified as Lance Corporal 16834 Issacs, was wounded in the right forearm.
The bodies of the slain men were first taken by army helicopter to Bartica and then by speedboat to Parika. A hearse then brought the corpses to Georgetown. A police statement said that Dwayne Marks was before the court on charges of discharging a loaded firearm with intent, break and enter and larceny and simple larceny, for which he was on bail.
According to the statement, he was also a suspect in the murder of gas station owner Brandis Roberts of Parika, who was found in his home with marks of violence to his body on November 30, 2008. Police believe that he was the leader of the gang. Antwan Smith was also before the court on a charge of robbery under arms and was on bail.
A police statement said that the Joint Services recovered two .38 revolvers and eight rounds of ammunition, and a .32 pistol with six matching rounds from the slain men.
Dead: Gavin Gray, 27, called “Sweet Eyes”
The ranks also recovered an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) that was stolen from Brazilian miner, Osmar Oliveira Da Silva, who was shot in the left leg at Arimu Backdam on February 18, 2009. Two men and two women carried out that attack.
“In addition, a resident of Bartica who was the victim of an armed robbery at Mongrippa Hill, Bartica on February 02, 2009 has identified a cell phone found on the body of Gavin Gray as his property which was stolen during the robbery,” police said.
The statement said that, at around 02:30 hrs yesterday, the Joint Services were responding to a report of an armed robbery in the Arimu Backdam, Cuyuni when they came under fire while travelling along the Arimu Trail.
“The ranks returned fire resulting in three men being fatally shot, while Police Lance Corporal 16834 Issacs sustained a gunshot injury to his right forearm.” Word of the bandits’ demise spread quickly through Bartica, and by 09:00 hrs several curious residents had already gathered outside the Bartica Hospital in anticipation of the arrival of the bodies.
When the ranks eventually arrived, they were forced to lock the hospital gates to prevent onlookers from entering. Among the crowd were Gavin Gray’s relatives, some of whom erupted into loud wailing. The pandemonium continued when the bodies arrived at Parika, with residents converging at the wharf as the bodies arrived.
Undertakers had a difficult time carrying the bandits from the boat to the hearse. One of the undertakers even fell while lifting one of the corpses. Police believe that the gang, allegedly led by Marks, carried out over ten robberies within a few days in Bartica alone.
The victims were mainly persons in the gold-mining industry. One robbery occurred on the first anniversary of the slaughter of 13 people in the community. It is believed that the bandits were forced to operate further in the interior because of the increase of police patrols in Bartica.
After the attack on Da Silva at Cuyuni, the Joint Services, aided by the GDF helicopter, deployed several ranks near the Cuyuni River. The mother of alleged gang leader, Dwayne Marks, described her son as a “hard-working boy” and opined that he was framed by the police. She confirmed that he had several recent matters before the court.
She recounted that her son was charged for possession of an unlicensed firearm and for shooting at police ranks at Bartica in 2007. However, the suspect escaped from police custody but was recaptured and jailed for a year. “During the time he was in custody they were still calling his name,” she said. He was released from prison late last year.
And a brother of Gavin Gray also said that he was “shocked” that his sibling had been identified as one of the gunmen who were preying on the community. According to the brother, Gray had worked with the family’s gold-mining business as a truck driver. However, the suspect stopped working a few months ago, and the brother said he was unaware of his sibling’s whereabouts. (Kaieteur News)
Bartica robbery spree mastermind, gang members killed at Cuyuni
‘Bully’ others ‘ambushed patrol’, cop injured
Joint service officers shot and killed the alleged mastermind of the spate of gun crimes at Bartica and two of his gang members yesterday during an early morning operation at Arimu backdam, Cuyuni; a third gang member who was reportedly wounded, escaped.
The gang reportedly ambushed the officers when they went into the area, opening fire and hitting a policeman identified as Lance Corporal Isaacs. Isaacs sustained a gunshot injury to his right forearm and was said to have escaped further injury because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Dwayne Marks called ‘Bully’, 25, of Bartica, who was known to the police, was identified among the dead gunmen. He was said to have orchestrated the string of recent criminal attacks in the community that led to Regional Chairman Holbert Knights calling for increased and active law enforcement at Bartica.
Police named Antwan Singh called ‘Deportee’, 35, of Linden and Gavin Gray called ‘Sweet Eyes’, 27, of Bartica as the other two gunmen who were shot dead.
Marks was recently before the courts on a charge of discharging a loaded firearm and simple larceny. He was out on bail. He was also a suspect in the murder of gas station owner Brandis Roberts who was found in his home with marks of violence to his body on November 20, 2008.
A police press release issued yesterday afternoon said the joint services officers were responding to a report of an armed robbery at the backdam when they came under fire on the Arimu trail. Police said two.38 revolvers along with eight rounds and one .32 pistol with six matching rounds were recovered from the dead gunmen.
While the police made no mention of the fourth man who escaped Stabroek News has been reliably informed that there was a fourth gunman, and that joint services officers were combing the backdam in search of him.
According to the police, the All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) that was stolen from Brazilian miner Osmar Oliveira Da Silva, and which was in possession of the gunmen, was also recovered. Da Silva had been attacked in his camp at Arimu backdam on February 18, by two men armed with firearms and two women.
Da Silva was in his camp along with another Brazilian when they were confronted by the perpetrators. The robbers took Da Silva’s ATV. Da Silva tried to resist his attackers and was shot in his left leg by one of the men. The robbers then escaped on the ATV.
Additionally, the police said yesterday that a resident of Bartica who was the victim of an armed robbery at Mongrippa Hill, Bartica, on February 2, has identified a cell phone found on the body of Gray as his property which was stolen during the robbery. Miners, particularly Brazilians have been attacked within the past few days, and according to informed sources at Bartica the attacks have been more frequent than reported.
Stabroek News was told yesterday that police at Bartica had information on the gang and that several attempts were made to capture them, none successful. However, the police received information late Friday night that the men were spotted at Arimu backdam and a team was mobilized.
Sources said that a heavily armed joint services patrol left Bartica for the Arimu backdam just before midnight. This newspaper was told that the police had some intelligence as to the gang’s exact location but when they got there the men ambushed them. It is believed that Marks might have been alerted about the joint services operation and organized the ambush, but the police reportedly outnumbered the gang. The operation lasted for about 30 minutes.
Mixed emotions
As the bodies of the men were transported into Bartica yesterday the atmosphere was one of sorrow and relief, some lamenting the fall of their “own” while others openly thanked the joint services for bringing an end to the gang.
Nearly the whole community gathered to get glimpses of the gunmen who were pronounced dead on arrival at the Bartica Hospital. Police were forced to control the crowd as people surged forward to make positive identifications of the men.
Speaking with this newspaper, a resident said that while he was relived he was also saddened that persons born and bred in the community had been carrying out the attacks. “You want to celebrate, but at the same time you are aggrieved because these are people that we see around the community and we know their families. It is hard to take a position openly,” he said.
However, others did not hesitate to say that they could now sleep in peace at night knowing that the gang had been destroyed. One man said residents were terrified and every night persons were forced to retire early out of fear of being attacked. Even then he said the chances of “them not coming for you were slim”. “I am glad they are gone, just glad,” were the words of another resident.
While there were mixed emotions, many in the community were united in their praise for the joint services. One man told this newspaper that he was particularly impressed with the work of the new Office-in-charge at Bartica Police Station, Superintendent Kevin Adonis. The general feeling in the community is that the residents expect the police force to step-up law enforcement and keep tracking criminals who are hiding out and living among them.
Zero progress
Knights had recently expressed alarm at what he said was the “very sudden upsurge in crime at Bartica” and he charged that the police were making zero progress with respect to the crimes. Knights had issued a press release saying that the community had suffered a string of robberies; seven armed robberies within two weeks.
He said it appeared as though a day or two would not pass without some family wailing and anguishing over the loss of their hard earned cash, valuables and experiencing the fear of being vulnerable. Knights had called on all stakeholders, the government and the joint services, to step up to the challenge and take the necessary and appropriate action.
“We need action; we need to feel safe and comforted knowing that our policy makers and security forces are not forsaking us, or leaving us to the mercies of criminals. We are too close to having to live through again, that night in February of 2008,” Knights had said.
February 17 marked the anniversary of the Bartica massacre when around 20 gunmen attacked Bartica slaughtering one dozen people including three policemen during an hour-long strafing. It had been reported that the gunmen attacked the police station first, killing three policemen and freeing prisoners.
They then took the vehicle assigned to the police station and went on a rampage, terrorising the community and murdering nine others. According to reports, the gunmen arrived in the area by boat and departed in similar fashion taking with them firearms they had grabbed from the police station and from a mining company. Persons are before the courts charged with the murders at Bartica. (Stabroek News)
Demerara Timbers guard stabbed to death in row over money
A 43-year-old security guard was stabbed to death at Demerara Timbers Limited at Mabura on Friday night following an argument with a co-worker over a sum of money. His attacker has not yet been arrested.
Dead is Mineo Holder of Lot 23 Silver City Hill, Wismar, Linden. He sustained a gaping stab wound to the abdomen and died before receiving medical attention. A police statement said yesterday that they are investigating the murder, which occurred around 19:05 hrs on Friday.
Investigations revealed that the body of Holder, who was attached to Demerara Timbers Limited at Mabura, was found in the doorway of the quarters of another security guard with whom he had earlier had an argument over a sum of money. The body had stab wounds to the abdomen, the release added.
The body is at the Mackenzie Hospital mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination. Yesterday the man’s relatives were in shock over his violent death and were in the process of gathering information on what led to it.
One of the man’s sisters, in an emotional telephone conversation with this newspaper said Holder had only been employed with the timber company for a few months. The woman, who did not want to be named, said that though her brother was very hasty and a lover of alcohol, he had always been there for his family.
Stabroek News was told that on Friday night, relatives received word that Holder was involved in an incident at his work site and he was “being brought out”. His brother said that when they arrived at the Mackenzie Hospital and saw him, he was dead. The man leaves behind three children and eleven. (Staff/Stabroek News)
February 21, 2009
Cocaine in soya chunks intercepted at airport
Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit agents have intercepted a shipment of cocaine in soya chunks in a postal bag at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
The cocaine bust Thursday was the second at the airport this week, an official said yesterday.
The official said the three kilos of rock or crack cocaine were coated with soya bean powder and wrapped as soya chunks in a box to be posted to an address in Canada.
Canadian anti-narcotics agencies have been alerted to the find, the source said. CANU agents at the airport on Wednesday also intercepted a shipment of some seven kilos of cocaine and a United States-based Guyanese juvenile has been charged with trying to smuggle the consignment.
The 16-year-old boy pleaded not guilty to trafficking in narcotics when he appeared the next day before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court. The cocaine was allegedly stashed in a bag that contained only a teddy bear and cloth. (Guyana Cronicle)
February 20, 2009
Police don’t believe Julius Chung killed himself
Dianne Browne
Police do not believe that 44-year-old Julius Chung, who died in his former lover’s home on Wednesday after he attacked her with a knife, killed himself according to Commissioner Henry Greene.
The Top Cop said that there may have been a fight between the two during which the man was mortally wounded.
Speaking to reporters yesterday Greene said that the police are still trying to piece together the evidence but what has been collected so far reveals that the man did not inflict the fatal injury on himself.
He said they have not been able to speak to the other victim of the knife attack, 26-year-old Dianne Browne so it is not clear what happened.
“…when we did check the man was dead, I don’t suppose he killed himself, I don’t know, it doesn’t appear so to us. Definitely that man came under the knife not of his own doing, that is our view,” Greene said yesterday. He said he believes that there was a fight between the two and that the woman stabbed the man “but we can’t put anything together right now.” He said the police found two blood-stained knives on the scene.
Browne, had told Stabroek News on Wednesday that the man had opened the door to her home, kicked down the door of the room in which she was hiding and attacked her with a knife. She said she fought for her life before escaping and did not know he had died until later.
She had said that the man hugged her and she thought he was about to kiss her but felt a stab to her back and it was then she realised he was there to kill her. The young woman said she fought valiantly for her life and in the process she was cut on several of her fingers.
“I really fight he. You see how me fingers cut up and so? I fight and I fight and I get to run away and run up the stairs at me neighbour and tell he what happen.
A boy then carry me to the hospital,” the woman had said from her hospital bed. Yesterday the woman’s condition deteriorated and she was moved to the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC).
The young woman’s sister, Alicia Browne, who had opened the door for the police said that the police only found one knife at the crime scene. The young woman, who only gave birth to a baby boy 12 days ago, said she had gone to the market and on her way back she was given the tragic news. At the time her baby boy and a one-year-old niece were in the house.
She said when she arrived she saw the police and a crowd at the scene and she opened the door with a key in order for the police to enter the house. “When the police went in the room I see they pick up one knife and put it in plastic bag them ent find no other knife. Me sister wouldn’t stab he, me sister is not like that, and all she fingers get cut up how she go stab he,” the young woman queried.
A younger sister of the woman, Anika, said that the man who took her sister to the hospital on a bicycle reported that he had seen the man at the door as he was riding away and he was willing to give the police a statement. The mother of Browne, Jacqueline Rodrigues said that the lawmen told her they found one knife and they were expected to take it to her for her to ascertain whether it was a knife from her home.
“But we only get one knife in this house and look it deh right here,” the young woman said yesterday afternoon.
The landlord who lives above the apartment, Lawrence Ferdinand, had told Stabroek News that the woman had sought his help, bleeding profusely. He had said the young woman rapped on his door and when he looked out he saw her holding her side and bleeding and she told him that her child father had stabbed her.
The man had also stated that the woman said she was afraid to go back downstairs even though he urged her to seek help to go to the hospital. He had to go downstairs with her and was armed with a cutlass and she went through the gate but he did not see Chung and only knew the man had died when the police came.
Browne had said she had told the man that it was over and he refused to accept it and threatened her constantly. Her sister had said that he would send her threatening text messages and one time even told her he would have killed the entire family. Yesterday the mother of Browne said her daughter told her nothing about the problems the two were having but she knew there were problems as her daughter never wanted the man to enter the house.
“Every time he come I would let he in the house but she would say ‘mommy don’t encourage this man here you don’t know wah he does do.’ And then me daughter now tell me when I ent deh home he use to come and if you hear the expressions he use to use and he would go in the bedroom,” the woman said yesterday.
She said she would have never expected Chung to commit such an act since as far as she knew he was not violent. She is praying that her daughter pulls through and in the meantime wants to know the whereabouts of her grandson, Justin, who was taken by Chung a few weeks ago.
Browne had told Stabroek News that she had allowed him to take the child, who is just over a year, as she wanted to get a job and could not cope with taking care of him and another child she has at the same time. (Oluatoyin Alleyene/Stabroek News)
February 19, 2009
Man kills self after stabbing ex-lover
Julius Chung
A 26-year-old woman is now hospitalised following a violent knife attack by the father of her child who later killed himself.
A stabbed, cut and bruised Dianne Browne said from her bed in Ward C of the Georgetown Public Hospital that she still feared for her life even though the man who attacked her, 44-year-old Julius Chung is no more.
It was a bloody scene at the Lot 40 Joseph Pollydore Street, Lodge, home yesterday where Chung bled to death on a mattress in one of the rooms around 11:30 am.
It was in that same room he launched the knife attack on the mother of his 13-month-old son, who valiantly fought for her life, escaped and sought help from her landlord who lives above their apartment.
From all indications, Chung, who had visited the home earlier in the morning, waited until no other adult was home before barging in. He kicked open the bedroom door and attacked Browne who was trying to conceal herself in the room. He attacked the woman in the presence of her 11-day-old nephew, whose mother had just left for the market, and her one-year-old niece.
When Stabroek News arrived at the scene yesterday the man’s body was still in the house. It was removed over an hour later by workers of the Lyken’s Funeral Home, as police officers were conducting their investigations. A bleeding Browne, hands covering the stab wound in her abdomen, was forced to hitch a ride on a bicycle to the Davis Memorial Hospital, from where she was transferred to the GPH.
‘Hug me’
Speaking to Stabroek News from her hospital bed yesterday Browne said she had told Chung that the relationship was over but he refused to accept it. She said the man threatened to kill her several times before and on one occasion he even said he would have killed her entire family. She said she ended the relationship around September last year.
Browne said Chung visited her home early yesterday morning in the company of a woman to collect some of their child’s belongings. She explained that he had taken the child to stay with someone since she wanted to look for a job and could not take care of the child. Browne explained that she has an older child who attends nursery school and it was hard on her so she allowed him to take the child. She said Chung, who had three older children, then left. However, he returned.
With tears rolling down her cheeks as she examined her bandaged fingers, Browne said her sister went out and she closed the door behind her, but soon after, she observed Chung opening the door; he had put his hand through the louvre window.
“When I see he opening the door, I run in me room and close the door and he come in the house and start telling me that he just want talk and I should open the door.” However, Browne said she was scared and she refused to open the door. She said the man, with whom she had had a relationship for just over two years, continued to beg her to open the door so they could talk.
“When I didn’t open the door, he kicked it open and he come and hug me and I say he trying to kiss me or something but then I feel like a stab in me back and then I know he had a knife.” Shaking her head in disbelief as she spoke, Browne told Stabroek News that she immediately started to fight with the man, “because I was trying to get the knife to throw it away.
“I really fight he. You see how me fingers cut up and so? I fight and I fight and I get to run away and run up the stairs at me neighbour and tell he what happen. A boy then carry me to the hospital,” the young woman said. Browne’s mother, Jacqueline Rodrigues, works as a nurse at the Davis Memorial Hospital but was not at work at the time since she had travelled to West Demerara on Tuesday to visit a sister.
‘Watching cricket’
Browne’s 71-year-old landlord, Lawrence Ferdinand, told Stabroek News that he became aware that something was amiss when the young woman ran up to his door bleeding profusely. “I was watching cricket when I hear this rapping on the door and when I open the door I see her bleeding and holding she side and she tell me how she child father stab she,” the man said. He said he immediately told the woman that she had to seek medical attention but she said she was scared to go back downstairs as her attacker was still there.
“So I go downstairs with she and I tell she to go out on the road to get someone to take her to the hospital,” Ferdinand said. “You see I had me cutlass on the steps, as I was weeding me yard [earlier] and I pick up the cutlass… If he had come outside when she passing, I woulda chop he,” the man said.
He said he had no idea that the man had killed himself until the police arrived on the scene and the door was opened and they were greeted with the sight of the man’s bloodied body. Browne’s blood formed a trail from Ferdinand’s door, down the stairs all through the yard to the gate. Ferdinand said Browne and her relatives moved into the apartment last year September.
‘Shocked’
Meanwhile, at Chung’s South Road home, his relatives expressed shock and disbelief at his action as according to them even though the couple might have been having problems they were unaware of the circumstances. One of Chung’s sisters said they had known Browne for years since she went to school with one of Chung’s siblings and used to visit the home as a young girl.
She said it was just over two years that the two started an intimate relationship and at one time they lived together at Kaow Island in the Essequibo. But they returned to the city last year August and Browne returned to her relatives, while Chung moved back with his family. The sister said Chung would still visit Browne. He never confided in them that they were having problems.
Chung had told his relatives that he had to take his child from Browne because she told him that she could no longer take care of the boy. Because there was no one, except his ill mother at home to take care of the child, he told them that he was going to leave the child with “some people.” He could not look after the child himself, as he worked nights and had a part-time job in the day.
He would give them regular updates on the child’s welfare and had even told them that the child had gone to spend the day in Berbice yesterday with his guardian.
When he left his home yesterday morning, he had told his mother that he was going to collect an unpaid debt and he would return home later. Family members said they were shocked when they were told of Chung’s death as he never exhibited any violent or suicidal tendencies.
‘Text messages’
Browne’s sister, Alicia Browne, said after her sister told Chung that it was over he would beg her and she told him to move on with his life. She said her sister showed her numerous text messages in which Chung threatened to kill her. Her sister had also told her that the man had threatened to kill her, their son and himself on many occasions.
She said when she left for the market yesterday morning she had no idea Chung was still around since he had left the house a while before. She was shocked when she returned and found a crowd in front of the house and Chung’s body in one of their rooms.
“I just happy he ent hurt any of the children,” the grieving young woman said as she held her little niece in her arms. She said even though Chung had threatened her sister she never believed he would have made good on his threats as he never appeared to be a violent person. Yesterday’s attack on Browne followed a bloody pattern for women this week as three were murdered and a teenager violently attacked.
Nekecia Rouse and Alexis ‘Keisha George were stabbed to death early Sunday morning in new Amsterdam, allegedly by an acquaintance of Rouse, while Port Kaituma resident, Deborah Allen, was hacked to death by her reputed husband the same morning and her 16-year-old daughter, Sherrian Allen chopped across the face. (Staff/Stabroek News)
Man commits suicide after stabbing reputed wife
A mother of one, nursing stab wounds, is in critical condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital following a quarrel with her reputed husband, Julius Chung, who turned the weapon on himself and stabbed himself to death.
Up to press time, Diane Brown’s condition was listed as critical. Diane’s sister, Alicia Brown, yesterday told reporters that about 11:30 hrs. they were all out when Chung visited their home and a heated argument ensued.
Julius Chung’s body being removed from the scene.
Ms. Brown, with tears in her eyes, said that when she returned home the door was ajar and she saw blood spattered all over the apartment.
She went into the bedroom and saw Chung’s bloodied body on the bed. It is believed that Chung turned the knife on himself after he stabbed Diane Brown.
“He was always threatening my sister and she was afraid of him,” she cried yesterday as she spoke to the media.
Ms. Brown said that after returning home, she ran up the steps to the landlord who telephoned the police and arranged transportation for her to the hospital. Pools of dried blood were observed on the landlord’s steps.
At the scene, police cordoned off the apartment as they waited for the a hearse to remove the body which was wrapped in a blue and white bed sheet. (Michel Outridge/Guyana Cronicle)
Teen nabbed at airport with seven kilos cocaine
Case points to collusion
The Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) yesterday arrested a 16-year-old drug trafficker with 7 kilos (15 lbs) of cocaine in his hand luggage. Sources close to the unit said the case was troubling for two reasons: the age of the trafficker and the collusion which would have been necessary to get him through the airport with that amount of cocaine.
CANU has been engaged increasingly in intelligence-led probes and it had been tipped off that a shipment would be passing through the airport yesterday. The sources say it was thought that the drugs would be packed in a suitcase but CANU was stunned to find that the drugs were stashed in a bag which simply contained a teddy bear and cloth.
The sources said that that signified that the trafficker would have been cleared through the scanner by a co-conspirator. Other-wise, the drugs would have been strapped to the body or concealed in some other way.
The mule was on his way to the US and this was said to be his first trip. Runs of this sort could potentially earn the mules around US$8-9,000 and this is why so many of them are willing to take the risk. Sources say there is evidence that airport staff have been letting traffickers through only to have some of them nabbed in New York and other places.
Recently, a brother and sister were apprehended in Trinidad with drugs strapped to their body and it was clear from investigations at Timehri that they weren’t scanned or searched at the airport. Investigations are continuing and the teen was in police custody last night. (Stabroek News)
February 18, 2009
Freed murder accused Karlene kneels and weeps with joy “I have been serving God, he has brought me thus far”
Karlene Alexander is set free.
Freed murder accused, Karlene Alexander, 42, who was on trial at the High Court for the murder of her reputed husband, Kenneth Harris, 49, shouted and wept with joy yesterday afternoon after a mixed jury at the Assizes found her not guilty of murder and manslaughter.
Praising God for her freedom, she shouted “ I have been serving God. He has brought me thus far. He has not left me and I will not leave him”. The verdict in relation to murder was unanimous, while the manslaughter verdict was a majority one, in the proportion of 11 to one.Following the verdict, presiding judge Mr. Winston Patterson told the freed woman that she was free to leave the dock. The woman with upraised hands ran from the dock gesticulating and shouting, saying thanks to the jury and her lawyer, Mr. Mark Waldron.
The Prosecution, led by Miss Dianna Boyan, had contended that on January 10,2006, the accused and her reputed husband had a row at their Prospect East Bank,Demerara home, when the accused stabbed the husband in the neck resulting in his death.
On the other hand, the accused had in a confession statement stated that the reputed husband was in the habit of beating her and that night he was in the process of beating her when she pelted a blow with a knife at him without intending to strike him fatally.
At her trial, she told the court that when she saw blood she realised that he was hurt and she hurried to get him to hospital. (George Barclay/Stabroek News)
Double murderer was likely invited into house - Sources
Alexis George Nekecia Rouse
Police in Berbice are still investigating the murders of the two women at Smythfield, New Amsterdam on Sunday and investigators say the killer appeared to have been invited into the house.
So far, five persons have been held for questioning.
The gruesome discovery of the remains of Nekecia Rouse, 25, and her sister-in-law, 18-year-old Alexis ‘Keisha’ George was made between 6:30 am and 7 am with wounds to their necks. Rouse’s body also bore stabs to the left ear and right shoulder.
Both women resided in the house where the stabbing took place but George’s body was discovered in a yard obliquely opposite - under a tree, braced on an old stove - while Rouse’s remains were found in the kitchen. They were both covered in blood.
An early-retired sergeant from the US Army, who was held on Sunday, is among the five persons who are being interrogated. He had been charged with murdering his Guyanese wife in Germany in October 2004. He was eventually acquitted of the murder in May 2007.
Rouse, reports said, had been involved with the retired sergeant until some six weeks ago when their relationship ended. Two other men, a traffic rank who owned a motorcycle and a minibus owner with whom she was reportedly involved are also in custody.
Reports are that neighbours did not hear any screams. However, a resident from the area said he was returning home around 3.40 am after dropping off passengers in Georgetown when he saw a white AT 212 Toyota Carina motorcar speeding out of the area. Police confirmed yesterday that they received the report about the car and said the owner is also in custody.
This newspaper learnt too that a woman woke up during the wee hours of Sunday and heard a door at the house slam shut. She looked out and saw a car parked near an empty lot close by. She also saw a motorcycle shortly after.
She did not realize that anything was amiss and went back to bed only to find out the following morning that the women were brutally murdered. There is a view that the person who committed the murder was invited into the house as there was no sign of forced entry. Reports are that the attacker must have also been an acquaintance because he had apparently removed his footwear before entering.
This view derives from the fact that the blood stains on the kitchen floor showed that the attacker was barefoot. The footprints also reportedly fitted those of a well-built person. This newspaper learnt too that the woman was recently pushed out of a bus and threatened by one of the suspects recently. Rouse’s mother June Joseph told this newspaper yesterday that she did not know the retired US army man or the other men her daughter was acquainted with.
She also said that her daughter never indicated to her that she had any problems. Her mother, a security guard said when she left for work at around 8:30 pm her daughter who was in a jolly mood told her she was going out for the night with her “girlfriends.”
Rouse, a part-time teacher at a primary school in New Amsterdam and a beautician at a salon also in the town later went out to a party with her friends. Reports are that a male friend dropped her home around 3 am. Joseph said that they are trying to make arrangements to inter the remains of the two women on Sunday. (Staff/Stabroek News)
February 17, 2009
Four suspects held in Berbice double murder
Women bled to death, PM finds
Alexis Nekeshia
The post-mortem examinations on the remains of the two women who were brutally murdered at Smythfield, New Amsterdam early Sunday morning proved that they died from shock and haemorrhage due to stab wounds.
Three more suspects were arrested yesterday, bringing the number in custody to four. Among them is an early-retired sergeant from the US Army, who was held on Sunday. He had been charged with murdering his Guyanese wife in Germany in October 2004. He was eventually acquitted of the murder in May 2007.
The gruesome discovery of the remains of Nekecia Rouse, 25, and her sister-in-law, 18-year-old Alexis ‘Keisha’ George were made between 6:30 am and 7 am. George who was found first had wounds to her neck, while Rouse’s body also bore stabs to the left ear and right shoulder.
Rouse, reports said, had been involved with the retired sergeant until some six weeks ago when their relationship ended. Both women resided in the house where the stabbing took place but George’s body was discovered in a yard obliquely opposite while Rouse’s remains were found in the kitchen. They were both covered in blood.
At the time of the discovery, Rouse’s four-year-old daughter, Crystal Stephenson, was in the house trying to answer calls from a cellular phone, while George’s daughter, one-year-old Omatoya Rouse was lying in a bed. They were both unharmed.
Rouse, a part-time teacher at a primary school in New Amsterdam and a beautician at a salon also in the town had gone out to a party with her friends the night before. Reports are that a male friend dropped her home around 3 am.
Her mother, June Joseph, a COPS security guard who was at work at Gafoor’s Wharf under the Canje Bridge, told Stabroek News yesterday that her daughter never indicated to her that she had any problems with anyone.
The woman said when she left home for work around 8.30 pm on Saturday her daughter was playing music and was in a jolly mood. She also told her mother that she was “going out for the night with her girlfriends.”
Describing her daughter as a very “friendly, jovial and pleasant person” with whom she got along well, Joseph said Rouse was hard-working and along with teaching part-time and cosmetology, she also worked at Nand Persaud International Communication and at Digicel.
Reports are that neighbours did not hear any screams. However, a resident of the area said he was returning home around 3.40 am after dropping off passengers in Georgetown when he saw a white Toyota 212 Carina motorcar speeding out of the area. He said the car almost collided with him and he had to pull in a corner. The man said he even looked around to see if anyone was chasing the car because of the speed it was moving with.
This newspaper learnt too that a woman woke up during the wee hours of Sunday and heard a door at the house slam shut. She looked out and saw a car parked near an empty lot close by. Shortly after, she looked out again and saw a motorcycle without a number plate. She did not realize that anything was amiss and went back to bed only to find out the following morning that the women were brutally murdered.
Dolly Joseph, the woman in whose yard George’s body was found had told Stabroek News that around 6.30 am her 14-year-old nephew was going downstairs when he saw a woman’s feet and ran back up and raised an alarm.
Upon checking, the woman found George’s bloodied body in a crouching position under a tree braced on an old stove. The police were contacted and arrived promptly at the scene and tried to gain entry to the house to check on the children but it was tightly shut. Rouse’s mother, June Joseph had told this newspaper that she got a call from her sister around 6.45 am that “me daughter-in-law get chop up.”
She arrived at the scene shortly after and saw George’s body in the yard. She then opened the front door with the keys and entered with the police not realizing that her daughter was also dead until the shocking and gruesome discovery was made in the kitchen. It is unclear how the double murder took place but police sources said that they are working on the theory that the prime suspect, the retired sergeant may have been lurking nearby waiting for Rouse when she got home.
They also suggested that George, who had been at home with the children, might have been awakened by the commotion and left her bed to investigate when she was attacked. Traces of blood were seen on the front stairs and on the street leading to the neighbour’s yard. She apparently was unable to scream for help owing to the wound in her neck.
Police said the backdoor leading to the kitchen was securely bolted and they believe the suspect might have shut the front door behind him. George’s reputed husband, Travis Rouse has been residing in Trinidad for the past year. She left her Angoy’s Avenue home to live with his mother last December. (Staff/Stabroek News)
February 16, 2009
Double murder rocks SmythfieldAlexis Nekeshia
Two women were discovered dead minutes apart at Smythfield, on the southern fringe of the New Amsterdam township, yesterday morning, and a retired Sergeant of the United States Army, who is the prime suspect, is in police custody assisting with investigations.
Dead are Alexis George, alias Keisha, 17, and Nekeshia Rouse, called Nicky, 25, both of Smythfield. Police in New Amsterdam responded to a call which alerted ranks that an identifiable woman, clad in her underwear, was found in a yard approximately 200 yards from the home she shared with her daughter and intended in-laws.
A senior police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the media that when ranks arrived at the scene at approximately 05:40 hrs, the woman was identified as Alexis George, the mother of a one-year-old daughter.
Following further investigations, attempts were made to enter the home which Alexis shared with Nekeshia ,who is her sister-in-law, but efforts proved futile. A telephone call was made to June Joseph, the mother of Nekeshia, who was on duty at the New Amsterdam Technical Institute as a security guard. On Joseph’s arrival, she opened the door and discovered the lifeless body of her only daughter.
Rouse’s body was found slumped in the kitchen, with blood spattered across the walls. The bloody foot-prints of the killer were on the floor. Eyewitnesses said the woman had earlier returned home from a Valentine Night party, in company with a named traffic rank of the Guyana Police Force. It was just before 04:00hrs.
However, sleuths are working on the theory that the killer might have entered the house, probably through the verandah door which was improperly secured, or could have gained access after an occupant had opened the door. There were no sign of forced entry. The detectives are of the opinion that after entry, the killer inflicted wounds on Nekeshia during which her jugular vein was punctured.
Alexis George , the officer said, who was awakened by the commotion, apparently attempted to be the peace maker, or had identified the killer, and she too had her jugular vein severed. In an attempt to escape from the scene, she fled down a flight of stairs, ran unto the roadway, and into a neighbour’s yard before collapsing. The fathers of both girls reside overseas.
Meanwhile, police related that the suspect in custody was the former lover of Nekeshia, a phonics teacher and beautician. However, the relationship soured over the past two months. Meanwhile, New Amsterdamers turned out in the scores to have a glimpse of the Alexia's body which was uncovered for almost four hours before being taken away by the undertakers.
But when Nekeshia’s body was removed from her one-storeyed, three bedroom house, witnesses cried openly for the young woman. A post Mortem examination is expected to be conducted today. (Jeune Bailey Van-kerick/Guyana Cronicle)
Port Kaituma woman chopped to death
Police are hunting for a man who allegedly hacked his reputed wife to death and chopped and injured his16-year-old step-daughter early yesterday morning. Dead is Deborah Allen, 38, of Port Kaituma, North West District.
Police reported that at about 05:00h yesterday, Allen and her reputed husband were returning home after a party when an argument arose. Upon arrival at home, Allen and her daughter went into a bedroom and locked it.
Police said that the reputed husband broke into the room armed with a cutlass and chopped Allen and her daughter. Allen was taken to the Port Kaituma Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival, while her daughter was air-dashed to the city and was admitted at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH). (Guyana Cronicle)
February 15, 2009
Evidence links Morgan to Roger Khan .....
..... and cocaine deliveries in the UK, Canada
US prosecutor
Peter Morgan Roger Khan
The prosecution in the Peter Morgan drug case has argued that his three pre-trial motions should be rejected, claiming it has evidence linking the defendant with cocaine delivered in the UK and Canada and with Roger Khan as well as other Guyanese in whom the US has expressed an interest.
The government has also put Morgan on notice that it plans to call expert witnesses who would testify about the street value of the cocaine he allegedly conspired to traffic in and about money laundering.
In response to a memorandum Morgan filed last month seeking to depose witnesses in England and Guyana rather than have them turn up to testify at his trial, the prosecution quoted from a US case in which the judge ruled against taking foreign depositions until and unless the defendant submits affidavits or declarations from each witness which allows the court to assess both the claims of unavailability and the materiality of the proposed testimony.
The 42-year-old Morgan is facing a three-count indictment which accuses him of conspiring to import, possess and distribute five or more kilogrammes of cocaine between December 2001 and August 2003.
He was nabbed in March 2007 in Trinidad where his lawyers said he had gone to visit relatives. However, he was in transit at that country’s airport when he was picked up by Trinidadian and US authorities. He was subsequently extradited on August 23, 2007 from Trinidad where he was represented by attorney-at-law Chris Mancini. His extradition came after he withdrew the last-ditch appeal he had made in the Port of Spain Appellate Court challenging it.
In his memorandum Morgan had said that the only reason he and his relatives travelled with large sums of foreign currency was because he benefited from favourable exchange rates using Guyana dollars to purchase foreign exchange which was then used to pay overseas suppliers of his company, Morgan Auto Sales.
He had said he wanted to use the testimonies of the owners and persons associated with his overseas suppliers to show that he was involved in legitimate business which had nothing to do with narcotics. In the memorandum filed through his lawyer, Alan Futerfas, Morgan had said that for almost 20 years he used market fluctuations to trade in currency for profit, as the unusual economic conditions in Guyana forced most businessmen in this country to pay vendors in other currency.
He had claimed that his business, which was established in 1991, utilised the New York account of Sabena Manufacturing established by his father, James Morgan at the JP Morgan Chase Bank in 1985. Since the establishment of that bank account, Morgan and his relatives made over 60 trips to the US carrying large sums of US and Canadian dollars and British pounds totalling millions of dollars, all of which were declared.
But the government said Morgan has failed to show that the witnesses are truly unavailable and he did not describe any effort that he made to have the witnesses testify at trial. Instead, the government said Morgan made claims without detail or proof, that two of the witnesses are too ill to travel and the remaining witnesses will not come because they live and work elsewhere. “This is inadequate to show unavailability,” the government said.
‘Material and Immaterial’
The government argued that the trial will focus on whether Morgan conspired to import and distribute cocaine in the US and whether he had a car business in Guyana before, during or after that time period was immaterial to the offences he is charged with. It was stated that based on the submissions Morgan has not identified any unavailable prospective witness who has any “material” testimony that relates to the charges.
And the government further argued that permitting Morgan to take the foreign deposition of a witness for the sole purpose of attempting to impeach a potential government witness does not demonstrate the existence of “exceptional circumstances” required by Rule 15.
The government said Morgan could testify about his company and he could also call witnesses in the US who could testify about the issues he wants his business associates in England to testify about, assuming they have any relevance.
The government pointed out that Morgan dealt with the person responsible for managing his US bank accounts, Sabrina Budhram, and although he did not mention doing business with vendors in the US the government had documents which showed that he imported trucks into Guyana from the US on behalf of drug accused Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan.
According to the government, the evidence to be presented at trial will show that David and Susan Narine, citizens of Guyana, hired couriers to carry drugs from Guyana to the US which resulted in several seizures at the JFK airport and numerous arrests.
“The evidence will also show that the Narines received dozens of kilogrammes of cocaine from the defendant; drugs supplied by the defendant were delivered to New York, as well as to Canada and the United Kingdom, and drug proceeds generated in the New York area were delivered to the laundered by the defendant’s sister Sabrina Budhram,” the court documents said.
The government said it anticipates introducing testimony from cooperating and law enforcement witnesses, subpoenaed and seized documents and intercepted telephone calls between Sabrina Budhram, her husband, Arnold, several confidential informants, some of whom were held while taking cocaine into the US. The Budhrams pleaded guilty to money laundering and while the husband received three years of probation Sabrina was sentenced to one year and a day in prison.
‘Skepticism’
The government said the court should view with scepticism Morgan’s claim that the witnesses are unavailable considering the nature of their relationships to him. It was pointed out that one of the persons who the defendant claims is unavailable has been working for him for the last then years and still works for him.
“It seems incredible that an employee would not travel to testify at the trial of his own employer, if he is asked to do so and his travel expenses paid,” the government said.
And the government noted that the defendant is asking for depositions to be taken from his own mother, stepfather and brother and it asked the court to consider the relationship of the witnesses to Morgan when considering their “unavailability.”
The other witnesses, according to Morgan, also have long-standing business relationships with his company and as such the government said it is unclear why they would not be willing to testify at his trial in order to preserve that relationship if Morgan asked them to do so and their travel expense are paid by him. The government stated that the one witness, who is apparently not related, employed or doing business with Morgan is a Trinidadian.
Morgan had said that the woman was hired by the Narines after an advertisement was placed in the newspaper for a sitter. But the government said Morgan was insinuating that the woman was hired by the Narines to be a drug courier and she is a Trinidadian it is unclear why she is residing in Guyana and is willing to be deposed for the defendant, considering her own exposure to criminal liability.
It was disclosed that the woman was arrested in Guyana attempting to board an out-bound flight to JFK airport on September 20, 2004 with approximately 16 kilogrammes of cocaine. The government said records indicated that the woman had made prior trips to the US and while is expected to testify about the “lies and misdeeds” of the Narines, who were both arrested in 2003.
The government suggested that the court should also inquire whether the woman also has some employment or other relationship with Morgan and/or his family so that the court can assess the claim that she is unavailable to testify the trial.
‘Unclear’
Meanwhile, the government argued that it is unclear whether it is even possible to take depositions in Guyana, let alone what the procedure would be. It pointed out that while the court in the Roger Khan matter authorised depositions in Guyana, with the understanding that the government could participate in the depositions by video conferencing and/or at the US Embassy the process is still pending as the Guyana High Court has not yet authorised it.
And defence counsel in Khan’s case recently informed the court that it appears that any deposition authorised by Guyana court would have to occur in the courthouse, which has minimal security (including no metal detectors) and it seems doubtful whether counsel for the parties would be permitted to participate in the questioning.
The government pointed out that it is also unclear whether Guyanese law even permits foreign lawyers to take voluntary depositions in Guyana without a court order and as a result, to date, no depositions in Guyana have been taken in Khan’s case.
In addition, the government asked the court to consider whether the safety of the US officials might be compromised by coming to Guyana to conduct depositions. It said that there recently has been an escalation of “ethnic violence in Guyana, the police are unable to control this crime and security issues are a real concern, particularly in a case like this one which has attracted the attention of the press in Guyana.”
‘No basis’
Morgan in his memorandum asked the court to suppress the wiretap of the ‘subject telephone’ which interception the government says was duly authorised by the May 8, 2003 and June 12, 2003 orders of District Judge Jack B Weinstein. The government argues that wiretap orders are presumed valid and a reviewing court must accord substantial deference to a judicial officer’s finding that probable case exists.
According to the government, the wiretap at issue was authorised to investigate both money laundering and drug trafficking involved the ‘subject telephone’, which was at the Budhrams house located at 14 Drew Avenue, Floral Park, New York. It said this is the home of Sabrina Budhram and her husband and the occupants were using the residence and telephone to facilitate drug trafficking and money laundering.
Disclosing some of the wiretap information the government said a confidential informant (CI-1), who was arrested at JFK on August 28, 2002 on a flight from Guyana with 12 kilos of cocaine said that he/she had previously imported 17 kilos of cocaine from Guyana in December 2001and that Sabrina and ‘Andrew’ in Floral Park laundered drug proceeds for Guyanese drug organisations including that involving a relative of Morgan.
The government said the statements made by CI-1were corroborated, in part, by the fact that US agents were able to locate the house described in Floral Park. The statements were also corroborated by surveillance of the residence in October 2002 during which time agents observed unusual patterns of activity.
Further corroboration of the informant statements were made by another informant (CI-5) the law enforcement officers did the relative present a completed currency reporting form. The relative stated that the money belonged to Sabena Manufacturing, a textile company, and Morgan Auto Sales. He also stated he was staying at Sabrina’s residence, an address shared by Sabena Manufacturing.
Sabena Manufacturing, the government said, did not appear to be a legitimate business even though TECS records indicate that over US$10 million had been declared by persons making trips on behalf of the company for which Sabrina Budhram was listed as secretary and vice-president in bank records. And a review of the company’s records for the period December 2001 to January 2003 showed significant regular deposits into the account and funds transfers from the account.
And another informant, CI-4, who was arrested at the JFK airport on or about February 4, 2003 on a flight from Guyana with six kilos of cocaine, told law enforcement officers that a known businessman, who has had run-ins with the law in Guyana, was supposed to pick him/her up at the airport and take him/her to his home.
The informant said he/she had previously made a successful cocaine smuggling trip for the businessman in May 2002 and that he/she previously had been taken to the businessman’s residence and that CI-4 saw that the businessman kept drug proceeds in shoe boxes.
CI-4’s statements were corroborated by the fact that he/she had the businessman’s address and phone number in his/her luggage at time of arrest and TECS records confirmed CI-4’s previous trip to Guyana on or about May 2002. Phone records also showed calls from the businessman’s residence to the Budhrams’ residence in May and June 2002.
Records also showed calls from the businessman’s residence to the Budhram’s residence on February 13, 2003, shortly before and shortly after agents observed an unknown female arrive and drop shoe boxes off at the residence, which agents believed contained drug proceeds based on the statements of CI-4 regarding how the businessman stored money.
According to the government, on February 14, 2003, agents observed a woman pick up a bag containing show boxes from the Budhram’s residence, deliver it to the residence of another man who had flown to Guyana on February 21, 2003.
‘Corroborate’
The government pointed out that while Morgan implies that the information provided by confidential informants was unreliable, the agents were able to corroborate information provided through other informants, surveillance, TECS records and bank records.
According to the government, in his motion, Morgan does not point to any material misstatement in the wiretap affidavit or argue that the affidavit does not set forth probable cause. The government said that even if Morgan Auto Sales was engaged in legitimate business in Guyana, the information is not material as it does not affect the determination that probable cause existed to believe that the occupants of the subject resident, including Sabrina Budhram, were using the telephone at the house to engage in drug trafficking and money laundering.
The government argued that while Morgan claimed that his business used the US account of Sabena Manufacturing to pay expenses, that did not mean that all of the money declared by travellers to the US for Sabena Manufacturing was attributable to the two companies. It was noted that bank records for Sabena Manufacturing did not appear to make any explicit references to wire transfers on behalf of Morgan Auto Sales.
In the wire-tap affidavit, the government said, law enforcement officials could not find any evidence of importing, exporting or manufacturing by Sabena Manufacturing, despite Morgan’s relative claims that the company was a textile company which imported raw materials into the US.
It was pointed out that Morgan did not even claim that Sabena Manufacturing had business of its own during the time period discussed in the wiretap affidavit that generated income, but argued that the agents should have assumed that legitimate business activity was occurring because the company’s bank records showed wire transfers to foreign banks.
The government said Morgan also claimed that the burden was on the agent to determine that the company was using its bank account to pay bills for his company and notify the court of the fact. However, the government argued that payments to legitimate vendors are not uncommon in money laundering schemes as the whole point of money laundering is to insert illegal proceeds into the banking system and disguise the origins.
And while Morgan in his motion cited problems encountered with using Guyana dollars to purchase goods abroad and the unfavourable exchange rates offered by banks in Guyana, the government said it simply illustrates “how drug dealers in Guyana, like those in Colombia, could take advantage of a black-market currency exchange to launder drug proceeds” with individuals paying Guyana dollars in Guyana in order to have drug dollars in the United States wired to accounts across the world to pay for legitimate expenditure.”
Expert witness
And the government said it anticipates calling a chemist from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) laboratory to testify regarding the weight and purity of narcotics seized in the case. It was disclosed that an expert witness will also testify that the amount of cocaine involved in the case is an amount consistent with distribution and not personal use.
The drug expert is also expected to testify about the monetary value of the amount of drugs involved in the case, including the wholesale value and the street value of such drugs. The government also anticipates calling an expert to testify regarding drug smuggling methods and practices and drug importation organisations.
A money laundering expert may also be called to testify by the government and the testimony the government intends to elicit from the expert will include general background information about the basic money laundering methods, how drug money is typically packaged and transferred from the narcotics traffickers to money launderers, and the types of documents and records generated by money launderers.
The government said that the experts likely will all be employees of ICE and/ or DEA, and their specific identities and qualifications will be provided after a trial date is selected. (Stabroek News)
President should meet Lindo Creek ‘eyewitness’ - Trotman
Alliance For Change (AFC) leader, Raphael Trotman yesterday said he hopes President Bharrat Jagdeo meets the man who said he witnessed the murder of eight miners at Lindo Creek and wants justice but is very fearful for his life, and that he provides the man with the highest security.
Speaking to Stabroek News Trotman said that the nation but more so the relatives of the slain miners need answers as to what would have happened at the camp and why. He says the president should meet the man and hear what he has to say as there is need for answers.
Last Sunday, Stabroek News reported that the man said he had witnessed what happened at Lindo Creek and that he wanted residents of Berbice River communities to help him get an audience with the President.
The residents to whom the man has spoken had told Stabroek News that he has abandoned his home out of fear and currently moves from place to place as he has no fixed place of abode. They had said he had been saying the same thing since last June soon after the incident occurred and that back then he had even gone to the police in the area, who did not believe him and ran him off warning him not to repeat what he was saying to anyone.
According to the residents, who are also still fearful, the man had said he wanted to be able to meet President Jagdeo in a public setting to tell his story, so that “if they kill me there the world know.”
According to several residents who have had contact with the man, his account of what occurred at Lindo Creek in early June 2008, has been and continues to be consistent. They said he told them that he was at Leonard Arokium’s camp at Lindo Creek with eight other men.
He related that he had gone off into the bushes “to ease his bowels” when he heard a hail of gunshots. He approached cautiously and from a safe distance, saw a group of approximately five men standing guard while a few others seemed to be questioning the miners as they beat them with sledgehammers; he could hear them hollering, he told the residents.
After a while, the men drenched the camp and the miners with fuel and then lit the camp and its occupants afire, he told the residents. He also claimed that the men stayed there, throwing more fuel whenever the flames began to quell. The man told the residents that the killers then left the area by boat after they were satisfied that the camp and the campers were completely burnt. He recounted to them that while he looked on he trembled with fear at the thought that he might have been caught and killed.
Meanwhile, both Trotman and PNCR leader Robert Corbin yesterday said they are not surprised that the investigation into the gruesome murders of the miners has stalled. According to Corbin, it is clear that there is some desire on the part of the administration to hide what really happened at Lindo Creek.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud earlier this week told Stabroek News that the Jamaican forensic team which took DNA samples from relatives of the miners since last August was still to give the Guyana police the results. He said they cannot move forward with the investigation until the remains of the miners are identified.
Last year, Commissioner Henry Greene had told Stabroek News that one miner was positively identified but he declined to name the miner.
‘Unsolved massacre’
Yesterday Trotman said it was “very, very distressing” that the Lindo Creek massacre has remained unsolved after so many months. The police declared that the men were killed by the now dead Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins and his gang but many have doubted this and camp owner, Arokium has publicly stated that his men were killed by members of the joint services, a charge that has since been denied by both the army and the police.
Trotman charged that there is a major cover-up going on so that the true facts of what happened at the Lindo Creek are not revealed. He recalled that Greene had publicly spoken about an eyewitness to the incident but to date there has been no further revelation about this person. Greene was asked on several occasions after he made the pronouncement about the eyewitness and he has declined to answer and one time hinted that the person might be in prison.
Greene had told reporters that the eyewitness had come forward on July 3, and given investigators a detailed account of what transpired at the camp. Greene had said that the identity of the witness could not be disclosed at that time.
According to Greene, “The eyewitness has said that the men were attacked by ‘Fine Man’ and his gang. They went there at night. Basically, they attacked the men. They tied them up, they cooked, etcetera, and then the next night they were shot and killed.”
He added that the eyewitness related that, after the shooting, one of the victims was still alive, and he was beaten with a hammer until he succumbed. “That is what we have. We have how they arrived there, we have all the details. That is all I can give you for now,” Greene had said.
According to Trotman the fact that Greene has provided no evidence of the alleged eyewitness meant that it was a “fabrication” or whatever eyewitness account was provided to the police lacked credibility.
He recalled that his party along with Arokium and his lawyer, Nigel Hughes, had offered to bring in a British pathologist to conduct DNA tests but the offer was not taken and instead a regional team was brought in and months after no sense of closure and justice has been provided to the relatives of the dead men.
Trotman said it is a travesty that so many months after no answers are being provided and he vowed that the Lindo Creek massacre was an issue his party would keep on the “front burner both locally and internationally.”
‘Marked reluctance’
Meanwhile, Corbin told Stabroek News that from the inception the government showed marked reluctance to accept the offer of assistance of an international pathologist and as such he is not surprised that the investigation has gone nowhere. He reiterated that the fact that the police have gone nowhere with the investigation clearly shows that there is a desire to cover up what happened at Lindo Creek.
Corbin said it was not only the Lindo Creek massacre that there seemed to be a reluctance to investigate but also the January 2006 “assassination” of Ronald Waddell. He pointed out that while there was progress in the assassination of former minister of agriculture Satyadeow Sawh, his siblings and his security guard and the massacres at Lusignan and Bartica, there was none in Lindo Creek and Waddell’s death.
“There are many unsolved cases and there is no assurance that they would be solved,” Corbin said. The opposition leader declined to comment on Greene’s announcement about an eyewitness as he said he would leave the general public to come to their own conclusion about that. He said he was concerned about the security environment of the country and it was unfortunate for citizens that security matters were not being evenly dealt with.
Shortly after samples were taken from the charred remains of the miners for DNA testing in Jamaica, in late July last year, Arokium had told Stabroek News that he was anxiously awaiting their return, since the results could tell a lot more about the massacre, for example, if remains were found that did not belong to any of the eight men who were thought to have died at Camp Lindo. He had hinted that a ninth man could possibly have been at the site.
Arokium said that he has since given up on ever finding out what happened at his mining camp as according to him “I can’t fight the system” This is also now the conclusion of most of the relatives of the dead men.
The camp owner, who lost his son Dax Arokium and his brother Cecil Arokium in the attack, had said he was also keen on finding out which of the members of the camp sustained the sledgehammer skull wounds as it would indicate who resisted the attackers. The other miners in the camp were Clifton Wong, Nigel Torres, Compton Speirs, Horace Drakes, Bonny Harry and Lancelot Lee. (Stabroek News)
February 11, 2009
Cops on remand over demanding with menace in drug case
Jason Odonogue
Four policemen who allegedly attempted to obtain money from a man in a drug case were yesterday remanded to prison after making an appearance in the George-town Magistrate’s Court.
Tyron Edwards, 38, John Blake, 24, Carl Ifill, 40, and Jason Odonogue, 23, all attached to the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) denied a charge of demanding money with menace with intent to steal when it was read by Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson.
It is alleged that on Wednesday last, the quartet demanded the sum of $500,000 for the purpose of stealing and protecting Gavin Shepherd in order that he may avoid prosecution for the offence of trafficking in narcotics.
Tyron Edwards
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud had told Stabroek News that the ranks were placed under close arrest after the allegation was made against them. Advice was subsequently sought from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on the way forward.
Several plain clothes and heavily armed uniformed officers as well as curious persons flocked the courtyard for the case yesterday. The quartet was expressionless during the proceedings which lasted for about five minutes.
Attorney-at-Law Peter Hugh represented Police Corporal Edwards whose address was given as 203 Prospect, East Bank Demerara. The defence counsel also entered an appearance in association with Attorney Patrice Henry for Blake, a Police Constable of 3086 North Ruimveldt, Ifill, also a Police Constable who resides at 92 Canterbury Walk, Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara (ECD) and Odonogue of 41 Sideline Dam, Nabaclis (ECD), also a Police Constable.
Hugh was unable to convince the court that pre-trial liberty ought to be granted his clients. In his submissions, Hugh said that “bail should be granted because of the fact that no money or drugs was found on the defendants.” He further stated, “My Worship, caution statements were not given by my clients, nor did the police themselves take any statement from the defendants in this matter.”
Carl Ifill
In making a case for bail to be granted, Hugh also said that “the defendants were not lined up in any identification parade nor did they have any confrontation with the virtual complainant. All you have before you, madam, are allegations, it’s a set up, the defendants pose no risk of flight and they all have minor children and I therefore ask that bail be granted,” Hugh concluded.
Police Prosecution Denise Griffith argued, however, that Hugh had his facts all wrong stating, “My worship, these are not allegations.” “When the dragnet was set two of the defendants made an escape bid and when apprehended $200,000 from the said $500,000 was found.”
She added also that when one of the defendants was being searched by police ranks another portion of the money fell out of his bulletproof vest.” Bail was subsequently refused and their matter was transferred to Court Three for February 16 for statements. (Stabroek News)
February 8, 2009
‘Eyewitness’ to Lindo killings wants to meet President
Sources
A man who said he witnessed the murder of eight miners at Lindo Creek and wants justice but is very fearful for his life, has been asking residents of some Berbice River communities to help him get a public hearing with the President.
Reports had previously surfaced that a 9th man had escaped the slaughter that day. The residents to whom the man has spoken said he has abandoned his home out of fear and currently moves from place to place as he has no fixed place of abode.
They said he has been saying the same thing since last June soon after the incident occurred and that back then he had even gone to the police in the area, who did not believe him and ran him off warning him not to repeat what he was saying to anyone.
According to the residents, who are also still fearful, the man said he wanted to be able to meet President Bharrat Jagdeo in a public setting to tell his story, so that “if they kill me there the world know.”
According to several residents who have had contact with the man, his account of what occurred at Lindo Creek in early June 2008, has been and continues to be consistent. They said he placed the murders as having occurred on June 4.
The residents said he told them that on the evening of June 4, he was at Leonard Arokium’s camp at Lindo Creek with eight other men. He related to them that he had gone off into the bushes “to ease his bowels” when he heard a hail of gunshots.
He approached cautiously and from a safe distance, saw a group of approximately five men standing guard while a few others seemed to be questioning the miners as they beat them with sledgehammers; he could hear them hollering, he told the residents.
After a while, the men drenched the camp and the miners with fuel and then lit the camp and its occupants afire, he told the residents. He also claimed, they said, that the men stayed there, throwing more fuel whenever the flames began to quell.
The man told the residents that the killers then left the area by boat after they were satisfied that the camp and the campers were completely burnt. He recounted to them that while he looked on he trembled with fear at the thought that he might have been caught and killed.
After the men left, he crept deeper into the forested area where he spent several days walking before coming upon an unknown community. From there, he told residents, he crossed the river and eventually found himself on the Kwakwani –Ituni trail, where he later joined a bus to Linden.
The man said that after a few days he went to Kwakwani and attempted to relate his story to the police there but was told that he was making up the story and must leave the area and not tell it any other person or “he gon get waste,” the residents said.
Commissioner of Police Henry Greene had told reporters in July last year, that an eyewitness had come forward on July 3, and given investigators a detailed account of what transpired at the camp. Greene had said that the identity of the witness could not be disclosed at that time.
According to Greene, “The eyewitness has said that the men were attacked by ‘Fine Man’ and his gang. They went there at night. Basically, they attacked the men. They tied them up, they cooked, etcetera, and then the next night they were shot and killed.”
He added that the eyewitness related that, after the shooting, one of the victims was still alive, and he was beaten with a hammer until he succumbed. “That is what we have. We have how they arrived there, we have all the details. That is all I can give you for now,” Greene had said.
Shortly after samples were taken from the charred remains of the miners for DNA testing in Jamaica, in late July last year, Arokium had told Stabroek News that he was anxiously awaiting their return, since the results could tell a lot more about the massacre, for example, if remains were found that did not belong to the any of the eight men who were thought to have died at Camp Lindo. He had hinted that a ninth man could possibly have been at the site.
The camp owner, who lost his son Dax Arokium and his brother Cecil Arokium in the attack, said he was also keen on finding out which of the members of the camp sustained the sledgehammer skull wounds as it would indicate who resisted the attackers. The other miners in the camp were Clifton Wong, Nigel Torres, Compton Speirs, Horace Drakes, Bonny Harry and Lancelot Lee. To date, only one miner has been positively identified by DNA and his identity has not been made public.
Meanwhile, a number of Berbice River residents who have knowledge of the hijacking of a bus en-route to Linden said the now deceased Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins, who the police said was responsible for the murders, was among the gang who hijacked the bus. They said the gang led the bus off the usual trail, relieved the passengers and driver of their cell phones, jewellery and cash. “Fineman tell we he ain’t gon kill we, cause he want we fuh get de message to de President that he ain’t responsible fuh de Lindo Creek murder.”
Others recounted the incident involving the capture of one of the wanted men along the trail. They said that a truck which was heading to Linden had stumbled on the man who was very hungry and weak. “De driver and de other men on the truck recognized that he was one ah dem who was wanted. Dey give him something fuh eat and tell he dey couldn’t carry him.”
That truck driver, the residents said, then tipped off the police who formed a road block, stopped the next truck which was heading out of the area and found the wanted man on board.
Another resident said there were several unanswered questions surrounding the Lindo Creek incident.
“We living here for so long and is the first time this community deh so tense. The only person we can trust to talk to is God. However we hope and pray that very soon the relevant authorities would do a true and proper investigation and get the truth of this whole thing.”
Many residents who did farming and logging have abandoned these activities and are still fearful to return to the areas. According to them, the incident has resulted in the breaking up of many families since the men have left in search of employment in other locations.
One woman, very emotionally, said, “Dis thing mess up me whole life. I gat 4 children, none ah dem ain’t guh to school fuh de term cause meh husband use to work de farm up de river and he get frightened and go away and me ain’t see he back since.”
According to the woman on several occasions her husband was beaten in the head and about the body by members of the joint services, who accused him of feeding the wanted gang and having information on their whereabouts. She said her husband filed several reports, but got no justice resulting in him leaving the area. Since the incidents in the area, several persons have migrated, fearful for the safety of themselves and their families.
The map at right shows Lindo Creek, where the eight miners were found dead and their bodies burned. It also shows the area’s proximity to the sites referred to in stories on that and other recent incidents involving an armed gang and the Joint Services. The green circle marks the Kwakwani junction, which is approximately a mile and a half from the river crossing and where the UNAMCO road begins.
It also represents 0km on the UNAMCO road. Kwakwani is on the right bank of the Berbice River. The red circle marks the UNAMCO checkpoint which is located at Itabru and is approximately 68 km along the UNAMCO road. The Joint Services set up a camp here following the Christmas Falls raid on June 6.
The yellow circle marks Lindo Creek, which is somewhere between 72 km and 76 km on the UNAMCO road. Rambo Camp (not shown on the map) is located 72 km along the UNAMCO road. At 76 km on the road there is a turnoff which leads in a south-western direction and approximately one and a half miles of difficult terrain along that turnoff is Leonard Arokium’s camp, where the eight miners were slaughtered.
The blue circle marks Christmas Falls, 91 km along the UNAMCO road. In order to get to the falls, one must turn off the UNAMCO road and journey for about four miles. Christmas Falls is at the Berbice River which runs to the right of the UNAMCO road. (Stabroek News)
February 5, 2009
FBI offers US$10,000 reward in Guyana murder case
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is offering a US$10,000 reward for information that can help convict the killer(s) of an American health care consultant in a room at the Pegasus Hotel here in December 2005.
The offer was announced yesterday by the U.S. embassy in Georgetown which said the FBI is working with the Guyana Police Force to investigate the murder of Hubert Daniel Thompson.
Thompson, 55, a resident of Staunton, Virginia, was murdered in his hotel room on December 9, 2005. The embassy said the FBI is offering a reward up to US$10,000 (G$2M) for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the murder of Thompson.
Anyone with information on the identification or whereabouts of the unknown suspect(s) is urged to contact the American Embassy at 225-1566.
FBI agents flew here after the murder to help local Police probe the case. Robbery was ruled out as the motive for the killing since a large sum of money, local and foreign, was found in the room where Thompson’s bloodied semi-nude body was found with a big wound on the back of his neck. The consultant was on his second visit to Guyana when he was killed, Christine Meyer, a spokeswoman at the U.S. Embassy in Georgetown, said after he was found dead.
A hotel maid reported to internal security that she heard unusual groaning sounds emanating from Thompson’s room. The security officer reportedly went to the room to investigate but was told by someone in local dialect that everything was fine. However, internal security became suspicious when they saw the “Please Do Not Disturb” sign still on the door of the room the following evening.
When several calls went unheeded, the room was broken into and Thompson’s dead body was discovered on a mattress on the ground, with the head bashed in, sources said.
Thompson arrived here on December 1, 2005 on a three-week assignment for John Snow Incorporated (JSI), a research and training institute contracted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to develop satellite (community-based) sites to store life prolonging antiretroviral drugs for people living with HIV/AIDS in Guyana.
Thompson’s travel to Guyana was funded by USAID to provide management support to the Ministry of Health’s programme to distribute HIV/AIDS drugs. JSI had said Thompson was “working to define organisational changes needed because of the introduction of a satellite warehouse”. It noted, too, that this work was part of the former U.S. President’s (George W. Bush’s) Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief.
Thompson had worked in more than 20 countries in Asia, Africa and the Near East. Within JSI, Thompson provided leadership for the development of the training module on the role of supervision in optimising staff performance. JSI said this module met with great success in the organisation and he was in the midst of planning additional in-service training. (Guyana Cronicle)
February 3, 2009
Sand Hills murder accused planning to leave Guyana
Victim’s relatives
Vanburn Allicock
Relatives of Vanburn Allicock who was fatally stabbed by a colleague at a Sand Hills, Demerara River poultry farm two weeks ago are calling on the relevant authorities to act swiftly to bring the perpetrator to justice as they have learnt that he is planning to leave the country.
The man’s nephew told Stabroek News yesterday that they recently received information that the man was closer to securing a visa from a local embassy, a process which had already started when the incident occurred. The relatives said that they have not approached either the police or the embassy with this information.
Contacted yesterday Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said there have been no new developments in the matter and investigators have no information on the attacker’s whereabouts. Asked about the family’s claim, that the man was about to flee the country, Persaud said he was unaware of that.
The relative further said that the attacker was a “grumpy” person and was very jealous of the privileges Allicock was allowed to have on the farm. This is what apparently started the argument on January 20. Allicock, according to reports, walked away but was pursued by the attacker who stabbed him in the region of the heart.
He was subsequently pronounced dead on arrival at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre. So far statements have been taken from at least four eye witnesses to the incident. (Stabroek News)
