June 26, 2009
Two Castello men shot
Gunmen rode up on scooter, bike
Two Castello Housing Scheme residents are now hospitalized following two shooting incidents that occurred in the city last night.
Wayne Richie, of Lot 4 Castello Housing Scheme, was last night rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) after being shot in his abdomen. The shooting occurred at Shirley Field Ridley Square, where Richie had gathered with some friends.
An eyewitness told this newspaper that shortly after 9:00 pm four men approached Shirley Field Ridley Square – two on a scooter and two on a bicycle. According to this witness, after making some enquiries, the men approached Richie.
Reports are that Richie and one of the men began talking during which an argument developed. Reports are that Richie was in fact walking away when he was shot by the man with whom he had been speaking. The gun was reportedly hidden in a black plastic bag that the gunman was carrying. Richie was reportedly shot in the left side of his abdomen. The men subsequently escaped on the bicycle and scooter.
The man who shot Richie was reportedly the pillion rider on the scooter. Reports are that the 42-year-old Richie was acquainted with the gunman. When this newspaper visited the area where the incident occurred last night, residents confirmed that an incident had occurred but said that they had no specific details. Meanwhile, in the second incident, 30-year-old Jason St. Hill was shot during a robbery and he is hospitalized at the Woodlands Hospital.
St. Hill of Lot 25 Castello Housing Scheme was shot in his left groin and was admitted to the Woodlands Hospital and is in a stable condition. Relatives were tight-lipped and would not comment at the hospital last night. However, this newspaper learnt that St. Hill and a cousin were “hanging out” not far from his home, where the incident occurred shortly after 9pm.
The cousin was reportedly wearing a lot of jewellery and this is what attracted the gunman. During the course of the incident, St. Hill was shot. He was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital but then taken to the Woodlands Hospital after relatives said that they public hospital was taking too long to treat him.
He was treated and admitted to the hospital. Police are investigating both incidents and whether they are linked. (Gaulbert Sutherland and Mark McGowan/Stabroek News)
June 23, 2009
Ex-cop to be charged with rape today
The police said yesterday that they would charge an ex-officer today, several months after he allegedly brutally raped and repeatedly traumatised a teenage girl, who was driven to attempt suicide on Saturday.
In a press release issued yesterday evening in response to an article published in the Sunday Stabroek, the police said the “matter was investigated and the file forwarded for legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions [DPP]. The file was returned to the police with advice from the DPP to conduct further investigations in order to clarify some issues.”
The release said the file was returned to the DPP and then sent back to the police and “the suspect will be charged” today. Contacted earlier yesterday, the mother of the 18-year-old girl, who was 17 at the time of the rape in October last year, said the authorities appeared to be constructing the case only yesterday. She said the police had asked her again yesterday for information that had been previously submitted.
The mother of the teenager, who met a senior police officer yesterday, left Police Headquarters skeptical. “They are asking us for dates… They ain’t sure when the incident happen and so on though they already had statements. We have to make contact with them and provide this information again,” the woman related yesterday.
She said that the police told her yesterday that the case file was not in their possession and was with the DPP. She said the senior officer informed her that the police were awaiting word from the DPP, but that they were also conducting “further investigations” into the matter.
Meanwhile, Stabroek News was reliably informed that the case file was returned to the police since March 30, with advice to charge the man involved. The file, reports stated, has been sitting at the Brickdam Police Station since then.
Further reports also indicated that DPP Shalimar Ali-Hack had cause to write a letter to the police complaining about the conduct of a police officer investigating the matter and she recommended that the matter be addressed at the Office of Professional Responsibility.
This newspaper was also informed that the matter was brought to the attention of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security and that officers there held several counselling sessions with the teenager.
According to sources, on December 18 last year the ministry wrote to Commissioner of Police Henry Greene about the matter and attached the report of a medical examination of the teen. A response from the commissioner on December 23, only acknowledged receipt of the letter. Social workers at the ministry played no further role in the matter but continued counselling the teen and assisted her in writing her Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate exams.
Sources said yesterday that since the report of the teenager’s suicide attempt was published in the Sunday Stabroek, senior police officers were propelled into action. But the teen’s mother struggled to be optimistic yesterday saying at the hospital that the police did not update her with respect to any aspect of the case, except to say that they were conducting further investigations.
Since her main concern is her daughter’s health and mental stability, the mother said, she left the meeting with the senior police officer thinking only of her child. She said the family still wants justice and she will provide the police with the dates they need with the hope that it would help the case. She said too that since the story appeared in this newspaper, the man has disappeared from his home.
The 18-year-old girl was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital on Saturday following an attempt to end her life after becoming frustrated at investigations into a rape ordeal. Her condition had improved considerably yesterday and she is expected to be discharged tomorrow.
The young woman had ingested a dose of rat poison, commonly called ‘blue rice’. She was taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre after ingesting the poison but was subsequently referred to the GPHC after doctors at Diamond determined that her condition was too serious. (Stabroek News)
June 21, 2009
Talbot, other suspect cleared of New Amsterdam double murder
Tyrone Talbot
Tyrone Talbot and another suspect in the New Amsterdam double murder had their names cleared on Wednesday after police received results from blood samples they had sent for testing in Georgetown.
Talbot, who received a letter stating that he was no longer a suspect in the crime, which was committed in February this year, said he was relieved as he “did not want to leave Guyana with anything hanging over my head”.
Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, the early-retired officer in the US Army said he believes in God and “God has vindicated me and once again. My life is my life – not that it wasn’t all along.” But he said he “didn’t need the police to say that I was not involved [in the crime] but I am glad that they finally acknowledged it even though that would not give me back what I lost.”
Police had also conducted tests on a car belonging to the other suspect, Jermaine Davis and his name was cleared as well after nothing incriminating was found against him. His car which was held at the New Amsterdam Police Station has been returned to him. Relatives of both men have uplifted money that was posted for them as station bail. However, Talbot said he is still to receive his cellular phones as well as other personal belongings.
On February 15, Nekecia Rouse, 25, and her sister-in-law, 18-year-old Alexis ‘Keisha’ George of Smythfield, NA were discovered brutally murdered. Their bloodied bodies were discovered between 6.30 am and 7 am. Both bodies had wounds to the neck. Rouse’s body also bore stabs to the left ear and right shoulder.
George’s body was discovered first in a crouched position under a tree, braced on an old stove in a neighbour’s yard obliquely opposite the house where Rouse was found. The women’s two young children were found in the house when the discoveries were made. From all appearances the attack occurred in the house but George somehow managed to escape despite her injuries.
Rouse was found lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen. Investigators had collected items with suspected bloodstains as well as samples from bloodied footprints at the scene. These were forwarded to their counterparts in the city to conduct laboratory tests.
A senior police source in Berbice had indicated that while investigators were awaiting the results, there were several theories that they were working on. The officer had said that all leads were being followed and that the investigation will continue until the police were satisfied that charges should or should not be laid.
Three other suspects who were held following the gruesome discovery were later released. However Talbot said based on information he had received, those persons along with those who “brought information to the police” that caused him to be arrested should be questioned further.
While he was not pleased with the way some officers handled the investigation, he complimented Commander of ‘B’ Division, George Vyphuis for “doing a good job” and said the public should give him their support. (Stabroek News)
June 20, 2009
Man charged with murdering ‘Bare Root’ woman
Sharmin McKay 
Marlon Braithwaite
Marlon Braithwaite, the man who allegedly stabbed his ex-girlfriend Sharmin McKay causing her death, appeared before the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
Braithwaite, of Buxton, East Coast Demerara, was not required to plead to the indictable charge of murder when it was read to him by Magistrate Sherdell Isaacs.
It is alleged that on June 10 at Bachelor’s Adventure Backlands (Bare Root) the accused repeatedly stabbed McKay inflicting wounds that resulted in her death on Monday.
Magistrate Isaacs remanded Braithwaite to prison and he next appears in court on July 17.
McKay was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) on June 10 by neighbours. The woman had sustained multiple stab wounds and shortly before her death had alleged she’d been forced to swallow kerosene by the accused.
The 32-year-old woman was a patient of the hospital’s High Dependency Unit until last Saturday morning. McKay was transferred to GPH’s Female Surgical Ward where she succumbed to her wounds on Monday.
June 15, 2009
‘Last chance’ was fatal for La Jalousie victim
As domestic violence casualties grow
Omwattie Kallicharran
About a month before she was brutally slashed to death by her former partner, Omwattie Kallicharran and her relatives had made the last of a long list of reports to the police about his threats.
He was later arrested but begged police and with the family’s consent they decided to give him a chance. “But me nah been know this woulda been de outcome, he beg and we say give he a chance even de police beg fuh he,” Ramnaresh Ramdhan, the brother of the dead woman told Stabroek News recently.
There was a similar sequence of events with another West Demerara woman who was knifed to death on Friday at Cornelia Ida allegedly by her reputed husband.
Krishandai Singh
Kallicharran was killed last Tuesday at Canal Number Two by her former reputed husband Vishnudat Tajram, from whom she had been separated for almost two years. Afterwards, he turned the knife on himself and ingested a poisonous substance and died the following morning at the Georgetown Public Hos-pital Corporation (GPHC).
The woman’s brother and her mother said they went with her to make several reports at both the Den Amstel and Vreed-en-Hoop police stations, following threats by the man. The man had also threatened repeatedly to take the life of the couple’s four-year-old son and reports about this were also made.
According to Ramdhan, the last report was made after Tajram drove up in front of their La Jalousie, West Bank Demerara home with others in the car and threatened them. He said they made reports to both stations and visits were made to the man’s home by police officers and he later turned himself in at the Den Amstel police station. “He beg and even de police beg fuh he and we say fuh de child sake give he a chance and now look wah happen,” the man said.
Omwattie Kallicharran
A senior police officer in ‘D’ Division could not confirm how many reports the family had made to police but stated that one of the officers investigating the murder-suicide confirmed the recent report about the family not pursuing action against the man.
Police sources noted that this is a major difficulty the police are constantly faced with when it comes to domestic violence cases, although they are most times blamed for not taking the necessary action.
Last Friday’s stabbing to death of Krishandai Singh allegedly by her reputed husband Ganesh Narine at their Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara home was another example of the difficulties faced by the police.
The police in a release stated that on May 26 Singh had made a report to the police of an assault committed on her by Narine. He was arrested and charged on May 27. He appeared before Magistrate Fazil Azeez at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate Court but Singh then indicated that she wanted no further action. The magistrate then placed Narine on a bond to keep the peace for two years. Less than a month later he is now in custody over the murder.
‘Best interest of the woman ignored’
Ganesh Narine
Despite the difficulties the police face, Karen De Souza of Red Thread in an invited comment told Stabroek News that the Domestic Violence Act is clear and that is for the police to always act in the best interest of the woman and to protect them.
“The law is very clear, it gives the police wide power to apprehend and to always look at the safety of the woman,” De Souza said, while noting that she did not know the specifics of Kallicharran’s case.
Generally, De Souza added, the police do not use the law to the advantage of the victim. However, she pointed out that while there are situations where the police can use their discretion this should not be done in Georgetown and its environs. She said discretion could be used in the interior locations where there are not regular court sittings.
Meanwhile, De Souza is of the opinion that while there has been training for police officers they are not using it effectively. She also questioned whether there is a police officer who would have undergone training on domestic violence at every police station.
“Something else needs to be done when it comes to police addressing domestic violence, something needs to change maybe in the structure of the force … there needs to be at least one police officer with domestic violence training at each station,” she said.
Recently Assistant Police Commissioner Clinton Conway had said domestic violence remained a front burner issue at all divisions and that the force was working to put more measures in place to deal with it.
‘Police training’
Vishnudat Tajram
Conway, who is also the Guyana Police Force’s (GPF) training officer at the Felix Austin Police College, had said several officers had been trained locally and overseas to deal with domestic violence.
According to him since the start of the year 498 ranks including 145 recruits had been trained to handle such cases and station officers who would be the first responders, were also being trained.
The Government Information Agency (GINA), which had quoted Conway, had also said private rooms are also being built at stations to encourage victims to report this type of crime.
At the same time, Conway had pointed out that the force was faced with the problem in convincing victims to follow through with reports. He had pointed out that many of them refused to provide the evidence needed to take the alleged to perpetrator to court. Conway had said too if victims refuse to pursue the matter there is not much the police can do.
“It might start with a small assault and later on will increase; it may end up in murder or other serious offences. We feel that if we deal with the minor matters there won’t be opportunity for the major ones [to occur],” he had said.
Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand in an interview earlier this year had said that domestic violence will continue to be a major issue in Guyana which was not likely to go away if women fail to report threats or “the slightest attack against them” because of how dire the consequences could be. The entire issue of violence against women will remain a tremendous challenge if women do not adopt a pro-active approach, Manickchand said, underscoring the need for greater awareness and to some extent, personal responsibility.
Last year, head of the ministry’s Domestic Violence Unit Geetanjali Geer told this newspaper that the policy can only work if the police force plays an active role. She had said the unit recognises the role of the force in tackling domestic violence, but noted that the police have to do more.
In November last year, President Bharrat Jagdeo approved $15 million for the campaign to eliminate domestic violence. This disclosure was made during a consultation on the issue, hosted at Office of the President. Roughly 25 organisations across several segments of society, including religions, trade unions, the private sector, the Guyana Bar Association and the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers attended the session, which aimed to develop a strategic approach to address domestic violence.
‘Growing list’
Singh and Kallicharran are the latest in a growing list of women murdered in domestic violence incidents.
Last month, Eunice Charlie, 55, of Waramit Farming Area, Awaruwaunau Village, South Rupununi and 31-year-old Gertude Edwards of Ithaca were both murdered, allegedly by their respective partners. On March 31, Pamela Mangru, 39, was stabbed three times in the throat and slashed about her body. She subsequently bled to death.
Her alleged attacker and reputed husband Devon Limerick has since been charged with her murder. On March 12, Savitrie Arjune of Lot 382 Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, was stabbed to death by her former reputed husband. He escaped and is still to be apprehended.
In February, Deborah Allen, 38, of Port Kaituma, North West District, was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital after being chopped by her reputed husband. Her teenaged daughter was chopped across the face and spent several days in the Georgetown Hospital.
That same day, two women, Nekecia Rouse, 25, and her sister-in-law, Alexis George, 18, were slashed to death in New Amsterdam. Their attacker is still being sought. (Stabroek News)
June 12, 2009
Ex-cop Belfield wanted over North West double murder
Two others in custody
Sean Belfield
Police yesterday issued an arrest warrant for a former bodyguard of drug trafficker Roger Khan in connection with the grisly slaying of two men in the North West District in March.
The warrant identified former policeman Sean Belfield, called ‘Buck-up,’ as being wanted in connection with the murders of Romeo De Agrella, 41 and Clint De Agrella, 20, whose bodies were found with gunshot wounds at the ‘Iron Punt’ Foreshore, North West District.
Stabroek News understands that two other men, including another close associate of Khan, are in police custody and will be charged shortly with the murders. According to police, Belfield is 29, 5’7”, and is dark in complexion. He is self-employed and his last known addresses are Lot 83 Garnett Street, Newtown, Kitty; Lot 23 Queen Street, Kitty and Henrietta, Essequibo Coast.
The decomposing remains of the De Agrellas, of Grant Strong, Hope, Lower Pomeroon River, were found days after they failed to return home. A post-mortem examination revealed that they died from multiple gunshot wounds. Crime Chief Seelall Persaud had told Stabroek News that the men’s murders were drug-related.
Clint De Agrella Romeo De Agrella
Police, in a statement, had said that investigations have revealed that the victims had left Venezuela and after not returning as expected they were reported as missing on March 22.
The statement said their bodies were found with gunshot wounds while their boat bore bullet holes. It was recovered without the outboard motor engine. The boat was found by the occupants of a passing passenger vessel, overturned in the Waini River. It was subsequently pulled ashore.
Belfield is no stranger to the public and he became known back in December 2002 when he, Khan and Haroon Yahya were held after the discovery of sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment and a high powered arms cache in a pick-up at Good Hope, East Coast Demerara.
At the time of their arrest they had told law enforcement officials that they were in search of Shawn Brown and the other prison escapees who had fled the Camp Street prison earlier that year. The trio was later charged with possession of arms and ammunition but the case against them was subsequently dismissed by the late magistrate Jerrick Stephney at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court the following year.
In February 2006, Belfield’s then four-year-old daughter, Mackenzie ‘Tiffany’ Belfield, had been reportedly kidnapped from the Kingston Nursery School. The child was later returned to her parents’ residence at 105 Lamaha Gardens, Georgetown, by unknown persons in a motor vehicle. A few days later, then Commissioner of Police, Winston Felix at a press conference labelled the kidnapping as being staged. “It was a staged kidnapping; I am making a clear statement.
There is an abundance of material before us which suggests that, and they can come out and attack me if they want, but what is on the ground here is firmly set,” Felix said.
In June that same year, Belfield was held along with Khan and former policemen Paul Rodrigues and Lloyd Roberts in neighbouring Suriname, after a cocaine bust. Khan was expelled from that country and intercepted by US officials en route to Guyana, Belfield and the others remained in Suriname for an extended period.
They were later deported to Guyana and pleaded guilty on the charge of illegal departure and were fined $20,000 each at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court. They were accused of departing by sea between June 15 and 16, 2006 at Springlands, Corentyne from a port not authorised for such departures.
Anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of Belfield is asked to contact the police on 225-6411, 225-2700, 226-2917, 225-8196, 226-1333, 225-2722 or 911 or the nearest police station. (Stabroek News)
June 10, 2009
Mother of one allegedly knifed to death by reputed husband Suspect drank poison, turned knife on himself
Vishnudat Tajeram.and Omawattie Kallicharran,
A 27-year-old mother of one was knifed to death by her reputed husband yesterday afternoon.
Up to press time, the suspect was still a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH). Dead is Omawattie Kallicharran, called Reshma, of 31 La Jalousie Estate, West Coast Demerara.
The woman’s mother, Parbattie, told the Guyana Chronicle that her daughter left home about 11hrs. to collect her passport from the Passport Office in the city.
“The next thing I know, her reputed husband telephoned and told my son that they are in Canal Number Two Polder, and he killed my daughter,” she cried. The 55-year-old woman added that her daughter was expected at the Passport Office but never got there. It is believed that she was forced into a taxi and taken away to Canal Number Two Polder, West Bank Demerara.
The grieving mother said that her child was killed in the most brutal manner at the home of her reputed husband’s sister. The woman said that the relationship soured shortly after they got together. Her daughter was abused often and many times she came back home.
Kallicharran sustained a slashed throat and numerous stab wounds to her body and was pronounced dead on arrival at the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH).
The suspect, Vishnudat Tajeram, 35, of 154 New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop, also on the West Coast Demerara, had drunk poison and stabbed himself in the neck after assaulting his wife, and is in a critical condition at the hospital.
He is attached to a bakery as a salesman/driver and did not show up for work yesterday. The couple has a four-year-old son and separated about a year and a half ago. Distressed relatives yesterday told this newspaper that Tajeram left home for work and seemed upset.
“He is a quiet person who did not discuss his problems with us and we do not know why he did that to his wife,” relatives explained. They too were shocked when they received the news of Kallicharan’s death.
Police said that they have launched an investigation into the murder which occurred at about 13:00h yesterday at South Section, Canal Number Two Polder, West Bank Demerara.
Police said three knives, one of which was blood-stained, were found at the murder scene. (Michel Outridge/Stabroek News)
June 9, 2009
Another pit bull attack in the city Pit bulls have struck again.
This time, they have mauled a 45-year-old man at the corner of High and Leopold Streets, Charlestown, in the city. Reports are that the victim, Mark Greenidge, also called Markie, (no address given) was walking along the road when two pit bulls dogs from that area pounced on him, threw him to the ground and began tearing away at him.
He was rescued by a passing police patrol who took him to the Accident and Emergency Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital. He was given emergency treatment then admitted to the male medical ward. The Chronicle was unable to ascertain who is the owner of the dogs.
During last year, at least five persons, one of whom was killed in the process, came under attack by vicious pit bulls. Most of the dogs had been left unattended and unchained.
Those who came under attack were a 54-year-old miner, Lennox Wade of North Ruimveldt, who was jogging early one morning; a security guard of Ogle who was attacked and killed by the dogs while on his way to work; a head teacher, and at least two destitute men, one of whom was picking fruits in an open yard when he was attacked and badly disfigured by the pit bulls.
These attacks were fiercely criticised by concerned members of the public who felt that it was irresponsible for owners of such vicious dogs to allow them to get out onto the roadways where they pose a serious threat to people’s lives, and can attack helpless children as well. They expressed the view that the dogs should be ‘put to sleep’ if their owners do not keep them chained. (Shirley Thomas/Guyana Cronicle)
June 8, 2009
Shooter should be charged –
mother of dead chain snatcher
Gavin Paul
The mother of twenty-year-old Gavin Paul, who was fatally shot after he snatched a chain from a woman on Saturday, says the shooter should be charged. Stabroek News understands that Paul was told to “freeze” by the firearm holder but he chose to continue to run after he saw a crowd advancing towards him and he paid with his life.
The shooter was in the vicinity of Alexander Street and North Road when Paul snatched the chain off the neck of Alana Butcher. The young woman was walking along North Road when Paul accosted her from behind and said, “You wearing all this gold and walking alone?”
When she turned around to face Paul he immediately grabbed her gold chain but Butcher said she refused to give up the chain without a fight and she tussled with Paul. The two fought and the young woman ended up ripping Paul’s jersey off and he slipped away and ran with the chain.
According to reports reaching this newspaper as the man ran off the shooter told him to “freeze” and he stopped for a while and looked at the man with the gun but within a few seconds he decided to continue running because a large crowd was closing in.
It is not clear if the man was shot immediately after he ran off or if the shooter followed him as he scaled fences along Robb Street in his bid to escape. In the end he collapsed on Robb Street in front of the New Court Yard and died writhing in pain in the rain from a gunshot to his back. Even though there was a large crowd on the scene no one took the young man to the hospital and some continued to grill him about the chain as he cried out in agony. His body was left lying in the rain for hours before it was finally removed.
Yesterday the man’s mother, Winola Baptiste, said the man who shot her son should be charged as he had no right to shoot him in the back. She said they have been given information on the identity of the man and plan to visit him.
“He ent had to shoot he in de back he coulda shoot he in the foot or something…” a female relative of the man lamented yesterday at his Hill Street, Albouystown home.
According to relatives Paul from all indications was given a serious beating before he was shot as there were marks on his body. They said that they observed what appeared to be cutlass brands on the man’s body. A man, who said he was cleaning his yard when Paul attempted to hide on his property, had chased the snatcher down the road armed with a cutlass.
“Dem beat he why dem couldn’t just hand he over to the police?” Paul’s mother questioned. She along with other relatives asked what became of his trousers as he was just dressed in his briefs when he breathed his last. “Is like dem strip he, beat he and then shoot he but he still manage to run before he fall down,” a relative said.
They said while what Paul did was wrong he should have been handed over to the police and the justice system instead of being shot in the way he was. Baptiste said Paul had dropped her to church on a bicycle and before she walked in he told her he was going home because it appeared as if it was going to rain.
“I look at he and I don’t know why but he face just look kind a strange like and I ask he if is home he going and he say yes. But when my cousin come and call me out a church I just know is something happen to me son,” the woman said.
Asked if she was aware that her son was involved in robbing people the woman did not deny. “To be honest he pick up with this boy who robbing people fuh years and who grandmother spend nuff money on to keep he out a jail.
Is since he pick up with this boy he start doing dem things,” the woman said. She said she spoke to her son several times and even sent him to St Lucia to get him away from the environment but he returned recently and she was making arrangements for him to return.
At one time the young man worked with relatives clearing containers and from time to time he would go on ships but when he struck up a friendship with the young man he stopped working. “I use to tell him stop liming with de boy and is not the first time somebody dead liming with this man. Another boy dead almost just like how me son dead and this man still living,” the woman lamented.
It was this friend who went to Paul’s home and called him and he quickly put his jersey on and left. That was the last time his relatives saw him alive. A post-mortem examination is expected to be performed today while his relatives are hoping that the man who pulled the trigger would be brought to justice. (Stabroek News)
June 6, 2009
Murder of Corentyne businessman… Killers grabbed millions
Three suspects held
Dead: Fazal Hoosein
Police at Springlands have detained three men for the murder of businessman Fazal Hoosein, who was abducted, slain and dumped in the Corentyne River on Wednesday.
It is suspected that they are a part of the gang of five masked gunmen, who snatched Hoosein from a boat that was returning from Suriname.
Kaieteur News understands that police in Suriname have also detained a boat captain, but it is unclear whether they believe he manned the boat the gunmen used.
Pointing to robbery as the primary motive, sources close to the slain man said that the gunmen made off with a bag containing millions of dollars that Hoosein was carrying at the time.
However, some say that the man had no bag. Instead, he reportedly had the money strapped to his person. Kaieteur News was told that the businessman traveled regularly to Suriname to sell gold.
There is speculation that the killers had Hoosein under surveillance in Suriname, while he was conducting one such transaction, and trailed him even as he was heading home. Hoosein’s relatives have declined to speculate on a motive for the killing.
A police official confirmed that investigators from Suriname visited Guyana yesterday to discuss the case with their Guyanese counterparts. They have since departed. According to reports, Hoosein and nine other passengers were returning from Suriname at around 17:45 hrs on Wednesday, when five masked men, bearing high-powered rifles and handguns, approached them in another boat.
The gunmen reportedly fired four rounds in the air, ordered the passengers to lie flat in their vessel and relieved them of their mobile phones. They then forced Hoosein to accompany them in their vessel. Hoosein’s bound body was found the following day about four miles east of the Number 78 foreshore, which is also a short distance from the Suriname foreshore.
A relative said that the corpse was entangled in a seine and that Hoosein’s hands and legs were bound. There were also marks of violence on his upper body. An autopsy is likely to be conducted on the victim today. (Kaieteur News)
June 5, 2009
Guyanese businessman slain, dumped in Corentyne
Gunmen snatched him from boat
Less than a day after being grabbed by five hijackers from a Surinamese “back track” boat, the body of a 44-year-old Guyanese businessman was fished out of the Corentyne River yesterday.
Fazal Hoosain, a well-known businessman of Number 69 Village, was discovered by a Suriname-based Japanese fisherman in the Corentyne River. His body was fished out of the river at approximately 2.30 pm yesterday. His hands and feet were tightly bound and several wounds were visible.
Police, up to press time, had not issued a press release on the matter. However, Stabroek News understands that three suspects are in custody at the Springlands Police Station. Contacted last evening, Berbice Police Commander, George Vyphuis confirmed that a body had been found “in Suriname” but said he was in possession of no further details.
Hoosain left Guyana at approximately 4 am on Wednesday and travelled to Suriname on one of the smaller boats that would illegally cross the Corentyne. Relatives said his driver there took him around Suriname to conduct his business and then transported him to the waterfront where he boarded the boat which left at 5.30 pm. Minutes after boarding the vessel Hoosain was abducted by gunmen, who relatives believe brutally murdered him, and later dumped his body in the Corentyne River.
Hoosain’s body was transported to his homeland at about 4.30 pm yesterday and is currently at the Skeldon Hospital Mortuary. Relatives have since identified the body and reported that several marks of violence were visible.
“If you see wa they do to he,” a close relative said. “His hand and foot were tied up tightly and he had a lot of violence marks on him.” The man was returning home on Wednesday evening after travelling to Suriname “back track” the same morning to conduct business, when the boat he was in was hijacked by five masked men armed with guns.
Passengers, who witnessed Hoosain’s abduction, told relatives that some of the gunmen boarded the boat, disabled its engine and collected their cellular phones. The gunmen then forced Hoosain onto their vessel and escaped.
“Passengers who were on the boat tell us that less than five minutes after they left Suriname’s shore this boat suddenly pull up alongside their boat,” a relative said. “They tell us that the men started firing shots in the air and order in Dutch that everyone hand over their cell phones. After that some of the gunmen board their boat and cut the engine lead.”
Word of Hoosain’s abduction reached relatives late Wednesday evening. However, after listening to what passengers reported, relatives said that they “hoped” the hijackers would take whatever cash Hoosain had and release him.
“After we hear about this thing we get the feelings that they go rob him and send him home,” the relatives said. “We start searching for him since last night [Wednesday] and then today [yesterday] we get a boat and start searching along the shoreline and so to see if they loose he anywhere.”
However, relatives’ hopes were shattered when they were informed that Hoosain’s body, tangled in a fisherman’s net, was pulled onto the deck. Hoosain, relatives said, was a former seaman. He leaves to mourn six children, his wife, parents, siblings and other relatives.
Relatives believe Hoosain might have recognized one or more of his attackers and was slain as a result. They were unable to say what the gunmen might have stolen from Hoosain. “He had a set of goods with him in the boat but the passengers tell we that the gunmen didn’t bother with that, they just take him,” a close relatives said.
“As far as we know besides the cell phones the gunmen didn’t take anything else from the passengers in the boat.” Hoosain was described as a hard working man who “hustled” from an early age to achieve what he wanted in life. (Stabroek News)
June 3, 2009
TWO CHARGED With murder of guard at Uncle Eddie’s
Police have charged two men with the murder, last week, of security guard Simone Coleridge, who was killed during a robbery at Uncle Eddie’s Home for senior citizens, in Jackson Street, Tucville, Georgetown.
The accused, Leroy Lynch alias ‘Simbo’, 30, of East La Penitence Squatting Area and Kevin Bamfield, 33, of Lot 3552 North Ruimveldt, also in the city, appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson yesterday and were remanded to prison until June 22.
The charge said the capital offence was committed on May 27. But when asked, by the magistrate, if they had anything to say, Lynch said he was at a ‘bingi’ (spree) all night and returned home in the morning when he saw Police in the area where he was arrested.
Bamfield claimed he works in the interior and recently returned home, adding he was playing football when the Police held him. The victim had been employed by Roshan Khan’s Security Service when her bound and gagged, lifeless body was discovered in the main building of the complex where she was on duty. (Nathalene DeFreitas/Stabroek News)
June 1, 2009
Some bones still at the site of Lindo Creek killings
One of the charred pieces of bone which was found at the camp site.
With major questions still to be answered about the Lindo Creek killings, visitors to the camp last week were shocked to find what appeared to be human bones at the site, almost certainly some of the remains of the eight miners who were brutally murdered there in June last year.
Amidst the ashes and pebbles in one portion of the camp human bones, some charred, a few bleached white by the sun, lay scattered.
Rusted machinery, which looked ready to be put into operation at any time, stood waiting, a silent memorial to those who were killed.
“It’s far beyond touching, you understand, real upsetting, they ain’t get no real funeral nothing, the bones just bun,” Reon (not his real name), a close friend of several of those who died at Lindo Creek said. He was supposed to have been at the camp at the time the killings occurred but was not, and had travelled there in an attempt to find closure. No relatives have been to the site since it was closed.
A piece of bone resting among stones and ashes
The forest was slowly encroaching on Camp Lindo and weeds had grown up around some of the machinery.
Yellow police tape, now torn and ripped by the elements, surrounded the site and pots in haphazard positions and scattered dishes told only part of the story of what had happened there. Several zinc sheets and some wood indicated where a shed had once been.
The set-up of the machinery conveyed the impression that operations could restart at any moment. A lavador, a machine which is used to separate the diamonds from the pebbles, sat at the edge of the camp, and the engine started after several attempts.
Lindo Creek from which the camp gets its name
Here too there were large pieces of weathered tarpaulin and underneath were a pair of long boots, some sifters, underwear and shoes, all ravaged by the weather.
A short distance away, close to the mining pit, a dredge was sitting, together with several rusted drums.
What appeared to be a lubricant bottle and a brush were lying at the base of one of the drums and in the mining pit were several pieces of tubing.
Bits and pieces of machinery lay nearby. Pipes that connected each piece of equipment were still in place, though weeds had grown over some of them. The old rusted lavador stood close to what had once been the living quarters.
A rusty piece of equipment
Fragments of burnt tarpaulin, tools, rusted spoons, broken toothbrushes, the charred upper portion of a pair of long boots, condoms, charred bones and ashes indicated where the bodies of the miners had been burned.
There were many pieces of bone at this spot, some of them just slivers, so that it was impossible to tell where they could have come from. But there were a few others that were almost whole.
“This is de skull cap,” Kerwin (not his real name) one of the persons on the trip said, holding up a small, flattish piece of bone with a crack in the middle. He picked up the more discernible pieces of bone reverently and placed them in a pile.
Grass was beginning to reclaim the site where the bodies had been burned. There was little ash but yet more slivers of bone could be discerned among the pebbles. There was silence as the small party examined the site. It seemed inconceivable that it was here eight bodies had been set on fire. Reon questioned whether the bones should be touched. “You doan study, yuh ga pick um up,” Kerwin responded.
Rusted zinc found in the environs of the site
A short distance away, oil dripped from an almost hidden pump situated close to the waterside.
A fuel container was still connected to it via a piece of tubing, and a battery was located close by with one of the points still attached.
Plants were growing in a water-filled bucket. It appeared as though the men had been preparing for further work when everything was halted.
While it was not physically manifested, there was a palpable sense of great emotion. Kerwin spoke of ‘Tall man,’ and gathered some of the bones and buried them. “Alright Tall Man, rest in peace mi buddy…” he said. ‘Tall man’ was Dax Arokium.
Bush surrounding the camp site
Dax and seven others, his uncle Cedric Arokium, Compton Speirs, Horace Drakes, Clifton Wong, Lancelot Lee, Bonny Harry and Nigel Torres were working at the site a year ago.
On June 21, 2008, after receiving reports that the men had been killed, Leonard Arokium, owner of the diamond-mining operation went there and discovered the burnt bones and skulls.
He insisted that the Joint Services had killed the men, an accusation which the lawmen have strenuously denied.
The Joint Services had been in the area at the time, hunting notorious criminal Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins and his gang. Rawlins has since been killed and police say that he was responsible for the massacre at Lindo Creek. However, relatives remain firm in their opinion about who committed the act.
Pipes and a pair of boots
After Arokium’s gruesome discovery, law enforcement officials went to the site and removed the remains. They had sent these to Jamaica for DNA testing but no results have been released as yet.
Arokium said that he was surprised there were still bones at the site. “I thought the area was well cleared up.
I thought when the DNA people went, they would have removed all the bones, skulls, everything,” he said. The mining camp owner said that he didn’t know what he would do with the bones, and that the Commissioner of Police was responsible for the investigations.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud, when contacted on Friday about the discovery of bones and other articles at the camp site, said that the scene had been processed by the Guyana Police Force and the forensic team from Jamaica.
A lavador which is still operational.
In addition, last July, a three-man investigative team from Trinidad visited the country and after two attempts had been able to visit the mining site where one local investigator said they “worked.”
It is not easy to get to Camp Lindo. The site, located on the banks of tiny Lindo Creek in the south-east of Guyana, is close to the Berbice River.
To get there overland from Georgetown, one has to travel to Linden, then to Ituni and after that, along the UNAMCO road – a long, dusty, potholed trail in the forest, which is a seven hour journey at best.
Vehicles cannot reach the camp, which is over a hill and surrounded by thick forest. After leaving the UNAMCO road, the path which leads to the camp is overgrown; trees have fallen across the tiny trail and half-rotted logs form bridges across small ravines, streams and the Lindo Creek itself.
Kerwin (not his real name) burying the bones found at the site.
Half-way to Camp Lindo, there is an old camp, now covered in weeds, where the slaughtered miners had lived before.
Half-dry Lindo Creek runs through it, and there are fruit trees here. At least five weeks before being killed, the miners had moved from this place to Camp Lindo to be closer to their operations.
From this point, the meandering Lindo Creek has to be crossed and re-crossed several times, while huge fallen trees block the path and a hill has to be climbed.
The path is overgrown and vegetation has to be hacked away, and it is only by chance that the camp is stumbled upon. After the incident, persons who had operations in the area moved out. Some are slowly moving back. There are Brazilians working on the right bank of the Berbice River and a miner has expressed interest in re-starting operations in the area.
Pots scattered in the bush
Leonard Arokium said that he did not know what he would do with the site as he was not too keen to go back.
He said that the possibility existed that he may get people to work there, noting that the equipment was valuable.
“A decision still has to be made… it would be hard for them [relatives] to go back and work there… they really went there for closure,” he explained. He said that he could not “handle” going back to the site and looking after the equipment.
Closure is what relatives want. But the DNA results are yet to be made available. In December, Commissioner of Police Henry Greene said that partial results of the DNA samples had confirmed that at least one of the men had died at the location.
He would not say, however, which one of the victims had been identified. In addition, a few weeks ago, Deputy Commissioner of Police of Jamaica Charles Scarlett, while attending the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP) conference here, suggested that the results would take some time, since Jamaica’s forensic lab was in for “special treatment.”
He was unable to comment specifically about the Lindo Creek case but promised to look into the matter and then hopefully pass on a report to Commissioner Greene.
An engine and a bucket in the undergrowth
Crime Chief Persaud was asked if there had been any feedback from the Jamaican authorities.
He said that he was unaware if there had been any communication, but said that the best person to answer that was the Commissioner of Police Henry Greene.
In the meantime, the horrific crime is yet to be explained to the satisfaction of some.
A forensic team from Trinidad had come to the preliminary conclusion on the basis of tests of shells found in the area that the killings had been carried out by the Rawlins gang. Skeptics have said that ballistics tests will not prove anything, as shells could have been planted at the site by persons who had free access to in. (Stabroek News Staff)
