October 31, 2009
Cops hope to interview star witness Vaughn, Khan
As part of probe into phantom murders
Roger Khan
Commissioner of Police Henry Greene yesterday said the force hopes to speak to Selwyn Vaughn, the US star witness, as well as confessed drug trafficker Roger Khan as it investigates the murders allegedly committed by Khan’s phantom group.
“We also hope … to interview them because that is very, very important for our final [investigation],” Greene, who was crime chief during most of the years Khan operated his drug enterprise, told reporters yesterday.
Greene did not go into details about the hoped for discussions with Vaughn and Khan but said he has written to US Embassy officials in Guyana making that request. He also said he is awaiting a response from the embassy officials to the second letter he wrote following Khan’s 15-year sentence two Fridays ago requesting information on Khan’s activities in Guyana.
Greene continues to make requests to the embassy when there is an established protocol under the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters — a multilateral treaty which both Guyana and the US are party to and through which states can request information from each other on criminal matters.
While Guyana has said its Ministry of Home Affairs is the ministry to make such requests under the Organisation of American States (OAS) treaty, the US has designated its Office of International Affairs of the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice as the authority to contact.
It is not clear why Guyana is not following this route as it attempts to gather information from the US and observers have pointed out that this may be the reason the US authorities have been slow in assisting Guyana with its request.
Vaughn, who was the main witness in the witness tampering trial of Khan’s former lawyers – Robert Simels and Arianne Irving – said he was part of Khan’s murderous ‘Phantom gang’. He had riveted a New York court with his evidence as he spoke about Khan’s activities in Guyana and also about the plot between Khan and his lawyers to eliminate potential witnesses in Khan’s drug case.
The main witness targeted was former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) officer David Clarke, who is sitting in a US jail on drug charges. He was once head of a GDF camp set up in Buxton to quell the criminal gang in that village. Prior to his guilty plea Khan had accused Clarke of working in cahoots with the criminals in Buxton.
Vaughn also spoke about government links with Khan and had implicated Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy as being the government official who authorised the importation of the now infamous spy equipment to Guyana, a claim the minister has denied.
Lists
More than a week after the force announced that it has set up a special unit, headed by Crime Chief Seelall Persaud, to investigate the murders allegedly committed by Khan and Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins’ gang Greene yesterday said that apart from lists of murdered persons submitted by the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) and Chairman of the Alliance For Change Khemraj Ramjattan there has been no further public response to the investigation.
Greene and Persaud, who were both in senior positions in the force during the years Khan operated his drug enterprise, yesterday called for information on the 200 murders Khan has been accused of. They said that the lists submitted have murders from way back in 1992 but they want the murders that Khan has been accused of committing.
Persaud said that no member of the public has approached them with information but that his ranks are out in the fields conducting investigations and they are also compiling data from newspaper reports.
Meanwhile, Greene called on the PNCR to produce the documents and recording it spoke about following the announcement of the investigation. “The public is aware that sworn affidavits and taped interviews of potential witnesses were presented to the police by the PNCR several years ago which could have facilitated an investigation,” the PNCR had charged in a release following the announcement and it questioned what the force did with the information.
The US investigators had linked Khan to the murders of boxing coach Donald Allison, Dave Persaud, who was murdered outside of the then Palm Court and activist/television talk show host Ronald Waddell. Persaud said the police had investigated those murders but they have reopened the cases.
“Those matters were investigated we are now pulling them… working cold case,” he told Stabroek News.
“We are making the effort, there are cold cases that we have to go back over as information comes in,” he added. Questioned again about whether his investigators would question persons who were close to Khan, most of them former policemen, Persaud said: “I am saying we are at the stage of collecting information, when we get information only then we can know what is required.”
Khan had operated a drug trafficking enterprise here for more than eight years, US prosecutors said, and he headed the violent ‘Phantom Squad’ that was responsible for many deaths. Khan had publicly said that he worked with the security forces to stem the crime wave following the 2002 prison break.
Khan was charged with and pleaded guilty to conspiring to import cocaine into the US over a five-year period from January 2001 to March 2006. The US government had said he was the leader of a cocaine trafficking organisation based in Georgetown. It also asserted that he was able to import huge amounts of cocaine into Guyana, and then oversee exportation to the US and elsewhere.
The US government had charged that a significant amount of the cocaine distributed by Khan went to the Eastern District of New York for further distribution. As an example, it cited a Guyanese drug trafficking organisation based in Queens, New York, which it said was supplied by Khan. The Queens organisation was said to have distributed hundreds of kilos of cocaine in a two-month period during the spring of 2003. (Stabroek News)
October 22, 2009
GHRA submitting 60 murders to Roger Khan probe
Mike Mc Cormack
The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) has a list of some 60 persons killed from January 2002 to June 2003 to submit to the special team set up by the police to investigate murders allegedly committed by drug convict Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan.
Co-President of the GHRA Mike Mc Cormack, while acknowledging last evening that there may be some concerns about the seriousness of the police investigation, said there “is nothing to be lost” by the police wanting to investigate the crimes and as such the GHRA would submit the names.
Khemraj Ramjattan
Alliance For Change (AFC) Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan said while he is happy about the new development he is “a little suspicious” about the “genuiness” of the move adding that he hopes it is an authentic move to do a “thorough and professional” investigation. He said the force’s entire behaviour prior to its announcement gave the impression that it did not want to conduct an investigation into Khan’s activities.
Three days after Khan was sentenced in a Brooklyn Federal Court to 15 years in prison for drug trafficking, witness tampering and a 16-year-old gun running charge, the police, in a release issued on Tuesday evening, announced their intention to set up a special unit to investigate the charges that he had been directly or indirectly involved in killing locals.
Khan had operated a drug trafficking enterprise here for more than eight years, during which US prosecutors said, he headed the violent ‘Phantom Squad’ that was responsible for many deaths. Khan had publicly said that he worked with the security forces to stem the crime wave following the 2002 prison break.
According to the police press release, the special unit will be based at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary. The force called “on all individuals, organisations or groups who may have information or vital evidence concerning these alleged murders involving the Fineman gang, Roger Khan’s gang or any other gang or individuals who may be involved to come forward and provide whatever information or evidence that may be available.”
It named the force’s Crime Chief, Assistant Commissioner Seelall Persaud, as the person to contact; persons can also dial telephone numbers 225-2227, 226-6978 or 225-8196.
This announcement came after calls by many – more recently by the opposition parties – for an investigation to be conducted into Khan’s activities in Guyana. The calls had been made even as he was awaiting sentencing in the US having pleaded guilty to exporting large quantities of cocaine into that country from these shores.
The opposition parties had specifically asked that an International Commission of Enquiry be conducted into the many dimensions of Khan’s activities, particularly his alleged links to the government.
Police murders
According to Mc Cormack, the list of names the GHRA planned to submit was the same list that was submitted to the Disciplined Forces Commission.
He said while it is not clear from press reports what the remit of the investigative team is, the GHRA is assuming that it would effectively investigate murders that were committed during the reign of the ‘Phantom Squad.’
Mc Cormack said it might be difficult to identify drug-related murders but revealed that the list to be submitted was of persons murdered by policemen. He pointed out that Khan’s associate had said that the drug lord used rogue elements in the force to carry out his killings and as such those murders should be investigated.
He pointed out that there are many unexplained deaths over the years that were not investigated, but the GHRA would give the force the benefit of the doubt in those instances. It was pointed out that persons might be afraid to give the police information as there were still issues of distrust and Mc Cormack said while that may be the case there was nothing to lose by submitting the list.
Compromised
Ramjattan, speaking on the same point yesterday, said senior members of the force today may have been compromised during Khan’s reign. He said that was one of the reasons the joint opposition parties were calling for an international inquiry as partisanship would not be perceived should such an enquiry be conducted.
He said even though the police have announced their intention to carry out the investigation the opposition parties are still calling for the international inquiry. President Bharrat Jagdeo has repeatedly shot down suggestions of an inquiry, but said that the police force should investigate any crimes that may have been committed by Khan.
Prior to his guilty plea in March, US prosecutors had named Khan as the head of the violent ‘Phantom Squad’ it said was responsible for the deaths of many persons. Activist/television talk show host Ronald Waddell and Agricola resident Donald Allison were identified by prosecutors as persons killed by Khan’s squad.
Last Friday in sentencing Khan, US Federal Judge Dora Irizarry had said that while no sentence would make right the atrocities that may have been committed by him; 15 years in a US jail meant that justice had been served.
Meanwhile, Ramjattan said he was surprised that the government had not made arrangements through its embassy officials in the US to visit the Federal Court and collect transcripts of evidence offered both in Khan’s case and that of his former lawyers Robert Simels and Arianne Irving who are both awaiting sentencing on witness tampering charges arising out of their representation of Khan.
He said the AFC has managed to get some of the transcripts and added that it would not cost the government a lot to have their officials make arrangements to get those transcripts. Ramjattan said the government should make that move instead of waiting on US officials to provide them with the information.
Police Commissioner Henry Greene had said that the police had written to the US embassy asking for information on what was presented in court and were told they had to await the conclusion of Khan’s and his former lawyers’ cases.
Ramjattan, a lawyer by profession, said he could not understand why the commissioner is insisting on waiting on the US officials to send information. “Those are the little things that make us suspicious [about Tuesday’s announcement],” Ramjattan said.
Ramjattan also raised another issue stating that he hoped that in view of “the ugliness” that occurred in Guyana in the past the force would take certain actions to ensure that witnesses are protected. Such a move, he said, would also ensure the safety and confidentiality of the information given to the police by members of the public.
This should be done to ensure that people don’t end up “like George Bacchus [a former self-proclaimed Phantom Squad informant] dead in their beds for making statements.” He posited that the police have not yet set the proper groundwork that should include witness protection and as such persons would not want to come forward and make statements and if that was not done then all of the efforts would amount to “zero.”
Ramjattan said there has been “tremendous complicity” on the part of those in charge of the force with the added issue of the government reportedly having close connections to narco traffickers.
In November 2007, Assistant Commissioner Persaud had said that since Khan’s capture, execution-style killings in Guyana had dropped considerably from 43 in 2006 to 12 in 2007. He had said at the time that Khan had a group of men who worked with him while he was here, but since he had been locked up the men had all gone in different directions. “We believe that Mr Khan was involved in narcotics trafficking and since his arrest we have seen a fragmentation of his gang. Instead of them being one place they are all over the place.”
Khan was charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the US over a five-year period from January 2001 to March 2006. The US government had said he was the leader of a cocaine trafficking organisation based in Georgetown. It also asserted that he was able to import huge amounts of cocaine into Guyana, and then oversee exportation to the US and elsewhere.
The US government had charged that a significant amount of the cocaine distributed by Khan went to the Eastern District of New York for further distribution. As an example, it cited a Guyanese drug trafficking organisation based in Queens, New York, which it said was supplied by Khan. The Queens organisation was said to have distributed hundreds of kilos of cocaine in a two-month period during the spring of 2003.
Khan had resided in the US and committed crimes in both Maryland and Vermont. On January 6, 1992 he was convicted in Montgomery County for breaking and entering and theft. While he was on probation for that offence, he was arrested in Burlington, Vermont for receiving and possessing three firearms while being a convicted felon.
He was subsequently indicted and was released on bail in November 1993. He promised to obey all conditions of his release but fled to Guyana in 1994 in order to avoid prosecution and as a result there is an outstanding warrant for him, for violating the conditions of his partial release and an outstanding warrant in Rockville, Maryland for violating the conditions of his probation.
Last Friday’s sentencing brought a climax to Khan’s case which had riveted the country as explosive information linking the Guyana government to the once powerful and violent drug lord was revealed. Khan’s famous and now convicted lawyers’ trial had been similarly revealing.
Among others, the revelations linked Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy to Khan and implicated him as being the government official authorizing the importation of the now infamous spy equipment to Guyana. Ramsammy has repeatedly denied any links to Khan.
The spy equipment was used by Khan to track persons whom he said were criminals. While the equipment and weapons were seized from Khan and others the charges were later dismissed; police had claimed they had the seized equipment in their possession. However, the US government had revealed during Simels’ trial that Simels had shipped the equipment to the US. Commissioner Greene subsequently presented equipment to the members of the media, which he said was what had been seized from Khan. (Oluatoyin Alleyne/Stabroek News)
October 21, 2009
‘Special’ team .....
.....to probe alleged Roger Khan, ‘Fine man’ murders -police
Shaheed Roger Khan
The Guyana Police Force yesterday announced that it has set up a special investigative team to “enquire into the alleged murders which surfaced during the court hearing for drug dealer Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan.”
The force’s announcement comes three days after Khan was sentenced in a Brooklyn Federal Court to fifteen years in prison for drug trafficking, witness tampering and a 16-year-old gun running charge.
It is the first major step taken by local law enforcement to address the issue of the alleged crimes Khan committed in Guyana while operating his drug empire. The drug trafficker had publicly stated that he worked along with the security forces in fighting crime during the reign of the prison escapees who wreaked havoc in a period which saw the country facing one of its worse crime situations in recent history.
The unit will be based at Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary, the police said. In a statement yesterday the GPF called “on all individuals, organisations or groups who may have information or vital evidence concerning these alleged murders involving the Fineman gang, Roger Khan’s gang or any other gang or individuals who may be involved to come forward and provide whatever information or evidence that may be available.”
It named the force’s Crime Chief, Assistant Commissioner Seelall Persaud, as the person to contact or persons can also dial telephone numbers; 225-2227, 226-6978 or 225-8196.
The police announcement comes after calls by many, more recently by the opposition parties, for an investigation to be conducted into Khan’s activities in Guyana. The calls had been made even as he was being tried in the US for exporting large quantities of cocaine into that country from these shores.
The opposition parties had specifically asked that an enquiry be conducted into the many dimensions of Khan’s activities, moreso into his alleged links to the Government.
While President Bharrat Jagdeo has shot down suggestions of a Commission of Inquiry, he has said that the police force should investigate any crimes that may have been committed by Khan. During the run up to his guilty plea in March, US prosecutors had named Khan as the head of the violent ‘Phantom Squad’ it said was responsible for the deaths of many persons. Activist/television talk show host Ronald Waddell and Agricola resident Donald Allison were identified by prosecutors as persons killed by Khan’s squad.
Last Friday in sentencing Khan, US Federal Judge Dora Irizarry had said that while no sentence would make right the atrocities that may have been committed by him; 15 years in a US jail meant that justice had been served.
Observers last evening said that persons would be skeptical of approaching the police force and divulging any information they may have for fear of reprisals. Some also said persons still do not trust members of the force and may not want to reveal sensitive information. Witness protection is also expected to be a major concern of persons who may potentially want to provide information.
After Khan’s guilty plea, Police Commis-sioner Henry Greene had said the police would now await requested information from the US to move forward their investigation of Khan.
In March after the drug trafficker had pleaded guilty, Crime Chief Persaud had said that the force could have only launched an investigation into Khan’s activities if it is presented with information and evidence. He had acknowledged however, that Khan was one of the drug players who the police believed was very big and who operated in Guyana but added that “he was only one of them”.
When he was asked if the force would have launched an investigation should Khan return to Guyana after he served his sentence, Persaud had said that he does not know what the future holds, adding if the US presents Guyana with information on Khan’s activities then “we would do an investigation…or if anyone comes forward and tells us ‘well listen, I know this happen’… yes we would do an investigation.”
Persaud had said he was only interested in information and transcripts that are presented to the force by United States officials and once they explain that crimes occurred in Guyana there would certainly be an investigation.
It was Persaud in November 2007, who said that since Khan’s capture, execution-style killings in Guyana had dropped considerably from 43 in 2006 to 12 in 2007. He said at the time, that Khan had a group of men who worked with him while he was here, but since he had been locked up the men had all gone in different directions. “We believe that Mr Khan was involved in narcotics trafficking and since his arrest we have seen a fragmentation of his gang instead of them being one place they are all over the place.”
Khan was charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the US over a five-year period from January 2001 to March 2006. The US government had said he was the leader of a cocaine trafficking organisation based in Georgetown. It also asserted that he was able to import huge amounts of cocaine into Guyana, and then oversee exportation to the US and elsewhere.
The US government had charged that a significant amount of the cocaine distributed by Khan went to the Eastern District of New York for further distribution. As an example, it cited a Guyanese drug trafficking organisation based in Queens, New York, which it said was supplied by Khan. The Queens organisation was said to have distributed hundreds of kilos of cocaine in a two-month period during the spring of 2003.
Rondell Rawlins
Khan had resided in the US and committed crimes in both Maryland and Vermont. On January 6, 1992 he was convicted in Montgomery County for breaking and entering and theft. While he was on probation for that offence, he was arrested in Burlington, Vermont for receiving and possessing three firearms while being a convicted felon.
He was subsequently indicted and was released on bail in November 1993. He promised to obey all conditions of his release but fled to Guyana in 1994 in order to avoid prosecution and as a result there is an outstanding warrant for him, for violating the conditions of his partial release and an outstanding warrant in Rockville, Maryland for violating the conditions of his probation.
His troubles deepened last year when he and his former lawyers Robert Simels and Arianne Irving were hauled before the courts and charged with conspiracy to tamper with witnesses relating to the drug trial. Simels was accused of making an alleged US$1,000 payout and having discussions about “eliminating and neutralizing” witnesses.
He and his assistant allegedly had numerous discussions with a US government informant, to locate certain individuals close to the case and to get them to rescind statements, not testify against Khan, or even to be eliminated. Both Simels and Irving are now awaiting sentencing after being found guilty by a jury early last month.
Last Friday’s sentencing brought a climax to Khan’s case which had riveted the country as explosive information linking the Guyana government to the once powerful and violent drug lord was revealed. Khan’s famous and now convicted lawyer’s trial had been similarly revealing.
Among others, the revelations linked Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy to Khan and implicated him as being the government official authorizing the importation of the now infamous spy equipment to Guyana. Ramsammy has repeatedly denied any links to Khan. (Stabroek News)
October 20, 2009
Teen murder shatters quiet Mahaicony community
Eon Benjamin
The quiet community of Cottage, Mahaicony, which residents say has not seen a crime more serious than petty theft in decades, was left unsettled on Sunday evening when a teenager stabbed another to death after an argument about a mud-splattered vest.
Eon Benjamin, 15, of Lot 2 Cottage, Mahaicony died shortly after he was stabbed thrice about the body by a 13-year-old boy. Benjamin, according to his mourning parents, left home shortly after 6 pm to buy some things at the shop but never returned.
Earlier that day, Benjamin and two teens from his community went swimming in a nearby trench – the sort of Sunday afternoon activity enjoyed by most rural children. It was actually the beginning of a quarrel that would lead to murder. One of the two boys who accompanied Benjamin decided that a practical joke was in order and hid Benjamin’s vest and slippers.
Benjamin, according to his 36-year-old father Nigel Williams, was a quiet person but was not pleased when one of the teenaged boys splattered mud on his white vest. An argument between the teens slowly escalated and by the time the boys went home around 5 pm the spat turned into a heated confrontation between Benjamin and one of them.
“Eon [Benjamin] and one of the boys who live close to us end up in a chucking match and my wife had to go outside and part them,” Williams told this newspaper yesterday afternoon, “and she sent Eon inside.”
Williams said it was not the teen Benjamin had the physical confrontation with who stabbed him. It was a 13-year-old, who Benjamin might have “exchanged words with” who stalked then stabbed him along the Cottage Public Road, Mahaicony.
Fanella Benjamin, 32, said that she sent her son to buy some food stuff at a nearby shop around 6.20 pm on Sunday. Benjamin, the woman stated, never made it to the shop as he was attacked by the 13-year-old. Her son’s attacker, she explained, had only been living in the area for about six months and had also been sent to the shop by his guardian when he launched the fatal attack on Benjamin.
“A few minutes after Eon left for the shop,” Fanella Benjamin recalled, “a woman by the name of Evette Shepherd came running to my house shouting ‘Fanella! Fanella! Come quick! You son get stab on the road side’ and I run out there immediately.”
However, the mother said that by the time she got to the scene people who had gathered were already putting her son, who was bleeding, into a car. Fanella Benjamin accompanied her son to the Mahaicony Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
“By the time we reach to the hospital the doctors couldn’t do anything to save my son,” Fanella Benjamin said her voice finally beginning to shake. “They pronounced him dead on arrival.” The woman could not say whether anyone had witnessed Benjamin’s murder but indicated that the area where he was attacked was well illuminated by street lights.
‘…I grabbed my son’s murderer I couldn’t think straight’
Meanwhile, Williams told this newspaper the 13-year-old who stabbed his son to death was taken into police custody shortly after the incident. The teen has since admitted to police that he committed the act, Williams reported, and said he was sorry.
“I wasn’t home when the incident happen, but I was immediately informed,” Williams related. “When I got to the scene the 13-year-old was there and when I grabbed my son’s murderer I couldn’t think straight.”
Williams said that other residents managed to calm him down and reminded him that he still had five surviving children to live for. The distressed father said that Benjamin was his second eldest child and he will not rest until his son’s murderer is charged and taken before the court for his crime.
“Eon didn’t even start living life yet,” Williams said, “and now even I don’t know where he is but he isn’t here with me anymore.”
The man said that he and his reputed wife have been living in Cottage for about 17 years and in all that time they have never heard of such a terrible crime in the community. At 13, Williams said, he certainly would not have armed himself with a knife to settle a spat with a peer.
“Something is wrong with our youths,” Williams stated, “and I honestly don’t know what it is. What would drive a 13-year-old to murder someone for chucking up his friend?”
William’s eldest son, who is 17, has been informed of his sibling’s death and will be returning home today. The man said that his children are aware of their brother’s death and some of them are angry.
“Some of my children are angry about what happened to Eon but me and my wife are talking to them… We are telling them that violence is not the way.” (Stabroek News)
October 16, 2009
Roger Khan to be sentenced today
Self-confessed Guyanese drug-trafficker Shaheed Roger Khan, popularly known in Guyana as Short Man, will know his fate sometime after 2pm today in the Brooklyn Federal Court.
Khan, who has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and witness tampering charges, in addition to a gun charge, will be sentenced by Judge Dora Irizarry. The Guyanese drug kingpin had in March this year entered into a plea bargain agreement with the prosecution.
The agreement stipulates a sentence of 15 years imprisonment, five years supervised release, and a US$300 special assessment, as well as any fine and restitution to be imposed in keeping with the law. Campbell also requests that the court impose a fine as it sees appropriate, but not greater than US$ 4,000,000.
This sentence, however, is left to the discretion of the judge who, it was reported, has said the decision as to how much time he should be given is solely hers. The sentencing of Roger Khan today is the talk among Guyanese here in New York, many of whom feel that a 15-year sentence will be a slap in the face of the Guyanese at home.
Some US-based Guyanese, with whom the Chronicle has spoken, are of the view that the fact it was reported that the Judge had slipped into the courtroom and heard some chilling evidence during the trial of the former attorney of Khan, Robert Simmels, who has since being found guilty, does not augur well for Khan.
The US government has described Khan as the leader of a cocaine trafficking organisation based in Guyana, and charged him with being responsible for the distribution of huge amounts of the illicit drug in Eastern New York. Khan, however, has denied these claims, saying he is a businessman who played an integral role in helping the Guyana Government to fight crime when the crime wave was at its peak.
Khan was a fugitive from justice in the U.S., having jumped bail from weapons charges in Vermont in 1993, and fled to his home in Guyana. His woes there began when the local Police posted a wanted bulletin for him. He fled to neighbouring Suriname where he and some of his bodyguards were nabbed. Khan was held in jail in that country for 120 days without bail, after he was deported.
The authorities there placed him on a plane heading to Trinidad, where U.S. Drug Enforcement Agent with the help of Trinidad officials, held him. He was subsequently extradited to the U.S. and has been in jail here since. (Wendella Davidson in New York/Guyana Cronicle)
October 8, 2009
Teen remanded over Barama dredge murder
Regerton Simon
A teenager accused of murdering dredge operator Regerton Simon called ‘Baba’, who was gunned down in an attack on Septem-ber 5 was yesterday remanded to prison when he appeared before Acting Chief Magis-trate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
The allegation is that on September 5 at Barama River, North West District, Sherland Allick, 19, of Station Street, Matthew’s Ridge murdered Simon.
The metal detector operator was not required to plead to the indictable charge when it was read to him by the Acting Chief Magistrate.
When given a chance to respond, the defendant explained to the court that on the day in question, he was on his way to work when he was stopped by three men who asked him to take them “up the river” with his boat.
Sherland Allick
He said that he took the men to a point but along the way they said that they wanted to go to a place called `Dragger’ and he told them that he couldn’t go that far. The men, he said, then ordered him to take them to `Dragger’ or else he was going to be shot.
Malvin Edwards
The defendant added that the three men told him that they wanted him to accompany them to `Dragger’ since they wanted to execute a robbery and he, [Allick] was more familiar with the area than they were.
The accused said that he persistently told the men that he could not allow himself to be associated with such an act. He said he then heard gunshots and then he proceeded to make his way back to Bamboo Landing where he had initially encountered the trio.
The unrepresented Allick was later remanded to prison and ordered to attend the Matthew’s Ridge Magistrate’s Court on November 3.
According to initial reports reaching Stabroek News, in the September 5 attack; Simon of Lot P 73 Guyhoc Park was killed on the spot while Malvin Edwards, 33, of East La Penitence, was badly injured when gunmen launched a brazen attack on their dredge. Four Brazilian workers including a pregnant woman managed to escape without injury.
According to reports, the incident may have stemmed from more than a conflict between residents in the area and those operating a dredge. Reports were that the September 5 incident stemmed from a water pollution conflict those on the dredge had with persons living in an area know as ‘Punta’ and that might have been the cause of the shooting.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud had said that the police were focusing their investigation on a conflict between the residents in the area and those operating the dredge, but said also that the investigators were still “open” on the case but had said the dispute kept “showing up” as a motive.
A source had told Stabroek News that like several other villages, the residents of Punta had a problem with the dredge as its activities were polluting the river, their only source of water. The source said that reports were made to the regional administration. (Femi Harris/Stabroek News)
October 6, 2009
‘Jango’ denies missing vessel tied to drugs
DNA tests to proceed on gutted bodies
Titus Buckery Nascimento Rickford Bannister Ryan Chin
The man who is said to be in charge of the vessel whose crew members washed up along the Essequibo without innards, yesterday denied that the craft was connected to drug smuggling. 'Jango’, who relatives of the men said was the owner of the boat, again denied that he was and said that he had only been affiliated with it since July. He again refused to provide his real name to this newspaper when asked.
The man also denied that he and the vessel had any connections to drugs or fuel smuggling adding that “that it is not a nice thing to say at this particular time knowing that there is still one crew member missing”. He said too that police were provided with some background information on the fourth person who had been working on the boat three days before it went missing.
For him, it is strange that only three bodies have been found. According to the man, the boat is not new and had been involved in an accident before. After undergoing repairs, it was being taken for a test run before going on its first trip, but he did not say where. Sources say the police would be very interested in determining exactly what sort of work the vessel was engaged in.
There are still no leads on the disappearance of the Island Princess and its four-man crew. Three bullet-riddled and disembowelled bodies were found along the Essequibo River last week.
Two of the bodies have since been identified by relatives based on items recovered on them and it is suspected that they were part of the missing crew. Nothing was found on the third body, which was in an advanced state of decomposition having been in the water for a longer period. It was buried shortly after it was found.
So far, the police are working with information that Ryan Chin, Titus Buckery Nascimento, Rickford Bannister and Mahendra Singh called Sunil made up the crew aboard the missing boat. Relatives of Chin, Nascimento and Bannister had told this newspaper that the men were working on a trawler but the police said in a subsequent release that it was a cargo vessel.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said yesterday that investigations are ongoing and DNA testing will be done on the bodies as persons have come forward saying that they are related to the men. He said that there has been no new development in the investigations and there are no leads on the possible whereabouts of the vessel. It is unclear how long it would take to get the results of the tests. Similar tests for the Lindo Creek massacre have taken many months.
Police on Saturday for the first time spoke of the missing vessel and revealed some information about their investigation into its disappearance and the discovery of two of the bodies.
It said the four men were said to have left Parika with the vessel on September 26 for Friendship, East Bank Demerara. They were last contacted about 18:30 hours the said day and had given their location as the Essequibo River mouth, the release said. Efforts to contact them about half an hour later proved futile.
The bodies of Thomas and Singh were found in the vicinity of Wakenaam and Hamburg Island on September 29 and 30 respectively. Their bodies bore gunshot injuries and they had been disembowelled.
The release added that the police had since sought the assistance of Interpol and other friendly law enforcement agencies through the US Drug Enforcement Agency and had provided photographs of the vessel and other related information. A third body bearing suspected gunshot wounds to the head and leg and which was also disembowelled was discovered on the Queenstown Foreshore on Friday.
Police described that body as being that of a man about 30 years old, of medium build and around 6 ft tall. He was clad in mauve underwear, was of medium build, brown in complexion and appeared to be of mixed ancestry.
Several senior police officials have indicated that all possible angles were being pursued especially since the murders were not “ordinary”.
The degutting of the bodies has puzzled authorities and some believe it represents the type of extreme violence associated with the drug trade. The Essequibo coast and north west have recently been the scene of drug-related crimes. Much of the cocaine passing through Guyana comes through Venezuela and by boat to the Essequibo coast.
Piracy has also been another major problem in this area. Many boats have been attacked and in some cases crew members killed. (Stabroek News)
October 3, 2009
Reluctant ‘source’ shot in back by police
Irate family wants thorough probe
Carlyle Benn
Relatives and friends of an Industrial Area, Mackenzie man are calling for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding him being shot in the back by the police yesterday.
Twenty-eight-year-old Carlyle Benn called ‘Carl’ of 17 Industrial Area was shot in the left side of his back as he attempted to evade police officers some time after 5 am yesterday.
He was subsequently transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital and admitted to the High Dependency Unit (HDU).
Relating the incident, Benn’s friend who is an ex-police officer but chose not to have his name recorded, told this newspaper the police were forcing his friend to identify two men who are suspected to have been involved in the recent breaking and entering of Basil Jaipaul’s storage bond at Amelia’s Ward.
The man said that on Thursday he and Benn were at Mora Street Mackenzie visiting a man who had promised Benn a job. “We were right in the street when the police [names given] and some others pulled up and the police tell Carl that he wanted to talk to him,” the friend said. “I was right deh in hearing distance and was listening to what was going on. De police was trying fuh convince Carl fuh come with dem to go and point out de man dem.”
He said the police officer and a member of the community policing group at Linden (name given) told Carl that they were told that he knew two of the suspects in the robbery. According to the friend, they pleaded with Carl to accompany them to the area where the men lived and promised that they would have hidden him in the vehicle so the men would not have seen him.
Carl admitted to knowing the men but said that he didn’t want to get into any trouble. He confirmed two names among five which were called out by the police officer. The man said that Carl was seeking his advice on the matter, but was told not to call him into the matter. “Dey had he under pressure and he was calling me to de vehicle and the police [name mentioned] tell he he ain’t want nothing fuh do with me and he only want Carl.”
He said that in an effort ward off the police, Carl told them that he was going to see someone about a job and would return in a short while. However, he sought the advice of another man who told Carl not to go with the police.
While the police waited on the road Carl escaped through the back yard of his potential employer. After waiting for a while the ranks decided to go into the yard and realized that Carl had fled the premises.
Benn’s sister said that around 6 pm the same day she had just returned from work when she noticed a green vehicle approaching their yard driving in slowly. She said she became concerned because she noticed the occupants peering into their yard. She decided to approach them to find out what was the matter.
“It was then I notice two police [one name given] and the businessman whose storage bond was recently broken into and two community police officers [one name called],” Benn’s sister said. “I ask dem is what happen and dey tell me dey looking fuh Carl and I ask dem is wah wrong, and dey tell me is nah nothing serious. Dey just want ask he some questions.”
She said when she went inside and told her brother what the police wanted him told her that he didn’t want anything to do with the police because he was usually targeted and sometimes beaten by police wrongfully. “He put down de baby he had in he hand and run away through de back yard,” the sister said.
The woman said she did not see her brother again until some time after 5 am yesterday when she was awakened by a hail of gun fire.
She said that upon investigating she saw a policeman on the back fence fire a gun and was told that her brother was attempting to escape the police who had returned to get him. “All I hear dem saying was ‘look he deh running, look he deh running’ and is suh de one on de fence keep licking shots,” the woman recalled as she broke down in tears.
She said she later received a call saying that her brother was seen on the dyke (a mined-out area behind Industrial Area) and he had sustained a gunshot wound to the left side of his back. She said that their father and a few others went to get him as he was refusing to leave the area with anyone else.
According to the woman, several neighbours said he went to them crying and saying that he had done nothing wrong and was being pursed by the police. “Everybody would tell you that Carl stop going out because he does say he gat he family and he focusing on making money. He friends does come fuh he and he don’t even go no matter what dey tell he,” she said, adding that because of her brother’s impoverished state, she has taken on the responsibility of providing for his children and sending them to school.
She added he was due to leave the area yesterday morning to do a job which he had secured the previous day. The man’s irate father supported the fact that his son was frequently targeted by the local police. He said that on more than one occasions his son went to the police station and was either locked up or beaten when he refused to give information.
“De police in dis place is really corrupt and I really want you fuh record what a saying and report it because it’s not fair what the police here is doing,” said the man. He said that between 5 am and 6 am yesterday, he was awakened by a knock on his door and upon checking he came face to face with a police rank. “He ask me fuh Carl and ah tell he Carl don’t live here he live at de back house,” recollected the man. He said that shortly after he went back into his house he heard gun shots being fired.
“Everything about wah happen here dis morning is wrong because I can’t see dat they gon target me son so much fuh something he ain’t responsible fuh,” the irate father said. “Dey ask he if he know dem man wah break Jaipaul place. … is nah like dey accusing he of breaking de place. Dey can’t want force he fuh go and point out dem man if he ain’t want to. Dat is so wrong. Nothing about dah ain’t right and we want justice.” (Stabroek News)
Family feud ends in murder
A Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara man was fatally stabbed last evening following an argument with another relative over a family property. Dead is 32-year-old Chaitram Gooroodyal, a porter of Lot 2 ‘E’ 11 Second Field, Cummings Lodge Squatting Area who was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital shortly after 8 pm.
According to a neighbour who witnessed the incident, he was standing in front of his yard around 7 pm last evening when he observed Gooroodyal and another relative arguing. He said the dead man appeared to be intoxicated and that he had seen him consuming alcohol most of the day yesterday.
The man said Gooroodyal and his mother lived in one section of the family’s house, while his uncle lived in the front section of the house. He said the family had been fighting several months now over ownership of the property, since the dead man’s uncle wanted to sell it.
He said last evening Gooroodyal went into his uncle’s home and started to abuse the ailing man who had suffered a stroke several years ago. He said the two men argued loudly with each other, which was an everyday occurrence. However, last night they scuffled, following which, Gooroodyal left the house and approached the gate.
According to the eyewitness, as the man exited the gate, his uncle, who had a knife tucked in his waist, approached him and the two men then physically assaulted each other again. In the process, the uncle pulled out the knife from his waist and lounged at Goordoodyal, fatally wounding the man in the region of his heart.
The eyewitness related that neighbours then ran towards the injured man to assist him and after staggering several feet away from the scene of the stabbing, Gooroodyal collapsed close to a pile of sand on the road.
The man was taken to the public hospital shortly after where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Neighbours told Stabroek News that after he stabbed Gooroodyal, the uncle went back into his house and was followed by Gooroodyal’s sister and mother, who broke most of the windows in the house as they soundly trashed him.
The dead man’s sister, Savitri, told Stabroek News at the family’s home last evening that her brother’s death was the culmination of what had been an age-old family dispute. She said her brother and their uncle would argue and “cuss up” almost everyday since her uncle wanted to sell the house but her mother had objected to this move.
She said her brother would often intervene in the matter and he met his demise because of this. The woman said the house was divided into two sections. Her mother lived at the back section of the building which was given to them by another relative who died several years ago. She said that her uncle lived in the front section of the building by himself.
Savitri recounted that earlier in the day yesterday her brother was verbally abusing the family and this resulted in her reporting his behaviour to ranks at the Turkeyen Police station. She said that officers there took her brother to the police station, but he was released some time yesterday afternoon and continued to verbally assault family members.
The woman said she had gone to the police station last evening to file another report about her brother’s abusive behaviour and it was while she was on her way back to her mother’s place of abode, that she observed a crowd around her brother whose lifeless body lay on the roadside. The uncle was arrested at Cummings Lodge last night by the police. (Stabroek News)