Four months after being discharged for the third time for the murder of political activist, Courtney Crum-Ewing, former accused Regan “Grey Boy” Rodrigues is not fully free; as he claims society is still profiling him, noting that business places are not offering him employment. In June, Rodrigues was finally freed from the March 2015 murder of the activist after city Magistrate Judy Latchman found that there was insufficient evidence to commit him to stand trial in the High Court.
Regan “Grey Boy” Rodrigues hopes to be accepted by society
Guyana Times caught up with the former accused who indicated that the chains of him being incarcerated are following him around, saying on Wednesday that he is suffering employment discrimination, as workplaces are unwilling to hire him.
“You know how long I looking for a wuk and can’t get a wuk. I got to be on the road on a night by dem club looking for lil taxi wuk just trying to survive,” he noted, indicating that he has been “stained”.
He added that being a taxi operator has not yielded the returns he had hoped, especially with having to purchase petrol. Rodrigues said he wants to provide for his three children the honest way and prefers not to conduct any unlawful activities to get through in life. He noted that one of his children is not biological, but he took in the now 17-year-old after the boy’s mother died when he was just 12.
Highlighting the many challenges that he faces, Rodrigues recalled the noted implausibility of swimming across the Demerara River in 15 minutes which investigators alleged he had done when they went looking for him.
“Fifteen minutes in salt water without goggles… that’s madness,” he stressed.
He said since coming out of prison, he discovered many of the items in his home missing, claiming that many of the items were sold to unknown persons. Rodrigues further expressed that if he had the finances, he would file legal action against the Police for bringing him before the court without sufficient evidence. In the meantime though, Rodrigues hopes he could meet with President Granger to tell him of the wrongs he feel were meted out to him.
“Nobody don’t come and say hold a compensation but if I had money, I would sue the Guyana Police Force for charging a man where you ain’t have no evidence – no fingerprint at all but I will get me reward even if not from the President, from somebody because he (the President supposed to call me and say ‘Grey Boy, they put you through it, everything you spent for lawyers and being in prison – look back something’ but nobody cares,” he strongly noted.
When Magistrate Latchman made her ruling in June, she had considered all of the facts presented to her and highlighted the evidence given by Crime Scene Analyst, Delicia Brown, whose submission to the court revealed that the .32 pistol and five .32 bullets found at the accused’s home was indeed the said gun used in the execution of Crum-Ewing.
However, she had also stated that no actual evidence was presented to the court to prove that Rodrigues pulled the trigger, thus committing the heinous act, even though 14 witness statements alleged such. She also alluded to the facts that the oral statements given by Rodrigues during the course of the investigation did not implicate him in the killing, and as such he had no case to answer to.
Back then, Rodrigues had burst into tears as he was being led back into the lock-ups, and screamed, “Freedom! Freedom!”
Crum-Ewing was gunned down as he was urging residents of Diamond, East Bank Demerara, to cast their ballots in the May 2015 General elections. Months after, Rodrigues was arrested and charged with the murder but was freed in September 2016. The case was, however, opened by the Director of Public Prosecutions in April 2017 and the Magistrate disclosed two times after that a prima facie case could not be made out against the accused. He was recently charged for allegedly issuing death threats to Crum-Ewing’s mother, Donna Harcourt.
Rodrigues however remains hopeful to be fully freed from the proverbial chains and gain the acceptance of society.
