Embattled Police Intelligence rank Corporal Derwin Eastman, who has been implicated in the execution of well-known D’Urban Street businessman Godfrey Scipio, called “Saga”, remains in Police custody as Police seek advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The Police rank surrendered on Friday at the Brickdam Police Station, and has, to a group of media operatives, professed his innocence in the murder. However, a Police source on Monday told the Guyana Times that while the man remains in custody, it is not clear if he would be arraigned with the murder.
Police Corporal Derwin Eastman
Media operatives flocked the Georgetown Magistrates Courts on Monday after it was reported in a section of the media that the policeman would be making his court appearance. However, up to late Monday afternoon, no charge had been instituted against the rank, who was a top performer in the Guyana Police Force.
“Once the charge is instituted, he will make his court appearance”, the Police source noted.
<<Guyana Times>> understands that investigators are yet to prove that the policeman had actually loaned his gun to the accused, Aubrey Bobb, to commit the murder on the evening of October 12 last.
Upon surrendering to the Brickdam Police Station on Friday, Eastman expressed the view that he had been “set up”, and he declared that he was not in any way connected to the fatal shooting which occurred on October 12.
He told reporters on Thursday that he was “set up” by members of the Guyana Police Force who have something against him; but, in the same breath, he claimed that he would have arrested Bobb on several occasions for armed robbery, and he feels that the suspect is implicating him in the murder as a “payback”.
Eastman is, however, holding out that after Scipio was killed, he and other investigating ranks reviewed the CCTV footage, and he was able to identify and name Bobb as the shooter. In light of the recent allegations, Eastman is requesting a confrontation with the suspect.
Corporal Derwin Eastman joined the Guyana Police Force in 2012, and was commended for his exemplary work in the Force in 2015, being adjudged the Best Cop at the Force’s annual prize giving ceremony for that year.
Meanwhile, it was reported that on the night of the fatal shooting, the well-known businessman was reportedly leaving the hotel in the company of a female, and as he approached his motorcar, he was accosted by the lone gunman, who had arrived on a motorcycle.
Initially, the incident seemed to be a robbery, since the gunman relieved the businessman of the gold jewellery he had been wearing, but Police are now working on a theory that Scipio’s death might have been a hit.
After relieving the businessman of his jewellery and other valuables, the gunman reportedly shot the businessman to the right-side abdomen before fleeing the scene.
Scipio fell to the ground, and was picked up and taken to a private medical facility, where he subsequently died. From reports received, he died as a result of severe damage to his intestines.
In April 2011, the businessman had been shot in the village of Cummings Lodge during a shootout, when four armed men had discharged rounds during a robbery.
