Ituni Police Station’s records contradict GDF’s testimony

Lindo Creek CoI

While under oath on Monday, Guyana Defence Force Lieutenant, Colonel Fitzroy Ward told the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Lindo Creek Massacre that he took a caution statement from gang member Dwane Williams at the Ituni Police Station detailing the killings; however, when the books from the station were presented on Tuesday, there were no records of the interaction.

Deputy Superintendent Gary McAllister presented the Station Diary and Occurrences Book from the Ituni Police Station, Kwakwani Police Station, Wisroc Police Outpost, Wismar Police Station and the McKenzie Police Station. McAllister was tasked by the Commissioner of Police to inspect the books of several Police stations in E (Linden-Kwakwani) and F (Interior locations) Divisions to look for entries of the June 2008 killings at Lindo Creek.
He told the Commission that with the exception of the Ituni and Kwakwani Police Stations, there are no records of any incidents relating to the Lindo Creek killings. He said he found an entry dated June 16, 2008, detailing Williams’ arrest in the Ituni Police Station Diary while he found an entry of Leonard Arokium’s report of the killings.
The CoI heard that despite Arokium making the report on June 21, 2008, the officers at the Kwakwani Police Station never made the entry into the Station Diary until July 3, 2008. According to the report, read by McAllister, Arokium told Police that he received information that his eight employees were murdered but did not name a suspect.
Contrary to the testimony of Lieutenant Colonel Fitzroy Ward, who on Monday told the CoI that he took a caution statement from gang member Dwane Williams at the Ituni Police Station, McAllister testified that the records showed no entry of such being conducted.
Meanwhile, the entry of June 16, 2008, related that Officer Morrison would have arrested Dwane Williams, who was just 14 at the time. The entry detailed the appearance of the then minor, who had several marks of violence about his body but made no allegations against the arresting officer.
Ward would have testified that Williams told him, under caution and in the presence of other ranks of the Special Joint Services team, that the criminal gang headed by Rondel “Fine Man” Rawlins murdered the miners at the Lindo Creek camp. The allegations were made at the Ituni Police Station on June 16, 2008, some five days before the discovery was made and six days before the remains were brought to Kwakwani.
Additionally, he told the CoI that Williams related that “Fine Man” took a hammer and smashed one of the miners’ skull, which was confirmed when he saw the burnt remains.
McAllister during his testimony said the function of the Diary and Occurrences Book is to record movements and incidents in the jurisdiction.
Counsel for the Guyana Defence Force, Roysdale Forde, sought to question the integrity of the books by getting the officer to admit that the entries were not entered in sequential order.
Furthermore, Detective Sergeant Rodwell Sarrabo returned to the stand on Tuesday to continue his testimony. He reiterated that he was responsible for compiling a report and taking a few statements and related that Morrison supplied a detailed statement of what occurred at the Ituni Police Station.
The Lindo Creek CoI is the first of what Government has said would be a series of inquiries into the hundreds of killings, which occurred during a crime wave that began in 2002.
Sometime between June 12, 2008 and June 24, 2008, miners Cecil Arokium, Dax Arokium, Compton Speirs, Horace Drakes, Clifton Wong, Lancelot Lee, Bonny Harry and Nigel Torres were shot and killed, and their bodies burnt at the Upper Berbice River mining camp, which was being operated by Leonard Arokium.