The Preliminary Inquiry (PI) into the murder of businessman Godfrey Scipio continued on Friday before Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. Two former policemen – Derwin Eastman and Jamison Williams – are jointly charged for the murder of the 64-year-old man.
Eastman, who has been adjudged the Guyana Police Force’s Best Cop on several occasions, and Williams are accused of killing Scipio on October 17, 2017, at Kitty, Georgetown.
In November 2020, Magistrate Fabayo Azore had ruled that a prima facie case was made out against the duo at the close of the prosecution’s case. In reply, Eastman and Williams opted to lead their defences.
Dead: Godfrey “Saga” Scipio
Also charged for the murder is Aubrey Bobb, a 26-year-old ex-convict of Kitty. Bobb was the first to be charged and later implicated the two former policemen in a caution statement he had given to the law enforcement officers.
In 2019, Bobb was committed to stand trial at the High Court for the businessman’s murder following the conclusion of a separate PI after it was established that there was sufficient evidence against him. According to reports, Scipio also known as “Saga” was gunned down just as he exited a popular Kitty hotel with a female companion during the furtherance of a robbery.
He later succumbed at the Woodlands Hospital. Bobb, in a caution statement, reportedly told Police that Eastman was the mastermind behind the brazen daylight killing. He accused Eastman of hiring him as the hitman and providing him with the gun.
Eastman reportedly had everything planned out, even assuring the hitman that a lady would deliver the target to the spot while directing that the killing be executed in such a way as to appear like a robbery gone wrong. Notwithstanding the assurance of protection given by Eastman, reality struck when Bobb returned home the next day to find Eastman, in the company of other Police ranks, ready to arrest him.
From (L): Murder accused: Former Best Cop Derwin Eastman, Aubrey Bobb, and Jamison Williams
Bobb had claimed that he was forced to confess to the crime as he was intimidated by Eastman, who was present at every step of the interrogation.
