– lacks faith Govt will go after crime wave political masterminds
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo is of the view that the conduct of the Lindo Creek Commission of Inquiry (CoI) is reminiscent of a commission hell bent on achieving a particular outcome – one which points the finger to the armed forces.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Jagdeo expressed concern over what he said was the slant the CoI was taking. Jagdeo pointed to the manner in which witnesses are being cross-examined: as though the testimony must fit a particular narrative.
He noted that this happens “if they give anything contrary to that narrative, which is that the Army massacred people at Lindo Creek; that is what this Government is trying to prove that our Army massacred people, which is patently false. And I’m sure our soldiers are taking note of this, what they’re trying to do.”
According to Jagdeo, facts are being revealed about a caution statement from a
Special Superintendent of Police, Trevor Reid reading Dwayne Williams’ statement
gang member. He noted that this statement pointed out something he and the Party already knew, as to the culprit being the Rondell “Fine Man” Rawlins gang.
“We’ve called on this President to do a CoI that has a comprehensive Terms of Reference that starts off with the escape of these prisoners, what role the political players played in helping them to settle in a community that they took over and terrorised. But particularly (find out) the role of political players and the subsequent massacres and how they got weapons,” Jagdeo said.
“We saw some of the GDF weapons that surfaced, that they were using. But they also had weapons from the past, that the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry showed that were given by the PNC, over 100 weapons that resurfaced in the crime wave in 2002. I would like him to look at all of that.”
Some time 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 dead, and their bodies burnt at the Upper Berbice River mining camp, which was being operated by Leonard Arokium.
The Lindo Creek CoI is the first of what the coalition Government has said would be a series of inquiries into the hundreds of killings, which occurred during a crime wave that began in 2002. The CoI was established to inquire into the circumstances surrounding the killings of eight miners and to report its findings and recommendations to President David Granger.
At the time, a high-profile Joint Services team was deployed to the Lindo Creek area to hunt the members of the “Fine Man” gang. Last month, five members of the Joint Services team were privately interviewed by retired Justice Donald Trotman, the CoI Chairman.
Lieutenants Lloyd Souvineer, Sheldon Howell, and Omar Khan and retired Army Officer Fitzroy Warde were among the men who appeared before Justice Trotman for the interview, which determined whether they would have to reappear to provide public testimony.
The men had been sought by the CoI and were subsequently made available by the Guyana Defence Force after they received a letter and public notices were published in the daily newspapers.
Only on Tuesday, the Commission heard that a then 15-year-old member of the notorious “Fine Man” gang told Police investigators that the gang was responsible for murdering the eight men at their mining camp.
Dwayne Williams, who is now 25 years old and currently on remand for several murders, in July 2008 told investigators that they (the gang) had escaped the Police in the Ituni area where Otis “Mud Up” Fifee was killed.
