…CoI hears
The Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the June 2008 massacre at Lindo Creek heard that a then 15-year-old member of the notorious Rondell “Fine Man” Rawlins gang told Police investigators that the gang was responsible for murdering the eight men at their mining camp.
When Special Superintendent of Police Trevor Reid took to the stand on Tuesday, he testified that he was the one who took the caution statement from then 15-year-old gang member, Dwayne ‘Small Friend” Williams. Despite failing to produce the original statement to the CoI, Reid was allowed to read a photocopy after positively identifying it.
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.
The statement related that after escaping, they walked along the creek after which they made a raft to cross the Berbice River. After crossing, the gang consisting of Williams, Cecil “Magic” Ramcharran, Robin “Chung Boy” Chung and leader Rondel Rawlins stumbled upon the Arokium’s mining camp at Lindo Creek where they encountered miners Cecil Arokium, Dax Arokium, Compton Speirs, Horace Drakes, Clifton Wong, Lancelot Lee, Bonny Harry and Nigel Torres.
“We hold on pon them (the eight miners) and Magic tie them up. We cook a chowmein and we stay deh till next morning. The morning time we mek tea and give them (the miners) to drink, the nighttime rain bin falling. We bin fuh beat out the said night, but we didn’t worry,” the statement said.
“When night done, the next day then night come back again, rain start falling again. About 12 o’clock time me bin sleeping me hear shots start buss. When me look me see them man (the miners) what them tie up, them shoot up them man…them pull down them blue tarpaulin from one ah dem camp and “Magic” throw gasoline pon them and light them afire,” Williams related to the Police.
Williams’ statement also revealed that following the incident at Lindo Creek, the gang left the site and whilst walking they encountered another Joint Services Checkpoint which they eluded. He further related that the following night Chung, Rawlins and Ramcharran left him behind after which he was captured while hitching a ride out of the Lindo Creek area.
“Me keep on walking all the time and me see one grader with a trailer, me ask the man fuh give me a drop, he give me and when we a come a truck stick up the road, the grader man give them a pull up. The grader man go way and the truck man give me one drop out. The man stop by one shop and buy channa and drink then another man come over and ask what this fine man does do with you then he say ‘nobody don’t move Police in plain clothes.’ The Police hold on pon me, me story done deh, them put me in a cell and night time the soldier come and bring me this side (Georgetown CID Headquarters),” Reid testified.
Also during his testimony, Reid told the Commission that based on his investigative experience, he felt that the investigation by the Office for Professional Responsibility was incomplete and needed much more work to be done.
Reid also testified that he never visited the Lindo Creek area and was also tasked with compiling the case file to be forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Additionally, he further related that a post-mortem examination was conducted on the bodies of the eight men by a Jamaican Pathologist at the Georgetown Public Hospital but never saw the report.
Encounter with “Chung Boy” and “Magic”
Lieutenant Colonel Lloyd Souvenir also testified that he was a part of the Joint Services Taskforce stationed at Kwakwani and on June 16, 2008, they engaged the men in the Goat Farm area.
“During the evening we were doing foot patrol in the area just off the trail and we saw three armed men. We concealed ourselves and called on them to halt because this is the Joint Services the men fired at us, we returned fire. One of the men run away and keep firing at us but because of the angle he run from us it was difficult to keep engaging him and we went forward to the other two. They were motionless on the ground we disarmed them… we loaded the men onto the vehicle, we restocked the ammunition of the remaining ranks and we headed to Kwakwani,” he testified.
After disarming the men, they were taken from the site to Kawkwani where they were identified at “Chung Boy” and “Magic”. They also found a series of ammunition and two AK47s belonging to the Guyana Defence Force, among other items, which included credit cards and frequent flyer cards belonging to then assassinated Agriculture Minister Satyadeo Saw.
The items were found in haversacks the men were carrying.
Additionally, Souvenir said he would have accompanied a team of officers that included then head of OPR, Heeralall Makanlall, to the Lindo Creek site. He said when they got there, the camp was destroyed with everything scattered.
“There was a group of human bones with flesh falling off. It was nauseating and I started to throw up and went into a corner and allowed the Police to do their investigation,” Souvenir said.
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.
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.
