Blanhum removed as Guyana’s Crime Chief

…to act as Deputy Commander of ‘A’ Division
Substantive Crime Chief, Senior Superintendent Wendell Blanhum, has been removed from his post, and will now act as Deputy Commander of “A” Division.
While Blanhum was on leave, Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Williams was functioning as interim crime chief, and will continue to function in that capacity, according to acting Police Commissioner David Ramnarine.

Ramnarine has said that Blanhum’s being reposted to second in command of ‘A’ Division was not done without precedent. He said this was done to facilitate the Force’s annual Christmas security programme.
“Senior Superintendent Wendell Blanhum has been reposted, and that is to ‘A’ Division as the second in command….I am in command of the Force, and I have noted that the Assistant Commissioner, law enforcement, Assistant Commissioner of Police Paul Williams, is functioning in that capacity, and I would like it to continue because (of) the arrangements we have for the Christmas season, and (I would) also (like) to note that Mr Blanhum’s reposting is not without precedent,” Ramnarine said in an invited comment.
However, he refused to comment further when asked whether the demotion was in keeping with the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the alleged plot to assassinate President David Granger.
On March 29 last, Andriff Gillard reported to the Police that his friend and neighbour, Nizam Khan, had offered him G$7 million to assassinate the President. He said the offer was made during a conversation between Khan and himself after he had approached Khan to borrow G$6 million to purchase a property.
Following the allegation, President Granger ordered the CoI to investigate the Police investigation of the allegation, and to also make recommendations to address flaws.
Retired Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Slowe conducted the CoI, and handed the report to President Granger at the end of August.
When Crime Chief Blanhum took to the stand before that CoI, a clash between Slowe and Blanhum ensued. Blanhum was the first person to receive information of the alleged plot, and was instructed by Ramnarine to personally oversee the investigation.
The commission found that Blanhum had failed to properly supervise the investigation, and lied while under oath when he said it was his decision to send Nizam Khan on bail. It was recommended that Blanhum should be disciplined for all those infractions.
“He was insubordinate when he took a rude, argumentative and aggressive posture at the Commission of Inquiry. He should be disciplined for this. His lack of supervision of this important investigation; his utterances, disrespect and arrogance displayed before the Commission show that he is incapable of functioning as the crime chief, the lead investigator and manager of the major investigating unit of the Guyana Police Force. Blanhum should be replaced as Crime Chief, and reassigned in order to gain command experience,” Slowe recommended.
Since taking up the post of Crime Chief in May of 2015, Blanum had reopened several high-profile cases, such as the execution of fashion designer Trevor Rose; the 1993 murder case of Monica Reece; and the robbery/murder of Sheema Mangar.
Mashramani Costume Designer and Events Coordinator Trevor Rose was gunned on January 26, 2014 while sitting in the back seat of a Toyota 212 at Eccles Public Road, East Bank Demerara (EBD). He had fathered eight children, and the investigations are progressing, according to the Police.
Former Demerara Bank employee Sheema Mangar, 20, was victim of a robbery sometime after 18:00hrs on September 10, 2010 as she waited for transportation on North Road. She chased the robber, who jumped into the car that dragged her from outside Bedford Methodist Church at Camp Street and North Road to the intersection of Camp and Church Streets. She died hours later at St Joseph Mercy Hospital.
The body of the 23-year-old security guard Monica Reece was dumped from a speeding pickup in the vicinity of the Geddes Grant building (now Courts) on Main Street, Georgetown on April 9, 1993. Her identification was later determined as Monica Reece. It was a Good Friday night that the murder took place.
Blanhum and a team of detectives were able to crack the murder case of Babita Sarjou in May of 2016.