Donald Rodney trashes Gregory Smith’s book on assassination

The brother of slain political activist Dr Walter Rodney has returned to the stand to give evidence in the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) that was established to determine who killed the historian in 1980.

Donald Rodney first took the stand in January when he spoke about joining his brother’s work with the Working People’s Alliance (WPA). Dr Walter Rodney was the co-founder of the WPA. The witness said that he had acted as a liaison between his brother and then Sergeant of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Gregory Smith, who the political activist had enlisted to make walkie-talkie devices.

Smith was implicated as the one who implanted explosives in a walkie-talkie before handing it over on the night of June 13, 1980. That said device minutes later exploded while in the lap of Dr Rodney who was with Donald in a car.

On Wednesday, Donald’s further evidence in chief was led by his attorney, Trinidadian Keith Scotland, during which he was shown the book Smith and his sister wrote. The book, “Assassination Cry of a Failed Revolution – The Truth About Dr Walter Rodney’s Death” contained photos of the alleged killer and the witness had identified him as the same person who handed him the walkie-talkie” device that he delivered to his brother.

Falsified accounts

The Attorney highlighted certain excerpts from the book and questioned the witness on its authenticity. Donald denied most, if not all, of certain events that were described in the book, especially Smith’s account of the events that occurred on the night of Dr Rodney’s death. Specifically, he denied having any knowledge of the device, which he collected from Smith and subsequently handed to his older brother, containing any explosives.

He refuted passages of the book that state he, his brother and Smith had discussions about detonators on that fateful night – June 13, 1980 or any other time. The witness was asked and replied that during the seven or so times he met Smith prior to the incident, he never heard the two men talking about explosives or even arms and ammunition as mentioned in the book.

Donald further went on to deny that the walkie talkie and subversive literature that was reportedly found in his house after Dr Rodney’s death were evidence of any plans to attack any Government agencies. He noted that there were some papers at his house that he was working on for the University of Guyana and not for any illegal activities as was claimed by the Police back then.

During Wednesday’s session, the witness further told the Court that he became involved in his brother’s work and life around 1979, because he was trying to protect his brother from being harmed since there were many threats against him.

He specifically recalled in that same year, the then Prime Minister Linden Forbes Burnham had cautioned the WPA to “make their wills” and had named only Walter Rodney in his speech. Another instance when his older brother was threatened, Donald said, was when it was said that “Walter would be sent to the Olympics”.

Threats

The witness added the Guyana Prison Service had performed a song in the Guyana Music Festival that year entitled “Run Rodney Run” and there were several posters on lantern posts along Hadfield Street with the same words on them.

Therefore, Donald said, he felt the need to act as a “shield” between Dr Rodney and Smith at the time when the former GDF rank was building a walkie-talkie for the social activist. He further told the Commission that while he did not know a lot about Smith at the time, he was still suspicious of him since he was not a WPA member.

“I believe that in the circumstances of the threats, that someone who is not Walter’s immediate family or in political circle could be a potential danger,” he noted.

Donald explained to the Commission that he thought by being at his brother’s side all the time, he would deter those with intentions of harming the political activist or if such an attempt was made, he would be the one to take the full blunt of it. He added that Dr Rodney was a “significant” individual and was his brother so he felt the need to protect him from imminent harm.

Earlier in his evidence, Donald offered the Commission a more detailed account of the night his brother was killed. He noted that after he collected an object from Gregory Smith that was in a brown paper bag, he was given certain instructions to follow in order to get the device to start communicating.

The witness told the Commission that after he collected the object, Smith asked him to synchronise their watches to say 20:00h – at the time it was 19:50h. Donald further stated that he went back to the car and drove towards Hadfield Street and parked about 20 yards away from the (Camp Street jail) on John Street. He noted that they waited a while but cannot recall how long for the light on the device to show but it never did.

He recalled his older brother was saying something about Smith and he was looking out the window when he felt a vibration followed by a loud thunderous sound. “At the same time that I heard the loud thunder, I felt my body being pushed out the car against the car door,” he recounted. The witness said that he realised that the sound came from Walter’s side of the car and so he rushed north on John Street towards Dr Omawale’s house, where he confronted either Andaiye or Karen De Souza.

“I told them that something terrible had happened in my car and that it was at John and Hadfield Streets and that Walter was in the car and that he needed help and they should go to help him,” the witness disclosed. He added that he was later informed that his brother had died, something he was always fearful would happen.

Donald revealed to the Commission that he sustained lacerations to his throat, tongue, and had a puncture wounds with embedded fragments in his left side, arm, face and eye. He also had a puncture wound on his right elbow and injuries to his ear. However, his long-term injuries included impaired hearing in his left ear and his left eye was also damaged while three of his fingers on his right hand had nerve damage.

The Inquiry will continue with the Commissioners visiting the site where Dr Rodney was killed. They will also be going to other areas in Georgetown that were frequently mentioned throughout the Inquiry.