– as Glenn Lall remains silent
The families of the six Kaieteur News pressmen who were gunned down in cold blood at the newspaper’s printing press back in August 2006 are disappointed that they have not heard from the police despite a series of recent articles in the media.
Guyana Times and the Evening News have been carrying a series of investigative pieces on the mass murder which occurred on the evening of August 8, 2006. “We glad that Guyana Times and Evening News remember us. That day come and gone and nobody get time with us. We nah gat anybody to go to. The police nah say nothing to us in a long time. De government ain’t even doin anything. We don’t know what they afraid of,” one family member said.
The police are also yet to confirm whether or not the matter is considered closed as far as investigations are concerned.
Recently, the family members also cried foul over the money “supposedly” raised for them in the wake of the killings.
The owner and publisher of the muckraking, opposition-aligned Kaieteur News, Mohan Lall, aka Glenn Lall, had embarked on a fund-raising effort, reportedly to assist the family members of the victims in the wake of the shooting incident. But it is alleged that not all of the millions of dollars raised were used for that purpose. And even now, no one knows for sure the total amount of money collected by Lall, who continues to be silent despite many calls for him to come clean with the families.
Millions of dollars were reportedly raised, but the amount of funds handed out for relief to the family members did not add up, said one relative.
The relative begged that her identity not be revealed publicly, visibly afraid for her safety, as well as her children’s. The family members of those killed also say they have been waiting for answers from Lall, but none have been forthcoming.
There has been widespread speculation that the slain pressmen were collateral damage for a deal gone sour.
When pressed as to why they expect answers from Lall and not the police, one family member said, “Everybody in Guyana know the truth. Even the police know the truth. But we still nah get justice yet. The workmen dem dead and gone and nobody remember we. But that is life.”
The killings occurred during a period of unprecedented crime in Guyana from 2000 to 2006, which sent shockwaves throughout the nation.
Seven years ago, the Kaieteur News printery at Eccles, East Bank Demerara, came under attack by gunmen, who are believed to be connected to Lall.
Chetram Persaud, of 76 CC Eccles, East Bank Demerara; Eion Wegman, 47, of 51 Fourth Street, Alberttown, Georgetown; Richard Stewart, 24, of 239 Lamaha Park, East La Penitence, Georgetown; Mark Maikoo, 22, of 5 Yarrow Dam, La Penitence, Georgetown, and Shazeem Mohamed of 267 BB Eccles, East Bank Demerara, were shot point-blank and killed.
Another worker, Wordsworth Grey, of 31 Norton Street, Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara, was shot dead shortly before the killers stormed the printery.
Senior pressman Ramchand Harripersaud and security guard Julian De Grace were the only survivors of the bloodshed.
