Jamaica still to submit Lindo Creek DNA report

Despite assurances by the Jamaica Constabulary Force that a full report on the DNA analysis of samples taken from the Lindo Creek massacre in 2008 would have been made available to Guyana by the end of January, the report is yet to be submitted.

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee last Friday said “Notwithstanding the commitment that was made by the team that came from Jamaica to provide us with the remainder of the analysis and the results of the DNA testing, I have to report that so far as of today’s date, we have not received the information that was promised us by the Jamaican delegation, we are in touch with them and we are assured that these results will soon be with the government and the Guyana Police Force”.

Both the Guyana government and the Jamaican constabulary had been criticised for the delays in the submission of the report close to four years since the investigation was launched.

Sometime between June 12 to 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 operated at the time by Leonard Arokium.

Police had linked the massacre to the now dead Rondell Rawlins, but Leonard Arokium had denied this, and instead accused the servicemen of committing the act during their search for Rawlins and his gang.

Investigators had advised that the identification of the persons murdered could only have been determined via DNA analysis.

As a result, samples of the human remains recovered from the crime scene were taken by the Jamaican team (which included a forensic pathologist) to the Jamaican Forensic Laboratory for analysis, while the remainder was stored at the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour.

A report of a partial analysis by the Jamaican Force Constabulary was submitted, and the Jamaican team promised to submit the full report by the end of January 2012.

The home affairs minister had said the remains stored at the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour form a vital part of the evidence collected.

He said it is usual for remains of deceased persons in murder investigations to be disposed of after a post mortem examination is concluded by handing over the body to relatives of the deceased for funeral. However, in the Lindo Creek case, which is an exceptional one, the remains were not identified, and therefore could not have been handed over to anyone nor disposed of by the state due to emotional issues normally associated with relatives of murder victims.