As there continues to be uncertainty over what transpired during the shooting incident at the Kingston Seawall earlier this month, President David Granger has ordered that an investigation be launched into the deaths of Dextroy Cordis, Kwame Assanah, and Errol Adams, who were shot dead by Police.
The Head of State said that the decision was made at the level of the National Security Committee. It was also decided that the findings of the probe would be sent for legal advice to determine whether there was any culpability for the shooting incident.
“We have ordered an investigation into the circumstances under which the men came to be killed, and I believe some actions will be taken to have the files sent to the DDP (Director of Public Prosecutions) to determine whether there was any blameworthiness in the death of the persons,” Granger told reporters Wednesday morning, describing the response as “decisive and effective”.
According to the President, while he is yet to receive a report on the shooting incident, it might already be with Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan.
Nevertheless, President Granger went on to reiterate the need for such a probe when citizens die under abnormal or irregular circumstances.
“…On any occasion where there is a death of a person by unnatural means, then that death should be investigated, particularly in the defence of the Police Force… The law – the Coroner’s Act – requires that the district magistrate conduct an inquest, I don’t have to order an inquest. I expect it, it’s under the law,” he asserted.
The Head of State has long been an advocate for inquiries into extrajudicial killings, particularly during what he described as the 2002- 2008 “troubled era”. In fact, he has since established a Commission of Inquiry into the 2008 Lindo Creek Massacre which is said to be the first of a series of inquiries to be held in order to determine the intellectual authors of those extrajudicial killings.
On March 15, the Police shot and killed the three men, who they claimed had trailed a bank customer and were about to rob him on the Kingston Seawall.
At the time, the undercover cops were monitoring several banks in the city as part of a sting operation aimed at arresting the increase in cases of persons being trailed and robbed after visiting commercial banks.
The Police claimed that they came under fire when they confronted the suspects and it was in self-defence that they returned fire, killing Cordis, Assanah, and Adams.
But on Monday, an eyewitness who was reportedly working nearby refuted the Police’s version of what transpired and accused the lawmen of executing the trio.
Devon Lyte, a construction worker of Mc Doom, Greater Georgetown, who was working on the roof of the Guyana Softball Association on Carifesta Avenue on the day of the shooting, said he noticed a black car being pursued by a silver motor car.
Soon after, the black car came to a halt and a man exited. Similarly, the silver vehicle stopped and a man exited; he then walked towards the parked black car. “In fact, the driver of the black car was on the ground being physically assaulted for more than 10 minutes before the gunfire erupted and three occupants, as you all know, were all dead…there were no motorcycle which disappeared with any pillion rider or any mysterious rider,” Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes, who was retained by Lyte, told media operatives. He was reading from a statement obtained from his client.
According to Lyte in his statement, all the roads leading to the Seawall were blocked off to vehicular traffic prior to the shooting, as he suggested there was some coordination beforehand. In addition, the eyewitness said there was no exchange of gunfire.
Following Monday’s press conference, Lyte visited the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, in the company of Attorney Hughes, and submitted a statement to Crime Chief Paul Williams. He was asked to return on Tuesday to be interviewed by senior detectives. But the Police said that the eyewitness never showed up and his Attorney had indicated that his client needed another 24 hours to sort out some issues.
Hours after the shooting deaths of the three men, the Police, in a statement, related that the men were followed by an unmarked Police vehicle after they were seen trailing a customer who had left Scotiabank on Robb Street, Georgetown.
While the families of the men have been calling for justice, saying that they were murdered by the Police, acting Top Cop David Ramnarine has since thrown his support behind his ranks, claiming that the killings were justified.
