INVESTIGATIONS into the murder are still ongoing, even as the file containing information on the execution of political activist Courtney Crum-Ewing stands incomplete with outstanding statements, and weeks after the alleged “hitman,” 37-year-old Regan Rodrigues of Riverview, Ruimveldt, was remanded.

Rodrigues, alias ‘Gray Boy,’ stood calmly in the dock in the courtroom of city Magistrate Ann McLennan yesterday, with his head down, praying, until his mood changed when the prosecutor Sergeant Neville Jeffers, was asked to address the court about the status of the file.

‘Grey Boy’ then went from sitting quietly to being enraged, but he maintained sufficient composure to utter, “So this country is run! Can’t help it! No Justice!”

Magistrate McLennan has adjourned the matter until September 11 for statements.

On August 7, Rodrigues appeared before Magistrate Fabayo Azore for the murder of Courtney Crum-Ewing, after being charged for unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and for escaping from lawful custody.
The .32 pistol which was found in Rodrigues’s possession was sent for ballistics testing while he was on remand, and the test proved that the same gun had been used to execute former soldier, Courtney Crum-Ewing.

Rodrigues was not required to plead to the indictable charge, which alleges that on May 10, 2015, at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, he murdered Courtney Crum-Ewing.

At his first court appearance, the unrepresented ‘Grey Boy’ explained that he was being victimised by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), because everybody is labelling him a murderer and a cold-blooded killer, who wanted to execute an innocent man. The magistrate had to remind Rodrigues of his right to remain silent, although he told her that he would like to “reason with the court.”

In his “reasoning,” he implicated Rajput Narine, a former bodyguard of former Attorney General and People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) executive member Anil Nandlall, and a highly ranked police officer whom he named as ‘Creaser.’

Narine and ‘Creaser,’ Rodrigues noted, were the ones who had offered him money to execute Courtney Crum-Ewing, but he said he had refused the offer because he was a supporter of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).

He said he had gone to the police, who instead held him for the crime, because “once money pass, nobody cares.”

Political activist Crum-Ewing was gunned down on March 10, 2015 while encouraging residents of Diamond New Housing Scheme to cast their votes in the May 11 General and Regional Elections against the PPP. The former soldier had come to the public’s attention after he had held a one-man demonstration for 80 days in front of the office of the then Legal Affairs Minister and Attorney General Anil Nandlall, following revelations of a taped conversation between that official and a senior reporter of the Kaieteur News.

Crum-Ewing was shot five times -– thrice to the head, once to the back of the neck, and once under one of his arms. All the bullets were fired from behind his person and at close range, except the one that hit him under his arm and exited through his shoulder.

Rodrigues was charged a few weeks ago for possession of illegal arms, and for escaping from lawful custody. The charges against the suspect were read on Wednesday last at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. It is alleged that on July 13, at Riverview, Ruimveldt, while in the custody of Constable 2041 Thomas pending criminal charges for unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition, Rodrigues escaped from lawful custody.

It is also alleged that on the same date, he had in his possession one Taurus pistol and 14 live rounds of ammunition, without being a licensed firearm holder.