THE recently-commissioned Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) testing equipment can assist in bringing closure to the families of the eight miners who lost their lives in the Lindo Creek Massacre on June 2008.

“We can help them, proving that the evidence that was found at the scene is of the victims, if not, then it’s an open case, because as it is, there were bodies burnt to ashes and we cannot specifically say if that family member was indeed there at that point and time when that crime occurred,” Director of the Forensic Science Laboratory, Delon France said at the recent commissioning of the equipment.

France explained that it can clear the air on if the bodies were at the scene, where they were burnt or if it they were thrown somewhere else.

Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan said the DNA testing can prove whether the burnt bodies were indeed the persons who were killed.

“We are certainly going to be in a better position having the DNA equipment in this lab now to move forward with that. As to what will be the conclusion as to whether a death certificate will be issued, I really cannot say,” the minister said.

Ramjattan said that government will engage the families of the victims.
The Presidential Commission of Inquiry was established on February 1, 2018, to investigate the circumstances surrounding the killings of Cecil Arokium, Dax Arokium, Horace Drakes, Bonny Harry, Lancelot Lee, Compton Speirs, Nigel Torres and Clifton Berry Wong, on or about June 21, 2008.

The men’s burnt bodies were discovered at Lindo Creek, by mining camp owner Leonard Arokium, on the morning of June 21.

He had told officials that information he received from eyewitnesses showed that it was the Joint Services that was responsible for the death of his son, brother and six other miners in his employ.

The completed report of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the June 2008 Lindo Creek Massacre recommends, among other things, that compensation be given to the families of the eight murdered miners.