– Donna McKinnon’s daughter recalls her gruesome death 19 years ago

LATE on the afternoon of April 9, 2001, eyewitnesses saw a man on the backstairs of Freedom House with a handgun firing into a crowd of protesters on Robb Street, and as night stepped in, the body of Donna McKinnon, a 43-year-old market vendor laid lifeless on the empty lot next to the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) headquarters.
No one was ever held culpable for the woman’s death and almost 19 years later, the woman’s children are still hopeful that one day, the perpetrator will be brought to justice.
McKinnon’s fourth child, Soffina Solomon, told the Guyana Chronicle recently that she remembers the incident daily and will not give up campaigning for the perpetrator to be placed before the court.

The woman’s daughter told the Chronicle that she was in the city when she heard gunshots in the vicinity of Robb Street; she recalled that she did not have any idea that it was her mother who had been shot until later that evening. It was while the family was looking at a 19:00hrs newscast that they learnt of her mother’s death earlier in the afternoon.
Solomon, along with several siblings, migrated after the incident out of frustration that no closure will ever be forthcoming.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The incident occurred during heightened political tension which had enveloped the country at the time as the then opposition, the People’s National Congress/ Reform (PNC/R), was protesting the results of the March 2001 elections.

On the day in question, a crowd of protesters marched along Robb Street demanding dialogue between the PPP government and the opposition. Several fires were lit along Regent and Robb Streets at the time.

As the crowd converged in front of Freedom House late that afternoon, a number of gunshots rang out and video evidence posted on a nightly programme which was hosted at the time by Mark Benschop, showed a man in a long, black coat, manoeuvring in and out of the back door on a verandah at the top floor of Freedom House. Eyewitnesses said he had what appeared to be a gun in his hand.

It is this individual which eyewitnesses would later recall seeing firing into the crowd.
At the end of the shooting, McKinnon was found in the nearby empty lot. Another bystander, Ramnarine Bhood, was also shot and although a bullet was lodged near his spine, he survived the shooting.

McKinnon sustained multiple gunshot wounds to her head, lower abdomen and right leg; she was found by passers-by covered under a galvanised sheet. Sometime around 18:30hrs, she was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

McKinnon’s reputed husband Brian Caesar had told Stabroek News at the time that he and his reputed wife had gone to the corner of Wellington and Robb Streets, along with a crowd of other persons to see a fire which had been lit in that vicinity.
They were standing on the pavement at the entrance of the then Metropole Cinema, which stood opposite Freedom House, when police ranks from the feared Target Special Squad, called the ‘Black clothes’, arrived at around 17:00hrs. Gunshots then rang out and as the crowd scattered, McKinnon, he said, ran in one direction while he ran in another. That was the last time he saw her alive.

VISITS TO FAMILY
As Georgetown burned, answers were being sought on the death of the market vendor and three days after the woman’s death, then Police Commissioner, the late Laurie Lewis and a team of top police officials visited the home of McKinnon’s family to offer words of comfort to the woman’s grieving daughters.

Then on April 18, 2001, several top PPP government functionaries of the Bharrat Jagdeo administration — including then Prime Minister-designate Samuel Hinds— Gail Teixeira and the late Dr Dale Bisnauth, received a rude welcome when they visited the home of McKinnon. The officials eventually left to shouts of “out de place” and “political gimmick.”

COVER-UP AND CORONER’S INQUEST
Commissioner Lewis had informed the Stabroek News at the time that the police were not attempting to cover up for anyone. At the time he was responding to comments that he knew that McKinnon had not died as a result of shots fired by the police.
After her death, there were plans to exhume the woman’s body for another autopsy to be carried out by a foreign, rather than a local pathologist, since several unusual occurrences had occurred leading up to her autopsy.

Mckinnon’s suspicious family noted at the time that their mother’s body was removed without their knowledge from the GPHC mortuary to the area where it was taken and where the autopsy was performed. They were never informed about where the autopsy was done.

Also, at the time too no family member was allowed to witness the post-mortem, even though they had signed a document indicating the family members authorised to do so.
A coroner’s inquest was also held a year later, but that also never brought closure to the matter.

COMPENSATION
As regards compensation, Solomon noted that following the incident the family received a sum of $3M which the PPP government said was a contribution to the family’s welfare, given the loss of their mother who was their sole breadwinner.
Solomon said notwithstanding the money, the family was deeply hurt as they sought answers regarding her mother’s death.
“We were still demanding justice, we were still making inquiries .We never stopped seeking justice for the loss of our mother’s life,” she said.
Solomon said during a visit to Guyana recently, she met the current Attorney General Basil Williams and chatted briefly with him. “He told me they still have it on the agenda,” she said. She expressed hope that a Commission of Inquiry will be held into the matter.
As regards the video evidence of the man with the gun on the back stairs at Freedom House, Solomon said she has hopes that the APNU+AFC government will find out who that person was.

“I have the faith that if the individual that we saw in the video is still alive, that one day soon justice will be served,” she said, adding that she has confidence that the David Granger – led administration will bring the perpetrator to justice.
She recalled that after the incident, social activist Mark Benschop, along with former PNC Leader Robert Corbin and Williams, the current attorney general, kept in contact and supported the family

MCKINNON WAS A JOVIAL PERSON
Solomon described her mother as a jovial person whose pot always had food. ”She never cooked in small amounts, she celebrated all our achievements, whatever we achieved, she never shy away from ‘bigging we up’,” the woman said of her mother, adding that her mother also had a very strict side.
“I love her and miss her and I only wish she was around to see how productive her children have become; I only wish that she was here with us. I wish she was here with us,” she in sad tones.

Last week, during an interview with Benschop on his nightly radio show “Straight-up,” Solomon said subsequent to her mother’s death, the PPP was trying its best to persuade the family members to vote and support that party, although that government knew that the family never supported it and that the family was seeking an answer to their mother’s brutal demise.

Solomon, who was 20 years old when her mother was killed, said that she attended the East Ruimveldt Secondary School with PPP spokesman Kwame McCoy; she noted that the PPP was using him to talk to the family at the time.
She said that after the $3M payment was made to the family, the PPP seemed to have forgotten about the matter as the authorities at the time refused to answer calls or entertain follow-ups on the matter.

“There wasn’t anything ever forthcoming,” the woman said on the radio programme, adding that she understands the seriousness and importance of the upcoming elections.
Solomon said she is willing and able to return home and support the APNU+AFC administration to ensure that the government remains in office, so that they can re-open the case and fully investigate her mother’s demise. “I trust that they keep their word,” she said.

Benschop said he will ensure that he follows up the matter with the current administration of the Guyana Police Force, adding that the death of McKinnon that afternoon near Freedom House remains fresh in his mind.