RODNEY’S DEATH: AN ENIGMA BEING ANSWERED : Special Report on the Rodney Commission of Inquiry by Shaun Michael Samaroo : Crime Chief considers Rodney assassination case closed
Late historian Dr Walter Rodney
Late historian Dr Walter Rodney

CRIME Chief at the Guyana Police Force, Senior Superintendent Leslie James, considers the 34-year cold case of Dr. Walter Rodney’s bomb blast assassination in Georgetown “closed” because the main suspect Gregory Smith is deceased, James told the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry yesterday.

He however, said the Commission of Inquiry is fulfilling such a purpose, of probing the death of Dr. Rodney.
Under intense grilling from Counsel for the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Christopher Ram, Senior Superintendent James for the first time appeared flustered and uneasy in the witness stand, and peppered the day parrying pointed, specific questions from Ram with answers like “I’m not sure.”
The Presidential Commission for the first time zeroed in on the failures of the Police Force to investigate why famed Guyanese historian and international scholar Dr Walter Rodney died in a shocking explosion in his car when a deadly bomb disguised as a communications device blew up in his lap.
Ram’s cross examination focused on the relevance today of the cold case, and sought to probe why the Police failed to consider the plethora of evidence that identified Gregory Smith, a mysterious Guyana Defense Force (GDF) soldier, as the main suspect in the bombing.
Ram asked the Crime Chief if the Police Force ever investigated, or even considered, the “conspiracies” of the “State apparatus” to execute Dr. Rodney. The Crime Chief responded; “I’m not sure.”
Ram’s line of questioning prompted the Commission members – Chairman Sir Richard Cheltenham of Barbados, Senior Counsel Seenath Jairam of Trinidad and Tobago and Jacqueline Samuels-Brown of Jamaica – to comment on the stunning failure of the Police Force, with Sir Richard asking the Crime Chief if the “extraordinary” failures appeared to be “deliberate”. James said he did not think so.
Appearing uncomfortable and uneasy under Ram’s direct and detailed cross-examination, James sought to avoid direct answers to serious questions that implicated the Police Force’s investigation of Dr. Rodney’s death.
Sir Richard asked the Crime Chief if it may be appropriate to consider the questionable performance of the Police Force in the case and look to identify if the Force’s “professional integrity” suffered serious damage.
Ram questioned the “State apparatus” that failed, including the Foreign Affairs Ministry, as the fiancé of Gregory Smith showed up as an employee at the Guyana Consulate in Toronto, Canada, shortly after Dr. Rodney’s assassination.
The Commission is probing the period 1978 to 1980 in Guyana, when Dr. Rodney and a number of other political activists died violently, including Father Darke, who was stabbed on Brickdam, Georgetown, during a popular street protest against the dictatorship government of the People’s National Congress (PNC).
Widespread suspicions over the past three and a half decades hover over the troubled PNC Government as the main executor of the assassination of the populist political activist on Friday, June 13, 1980.
The Counsel dealt with Smith’s getaway to the hinterland aboard a Guyana Defense Force (GDF) aircraft, detailed reports in the Catholic Standard newspaper, eye witness accounts of Smith’s sighting after he escaped Georgetown the day after the bombing on Camp Street, and an account by Pamela Beharry, all identifying Smith as a GDF soldier.
Ram wanted to know if the Crime Chief thought the Police Force should have investigated if there were conspiracies involving the security forces – the Guyana Defense Force (GDF), Guyana Police Force and the Joint Intelligence Command, along with other agencies like the Foreign Affairs Ministry to cause Dr. Rodney’s violent death.
James told the Commission that Police investigators closed the file on the Dr. Rodney cold case after Smith died, yet the Force never obtained a death certificate for Smith. Smith is reported to have died recently in French Guiana, where he escaped to, in a mysterious flight from Guyana after the deadly bomb blast transformed Guyana forever.
The Commission discussed how Smith secured two different birth certificates, and how he obtained a passport and how he got a GDF military plane to fly him the morning after the bomb blast on June 14, 1980 to Kwakwani and how and why his fiancé got a diplomatic posting to Canada, after she was a mere confidential secretary, and how the Police neglected to arrest Smith despite publication of his name and picture and other details in the Catholic Standard and how and why the police did not act on Donald Rodney’s statement that Smith had supplied a communications device to Dr. Rodney, which exploded in his lap, killing him in his car, and how the police did not act on Pamela Beharry’s identification of Smith as a GDF solider.
Sir Richard noted that reports peg Smith as a military man, and hinted at testimony at the Commission that fingered Smith as an intelligence officer working as a double agent for the GDF and the joint Intelligence Command, and for the WPA, through Dr. Rodney.
In the “mid-1990’s,” the Police issued an arrest warrant for Smith, but it was never executed.
Ram worked on the idea that the Police failed to probe Dr. Rodney’s killing, implying that the assassination was a PNC Government conspiracy, and the Crime Chief said that based on all the information that was available to it, the Police Force should have arrested Smith, as “all the particulars” were available in a report compiled by Police investigator, Ignatius McRae, who investigated the bomb blast, but ended up charging the badly wounded Donald Rodney as he lay in a hospital bed. Rodney is the only eye witness to the bomb blast killing of his brother, and is slated to testify at the Commission.
James told the Commission the ultimate responsibility for the investigation lay with then Crime Chief, Cecil ‘Skip’ Roberts.
Donald Rodney was charged instead of Smith, while in hospital on June 26.
The Commission expressed the thought that if Smith was an undercover operative of the security forces, he would not have been charged.
Records show that the GDF paid Smith’s phone bill, and a passport was issued to him by the PNC Government.
In fact, Smith was in Police custody only ten days before the deadly bomb blast, when Deputy Principal of the Rama Krishna School, Harry Persaud, filed a Police report that Smith had threatened him with a gun. The Commission noted that ‘Skip’ Roberts had mentioned this incident.
The Crime Chief said “it could be a possibility but not sure” that Smith could have been involved in the killing of Rodney.
Chairman Sir Richard asked him if, given the information available, the security forces may have given Smith the instructions. James said he’s “not sure.” The Chairman said, “Could you rule that out?” The Crime Chief said, “It cannot be totally ruled out.” Chairman: “Given the times is there any evidence the Police looked into that aspect, that Smith (was) carrying out orders from security forces?” Crime Chief: “I’m not sure.”
• Samuels-Brown: Police could have checked if aircraft operated by GDF, but no evidence that investigation was done. Failure of Police to pursue investigation.
• Chairman: Picture in papers that Gouveia recognised Smith as the person he flew on GDF military plane on June 14, 1980, speaks to involvement of GDF aircraft in getting Smith out of jurisdiction.
• Chairman: Can the police ask themselves – did we act professionally, or was our professional integrity challenged?
• Crime Chief: Frankly, there should be some engagement, that call must be made by my superiors.
• Chairman: We got to ask where we went wrong? How did this happen?
• Ram: Conspiracy by state apparatus with Smith to kill Dr. Rodney.
• Crime Chief: not sure. Investigation short of being thorough, although police had capacity.
• Ram: Was there a cover-up in the implications of the State Apparatus in the death of Dr. Rodney. Crime Chief: I don’t know of a cover-up.
• Chairman: Would it strike you that these were extraordinary omissions on behalf of investigators. Does it not raise a question that these were, given the frequency and importance of omissions, that they were deliberate?
• Crime Chief: No.

PULL QUOTE
The Commission discussed how Smith secured two different birth certificates, and how he obtained a passport and how he got a GDF military plane to fly him the morning after the bomb blast on June 14, 1980 to Kwakwani and how and why his fiancé got a diplomatic posting to Canada, after she was a mere confidential secretary, and how the Police neglected to arrest Smith despite publication of his name and picture and other details in the Catholic Standard and how and why the police did not act on Donald Rodney’s statement that Smith had supplied a communications device to Dr. Rodney, which exploded in his lap, killing him in his car, and how the police did not act on Pamela Beharry’s identification of Smith as a GDF solider.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.