RODNEY’S DEATH: AN ENIGMA BEING ANSWERED Special Report on the Rodney Commission of Inquiry
Ms Ann Wagner
Ms Ann Wagner

Weeping Wagner unfolds dramatic testimony

EMOTIONAL drama unfolded at the Rodney Commission yesterday as the weeping sister of main suspect in the bomb-blast assassination of Dr. Walter Rodney, Ms. Ann Wagner, took to the witness stand to vehemently oppose the account of Donald Rodney about the tragic events of Friday, June 13, 1980.Guyana experienced its deadliest bomb-blast on that day when, as dusk settled over the city, a disguised communications device exploded in the lap of the nation’s most famous and world-recognised historian, Dr. Rodney, causing his instant death.
The only eyewitness to the tragedy, Dr. Rodney’s brother, Donald Rodney, wrapped up his testimony as star witness at the Commission on Monday, declaring that he had to flee Guyana after he escaped the assassination, because he “feared death by the dictatorship”.
Living in Barbados, he travelled to Georgetown to engage in the Presidential Commission’s work to see that national justice is accomplished in the 34 year old cold case, which languished as the worst case of political crime in the Commonwealth Caribbean.

Donald Rodney
Donald Rodney

Yesterday, he sat in the audience in mute silence as Wagner’s testimony opposed his own account about the tragedy.
Wagner told Rodney’s Counsel, Keith Scotland of Trinidad and Tobago, under cross-examination, that she had several conversations with her brother, Gregory Smith, concerning worldwide suspicion that Smith had supplied the bomb that killed Dr. Rodney.
The Commission’s probe, now entering a year since it commenced last year, unfolds a dramatic tale of political intrigue and State-sponsored espionage and sinister plots under the Government of the People’s National Congress (PNC) that targeted the leaders of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA).
Dr. Rodney became a prime target of the State’s sinister plots, as leader of the WPA, Commission testimonies have revealed.
For the past 34 years, Smith eluded facing any justice system, despite being widely suspected as the Guyana Defense Force (GDF) espionage agent who supplied the bomb to the Rodney brothers.
Wagner’s name surfaced several times over the past year at the Commission in testimonies from witnesses, especially as she co-authored a book with her brother, Smith, denying Smith’s role in the assassination, and calling for Rodney to take a lie-detector test.
Yesterday, Wagner said the bomb-blast was an “accident”, and told the Commission that her brother told her that Rodney was wrong about the events that happened, and Smith was innocent.
She, however, admitted that Smith constructed the “triggering device” that remotely exploded the bomb once it was in the hands of Dr. Rodney.
In her book, Wagner cast aspersions on the character of Rodney, but admitted to Counsel Scotland that she made such a judgement based entirely on what Smith told her, rather than on personal knowledge of Rodney’s character.
Scotland developed his cross-examination into a heated exchange, and at times Commission Chairman Sir Richard Cheltenham and Commissioners Seenath Jairam and Jacqueline Samuel-Brown intervened to clarify or calm the exchange.
Wagner displayed dramatic body language, at times shaking her head or sighing in exasperation as she reacted to Counsel’s robust questions.
At one point, Commission Counsel Glen Hanuman intervened to object to Wagner apparently being coached on how to react to questions by members of the audience, some of whom included Smith’s surviving family.
Scotland established from Wagner that Smith never told her a GDF pilot flew him directly from Timehri airport to a remote hinterland location in a secretive military flight aboard a GDF military plane that flew out of a military hangar at Timehri airport, on June 14, 1980, the morning after the deadly bomb blast. Former GDF pilot, Gerry Gouveia, has testified at the Commission that he piloted the plane that transported Smith to the hinterland on June 14, 1980.
Wagner said Smith told her “three men” accosted him after the bomb blast, drugged him into a stupor, and transported him unawares to the hinterland location.
Smith showed up living in French Guiana under a new name, as Cyril Johnson, and rebuffed a Guyana Government request in 2006 to travel to Guyana to face a probe into the Dr. Rodney suspected assassination, instead demanding clemency from the death penalty.

Ms. Ann Wagner and her lawyer, Keith Scotland of Trinidad and Tobago
Ms. Ann Wagner and her lawyer, Keith Scotland of Trinidad and Tobago

Counsel Scotland terminated his cross-examination at 2 pm yesterday because he had a commitment overseas, and said he would be willing to resume on Friday.
Wagner’s appearance at the Presidential Commission, which convened last year March after President Donald Ramotar made the determined move to secure national justice for the Guyanese people and the WPA in the bomb-blast tragedy, generated dramatic interest, as her book on the case, along with her close connection with Smith as his sister, promises to shed crucial light on the events that forever changed the political map of Guyana.
The Commission has heard extensive testimony that Smith worked as a double agent as a GDF soldier, supplying clandestine information and misinformation on behalf of the PNC Government’s State Intelligence Joint Command, to Dr. Rupert Roopnarine of the WPA, and similar information from the WPA to the Intelligence officers, including the late former Police Commissioner Laurie Lewis, and former GDF boss, Major General (retired) Norman McLean.
Wagner, tall and elegant, speaking with a strong North American accent, dressed in black business wear, sat in the witness stand to answer questions, and wept openly as she talked of Smith and what he told her of the tragedy. She said Smith wanted to “clear his name” and to correct the historical record about his role in Dr. Rodney’s suspected political assassination under the dictatorship PNC regime.
The Commission resumes this morning.

Scotland established from Wagner that Smith never told her a GDF pilot flew him directly from Timehri airport to a remote hinterland location in a secretive military flight aboard a GDF military plane that flew out of a military hangar at Timehri airport, on June 14, 1980, the morning after the deadly bomb blast. Former GDF pilot, Gerry Gouveia, has testified at the Commission that he piloted the plane that transported Smith to the hinterland on June 14, 1980.
Wagner said Smith told her three men accosted him after the bomb blast, drugged him into a stupor, and transported him unawares to the hinterland location.

by Shaun Michael Samaroo

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