MURDER cases from 2013 seem to have frozen as the police are yet to secure any convictions for some, including the execution-style killings of miner Jason Wills, ex-Army Officer Denzil Mingo and Jamaican businessman Patrick Forbes.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said, as regards the case of Wills, the 7.62 spent shells recovered from the scene of his killing match those found at Pine Grove, Meadowbrook Gardens, where the fatal shooting of Police Corporal Romain Cleto took place.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law Enforcement) said ballistics testing confirmed the comparison with those retrieved from Avenue of the Republic near the Plaisance Bus Park, also in Georgetown, where Cleto was killed in front the Bank of Baroda.
Two other ranks, also in the group trailing a vehicle through the city, were injured when a gunman opened fire as they approached it.
That happened about 18:40 hrs on April 27, 2013, when Cleto, 25, a father of one was killed; Constable Randy Daly suffered a gunshot to his left arm and Constable Anil Persaud injured by shattered windscreen glass.
Persaud said the police found two sets of spent shells at the scene, 7.62 and 9 mm types, numbering more than a handful.
Two men, Shaka Chase and Reagan Anthony Rodrigues, had been arrested for the murder but were both released after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) intervened.
Meanwhile, following the killing of Wills, several persons, among them two persons who were in the house at the time he was cut down in a hail of bullets, had been held for questioning but later released.
Persaud said .45 and 7.62 spent shells were taken from that crime scene after Wills also called ‘Teddy’, 33, was executed on January 31, 2013, while watching television in the Pine Grove, Meadowbrook Gardens, Georgetown, home of a friend.
Two guns
It was reported that two gunmen scaled the fence and entered the house through an unlocked front door and sprayed the surprised Wills with bullets from two guns.
The gold miner had journeyed from Mahdia, Potaro, to spend some time in the city and was staying at the friend when he was executed with seven gunshots to the body about 20:00 hrs.
Mingo, 21, of Third Street, Alberttown, Georgetown, too, was killed when two men, carrying what appeared to be high-powered rifles, surrounded the vehicle which he and two friends entered as they emerged from the Edge Nightclub, on Main Street, in the city, as well, on November 17, 2013.
Police confirmed it happened about 04:30 hrs when two men with guns opened fire on Mingo, Joseph Barker, of Fifth Street, Alberttown and Earlson Murray, 23, of Norton Street, Wortmanville, while they were in a motor vehicle on Main Street, too.
Mingo was hit several times about the body and pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) while the injured Barker was a patient nursing injuries.
Their motor vehicle, which was damaged by the gunfire, had been detained by the police but no arrests made since the incident.
Jamaican businessman Forbes was riddled with bullets on Orange Walk, Bourda, last November 13, as he left a group of friends with whom he usually engaged in domino games at the location.
That occurred about 00:10 hrs while at the popular ‘hang out’ spot where he was shot by a lone gunman who escaped.
The deceased, who had operated a boutique in another city ward, succumbed to the gunshot injuries a few days later at a private hospital.
Forbes, 36, of Lot 186 Lance Gibbs Street, Queenstown, also in Georgetown, was in company of several other persons when a volley of bullets shattered the early morning quiet.
He was hit in his abdomen and right thigh.
Crime Chief Persaud said a group of men were in the shop playing dominoes when Forbes was shot multiple times and other persons heard the gunfire but did not see the shooter.
(By Michel Outridge)
