Cops cracking more murder cases
Asst. Police
Commissioner
David Ramnarine
Asst. Police Commissioner David Ramnarine

–CTV cameras, citizens seen as chief intel. sources

By Shauna Jemmott

AMIDST concerns about a spike in crime, Deputy Commissioner of Police, David Ramnarine, has said the GPF has been making more arrests, and has cracked a number of murder cases within days of the crime.

Ramnarine said the Force is especially thankful for the cooperation of members of the public in its intelligence-gathering, which has resulted in the GPF making several arrests, including those of suspects in three murders, and discovery of a firearm and ammunition at a home which has led to the arrests of four persons recently.

“In relation to murder, within recent days, a matter of weeks, we had the arrest of three suspects who have been on the run. Murder has always been the most troubling, the most worrying, crime,” Ramnarine said. On November 30, he said, a 22-year-old murder suspect who had been on the run for three days was caught by fellow miners, who tied him up with rope before summoning the police, who easily arrested him at Piari Landing in mining district 3. The man, Samuel Gouveia, is accused of stabbing to death Shanti Solomon, 33, a miner of New Amsterdam, Berbice. Gouveia, also a miner, was drinking at Puruni Landing and was involved in an argument with Solomon before he dealt her the fatal wound.

In another case, police quickly responded to a report of burglary in Essequibo, and the victim recognized the suspect. Based on information received from the virtual complainant, officers immediately visited the home of 48-year-old Michael Stephanie and arrested him while he was still wearing the wet and muddy clothes which he was wearing at the time he allegedly burglarized a woman’s home.

While processing him at the police station, the information on the system showed that he was wanted for the murder of 74-year-old Surujpattie Ramlakan of Richmond, Essequibo in February this year.

“Also, there was a prior burglary and we were able to connect him to that robbery, because something from the burglary was recovered at his home,” Ramnarine said.

Murder accused Kemo Evans migrated to Barbados earlier this year after he became wanted in connection with the murder of businessman Abdool Farouk Ghanie, allegedly committed between April 15 and 16 at East Bank Demerara. He was accused along with Floyd Anthony Rammit, who was allegedly his partner in the crime. Police said Evans was arrested by Barbados police, who found him while on an operation on the island and deported him to Guyana. When police here received the deportee, he confessed during processing that he had murdered the businessman along with Rammit. Evans appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates Court on Tuesday, and was remanded to prison.

The Deputy Commissioner told Guyana Chronicle that, a few days ago, police also received information from the public that someone may be in possession of a firearm in the Vigilance jurisdiction on the East Coast of Demerara. When police visited the home, based on the information they received, an illegal firearm with 46 rounds of ammunition was discovered, and four men were arrested and are in police custody as the latter awaits legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The acting Crime Chief also lauded the efforts of members of the public, who were cooperative in investigations into the murder of Melissa Skeete, recently stabbed to death allegedly by her estranged lover, who kicked her out of his car on Carmichael Street, Georgetown.

Alan Sim, 55, of Paradise Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara, turned himself in to police at Alberttown Police Station last week, and was charged with the murder of the 31-year-old mother of his 3-year-old child, committed earlier this week.

The senior police officer said cooperation from members of the public has been outstanding and quite helpful in cracking several other cases, but CCTV cameras and AFPIS, a finger printing method, have resulted in many other arrests and prosecutions of criminals on the run.

In the use of the AFPIS as a crime fighting tool, 82 positive identifications of finger prints were made in 2015, and those have resulted in 38 charges being made. Twenty-three of such identifications were done within the past three months, he said. Of those, 13 burglary charges were made, seven break-and-enter-and-larceny charges were made, and three charges of simple larceny were also instituted.

Government’s CCTV camera monitoring systems, installed at various points in Georgetown and on the East Coast and East Bank of Demerara, have resulted in identification of several persons caught in criminal activities. The monitoring of these cameras is done at CID Headquarters, and 17 persons have been arrested, including two murder suspects, seven suspected of being involved in robbery-under-arms, one person for a narcotics-related crime, one for abduction, and six simple larceny criminals.

Seven extractions were done from CCTV cameras installed by private individuals, and as a result, five arrests were made for robbery-under-arms and two for murder, including the arrest of Colin Alleyne, 23, of Cemetery Road, Timehri, who was wanted for the murder of an old woman on the East Coast Demerara, and other arrests of three individuals charged with a series of robberies committed last month along America Street in Georgetown.

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