NEWS that the Major Crimes Unit of the Guyana Police Force will reopen several murder cases has brought hope to the mother of designer Trevor Rose, shot and killed by a lone gunman in January 2014.The Rose family still has several lingering questions, including the whereabouts of a firearm that was found at the scene of the crime.

At the same time, Sheema Mangar’s mother is of the view that the investigation into her daughter’s death “is in the right hands now”, and she has full confidence that Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum and his team of crack sleuths will solve her daughter’s “cruel” death.

The Crime Chief confirmed on Saturday that detectives will analyse the evidence in the cases, and determine the way forward based on the advice of the Force’s legal adviser.

Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle from her East Street, Georgetown home on Sunday afternoon, Rose’s mother Lillian Browne expressed optimism that closure would be brought to the family regarding the death of her only son.
She said it is “disheartening” to know that the person/s responsible for her son’s death is/are “going along their merry way”.

Browne said she spoke to the police on the matter several weeks ago, and has been following the recent spate of cases which the police have been able to crack and bring before the courts persons held responsible for the crimes.

“It gives me hope,” she said, noting that she has not overcome the death of her son. “The void that is there cannot be filled by anyone,” Browne said.

She said that persons within the Police Force have informed the family that her son may have been killed over a woman.

In addition, she questioned the whereabouts of a firearm which the police had recovered at the scene of the crime. “What happened to that gun?” she asked.

She said that based on their own investigations, family members were told that the firearm belonged to a licensed firearm holder, and it may be in that individual’s possession.

“What happened to that gun?” she asked repeatedly.

GRATEFUL
Roxanne Rose-Beckles, Trevor Rose’s sister, told this publication that she was grateful that the police have reopened the case.

“I can’t imagine why it was closed in the first place. But I hope that this time around there is a thorough investigation,” she added. She said that while closure will not bring back her brother, “At least, please let justice be served”.

At Mangar’s Block 8, Mon Repos ECD home, Radica Thakoor sat next to several photographs of her daughter as she recounted the six years which have passed since the young Demerara Bank employee was killed.

She believes the police were “prolonging” their investigations into her daughter’s death, and added that the Force had enough evidence to solve the matter.
On Sunday she seemed optimistic.

“Well I feel relieved that the case reopened. I feel that it in the right hands now,” Thakoor said.

She also expressed optimism, based on the recent ability of the police to crack several high-profile murder cases. “So much cases the Crime Chief has solved, I know he gonna do a just job,” she said.

While noting the amount of time since her daughter’s death, Thakoor added that “maybe they (the police investigators) take six years, but in six minutes they can solve it”.

She said that on the last few occasions she had heard from the police, the officers repeatedly told her that clothing samples taken from her daughter — which were taken on the night of her death — were sent overseas for analysis.

Thakoor noted that, last year, after the Government was changed, she wrote Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan on the matter.

But why was Sheema killed?
“To tell you the honest truth, many nights I wonder why. (She was) just a young girl, they demanded she phone,” she said in a sad voice. “Why you got to be so hard and cruel on a young girl who just start her life?” Thakoor asked.

She said Sheema was the eldest of her two children; her son is several years younger. Giving a background of Sheema Manger, the woman said that after Sheema had finished school at Queen’s College, her daughter had taken a year’s break before starting to work at Demerara Bank. She described Sheema as an “all-rounder” at the bank. At the time she was killed, the woman said, Sheema was working as a teller.

CANNOT RECALL ANY PROBLEMS
Thakoor could not recall her daughter experiencing any problems with anyone. She said the phone at the centre of the matter was relatively new, and she cannot connect it to the crime.

She said her daughter had been in a friendly relationship with a young man; but, according to her, it was not serious.

The Guyana Police Force said on Saturday that it has decided to reopen investigations into five murder cases, including those of Trevor Rose, Sheema Mangar, and security guard Monica Reece.
According to the Crime Chief, the decision was made to reopen the cold cases following numerous requests from relatives who have lost loved ones.

Rose had been a popular designer. He was fatally shot on the morning of January 26, 2014 after a lone gunman in a heavily tinted vehicle opened fire on the car in which he was travelling at Eccles, East Bank Demerara. Two other persons sustained injuries in that incident, including car driver Troy Nieuenkirk and Rose’s companion Latoya Towler, mother of one of his children.

The police had said that Nieuenkirk was driving his car when another vehicle drove up alongside and the driver accosted him about how he was driving.
Following an argument with Nieuenkirk, the gunman opened fire on the car’s occupants, and Rose was shot several times about his body. He died shortly after while being treated for his wounds at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Mangar was killed on September 11, 2010 when she was run over by a car in which a man who had snatched her cellular phone was escaping. The incident occurred on North Road, close to Camp Street, Georgetown.

Crime scene investigators had submitted samples of her clothing to the Forensic Laboratory for analysis. The samples were subsequently sent to Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Brazil; but it is not known whether detectives had received the results of those tests.

Attempts to reach Monica Reece’s relatives for a comment on Sunday proved futile. Reports are that Reece’s mother, Shirley Reece, is in Barbados, having reportedly been threatened, along with other relatives, on several occasions following the murder, described as one of this country’s most sensational. Threats were allegedly made on occasions soon after Reece’s mother had made queries or provided information to the police.

On April 9, 1993, the body of 19-year-old Monica Reece was discovered on Main Street. The autopsy report done by the now late forensic pathologist Dr Leslie Mootoo had established that Reece had suffered a savage beating which had left her with a broken jaw and other injuries before she was dumped in Main Street.

Several samples, including those from the pick-up vehicles police had impounded, were reportedly sent overseas; and, weeks later, Reece’s body had been exhumed to facilitate the taking of more samples, which were reportedly also sent overseas for analysis. The results, according to police, were all “inconclusive,” leaving detectives no closer to catching the killer.