Bartica Massacre trial ‘further delayed’
Some of the Bartica Massacre victims
Some of the Bartica Massacre victims

THE High Court trial in the famed Bartica Massacre of 2008, scheduled to start Tuesday, has been further delayed due to pre-trial issues which are being addressed by the prosecution.

A 12-member jury is yet to be empanelled, and more than 30 witnesses are expected to testify in the high-profile murder case which is scheduled to end in late November.The State is being represented by prosecutors Misses Diana Kaulesar, Tuanna Hardy and Narissa Leander.

The defence attorneys are Messrs Roger Yearwood, Madan Kissoon, Saphier Hussain, Maxwell McKay and Peter Hugh.

The five accused, Mark Royden called ‘Durant Williams’; Dennis Williams aka “Anaconda”; Clebert Reece called “Chi-Chi”; and Michael Caesar and Roger Simon are alleged to have murdered 12 men at Bartica on February 17, 2008.

The five are facing 12 counts of murder, one count of terrorism, one count of unlawful wounding, and three counts of break-and-enter and larceny.

GUNNED DOWN
During the February 17, 2008 rampage, nine civilians and three cops were gunned down by a group of heavily armed men, who descended on Bartica at nightfall.

Those who lost their lives were Bartica residents Edwin Gilkes, Dexter Adrian and Irving Ferreira, and Lance Corporal Zaheer Zakir, and Constables Shane Fredericks and Ron Osborne, who were all stationed at the Bartica Police Station.
Also killed in the onslaught were Deonarine Singh of Wakenaam, on the Essequibo River; Ronald Gomes of Kuru Kururu, on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway; Ashraf Khan of Middlesex, on the Essequibo Coast; Abdool Yasseen and Errol Thomas of Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo; and Baldeo Singh of Montrose, East Coast Demerara.

According to the police, the Bartica Massacre as well as the Lusignan Massacre of January 26, 2008 were spearheaded by notorious criminal, Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins, who was himself killed during a Joint Services operation on August 28, 2008.
With his death and the arrest and prosecution of the five suspects, it appeared as though the police had closed their investigation.

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