Bartica Massacre trial: ‘I was sickened and saddened by the Bartica killings’–witness

A MAN convicted for the Bartica massacre, but now turned state witness has said he was sickened and saddened by the killings, and that he never knew the mastermind of the crime, Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins, until he picked him up after the incident.For the second day, Clebert Reece, who is serving a 35-year sentence, testified in favour of the state in the trial in the High Court before Justice Roxane George SC and a 12-member jury on Monday.
As Defence Counsel Roger Yearwood continued his cross examination of Reece, he put it to him that when he gave his evidence-in-chief in court, he testified that he didn’t set the boat alight after they had reached Sherima Crossing, because he wanted the men to be traced and discovered while they were camping out in the area.

He related when questioned that he was saddened and sickened by the Bartica incident, and wanted to tell his story to the police when he was first arrested and spent 13 days in the lockups, but admitted that he didn’t tell the police of his involvement. The state witness added that on May 27, 2008, he was a participant in an identification parade, and was not told he was picked out in the line-up. Nor was any allegation put to him then.

Reece stated that a day after the identification parade he was placed on $100,000 bail and didn’t go to the police until he was arrested. He told the court that he never met Fineman before he picked him, along with others, up at Ann’s Grove, East Coast Demerara, when he transported the group to and from Bartica via a speed boat.

Reece recalled he dropped off the group at an island at Parika but said he doesn’t know the name of that place, it was inhabited and the only way of getting there was by boat. When grilled by Defence Counsel Roger Yearwood, Reece told the court it would not have been easy to take the police to the location where the men were and it was put to him that he gave the police a statement on the Bartica incident because he wanted to gain their trust but he denied such.

Reece said he wasn’t promised a deal when he gave evidence nor did he expect any and testified of his own free will, although he was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment when he pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter for the murders of nine civilians and three cops in the February 17, 2008 killings in Bartica.

Defence Counsel Saphier Husain,during cross examination of the witness on Monday,was very animated and his applications were over-ruled by the trial judge. His cross examination will continue on Tuesday after he asked for some time. He asked Reece whether he was ever convicted before the Bartica incident and he said he wasn’t and his involvement in the incident was under duress because he was afraid of Fineman and his group.

Reece told the court that his instructions came from Fineman through his cousin Michael Caesar and others and when Fineman killed five men on the Bartica Stelling he did nothing because of fear. The witness said he was not armed and did not hurt anyone in that incident and had worked eight months with Chunilall Baboolall called “Vulture” before the incident.

On trial are Mark Royden Williams called “Smallie”, Dennis Williams called “Anaconda” and Roger Simon called “Goat Man,” each indicted for 12 counts for the murder of nine civilians and three policemen at Bartica on February 17, 2008.

However, two of the five accused, Michael Caesar and Clebert Reece, have since pleaded guilty to manslaughter separately and have been sentenced. Mark Royden Williams, is being represented by Roger Yearwood, Dennis Williams’ lawyer is Saphier Hussain and Roger Simon’s attorney is Peter Hugh. 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; policemen stationed at the Bartica Police Station, Lance Corporal Zaheer Zakir, Constables Shane Fredericks and Ron Osborne; Deonarine Singh of Wakenaam; Ronald Gomes of Kuru Kururu; Ashraf Khan of Middlesex, Essequibo; Abdool Yasseen and Errol Thomas of Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo; and Baldeo Singh of Montrose, East Coast Demerara.
Rawlins, according to the police, led the gang on the rampage in Bartica as well as the one that converged on Lusignan on January 26, 2008. Rawlins was 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. The state is being represented by Diana Kaulesar and Stacy Goodings while the Defence attorneys are Roger Yearwood, Saphier Husain and Peter Hugh.

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