–into dominoes enthusiast’s murder

PRESIDENT David Granger has reportedly requested that Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, meet with an informant with evidence on the death of dominoes fanatic, Orin Joseph.

Joseph was killed at his South Ruimveldt Park home and business place on April 14, 2013, and according to the informant, Hector Massiah, he’d provided the police with additional information and insight pertaining to a suspect who may have been responsible for the murder.
Apparently, he has since taken the matter up with higher authorities, as in a recent letter to the informant, seen by the Guyana Chronicle, President Granger stated that his complaints against senior police officers have been duly noted, and that he has instructed Minister Ramjattan to commence a serious investigation into the matter.

According to Massiah, the suspect in question is currently in prison awaiting trial for another murder, so he doesn’t understand why the police are reluctant to reopen the Orin Joseph case.

Massiah said he’s been running behind the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and the Police Complaints Authority (CPA) for years, but to no avail.

Joseph, 52, then president of the Blue Bird Dominoes Club, was gunned down in a hail of bullets outside his home just after a dominoes competition had ended.

One of the bullets reportedly hit him in his abdomen, but there were no eyewitnesses to the crime. The jewellery which Joseph was wearing at the time were taken by two men on a motorcycle.

Joseph had briefly exited his yard and was about to park his car under the house when he was attacked by the men who escaped under cover of darkness, as there was a ‘blackout’ in the community. A suspect was subsequently detained but released.

Police officials have continuously said that with no one around, because the shooting occurred during a ‘blackout’, it has been difficult for investigators to pick up any leads.

Despite the apparent standstill, the man’s widow, Faye, who is the President of the Georgetown Dominoes Federation (GDF), still has hope that the police will bring the perpetrator/s to justice.