ASSISTANT Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken was repeatedly grilled on whether ranks from the Joint Services could have mistakenly killed the eight miners at Lindo Creek in pursuit of the notorious ‘Fine Man Gang’ back in 2008, when he took the stand on Tuesday.
“I wouldn’t know,” a visibly frustrated Hicken told the commission while being cross-examined by Chairman of the Lindo Creek Commission of Inquiry (CoI), Justice (Ret’d) Donald Trotman and the commission’s Legal Counsel Patrice Henry. Hicken, who was second in command of the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) at the time, was part of a high-level police team that had engaged in a fierce gun battle with a criminal gang at Christmas Falls in the Upper Berbice River, days prior to the discovery of the charred remains of the Lindo Creek miners.

Based on his testimony that he along with other ranks of the Guyana Police Force had an exchange of gunfire with men bearing close resemblance to that of Rondell ‘Fine Man’ Rawlins and his gang at a place called Christmas Falls, Commissioner Trotman questioned Hicken on whether he could have identified members of the gang, including ‘Fine Man’, at the time. The assistant police commissioner responded in the positive, explaining that prior to the Christmas Falls incident, he had come face to face with the criminal elements on the East Coast of Demerara during similar confrontations. Additionally, photos of the wanted men were featured in wanted bulletins plastered on the walls of police stations across the country.

However, Hicken would later agree with the commission that the gang, which had caused havoc in the country at the time, was a steadily expanding one. As such, there were new faces.

On the basis that the assistant commissioner of police may have also seen photos of the eight dead miners, Commissioner Trotman further grilled Hicken on whether he had seen any resemblance between them and the “Fine Man” gang.
“I am sorry, but I didn’t make a comparison…Our focus was recapturing “Fine Man” (and his gang), I didn’t make a comparison,” Hicken said in response.
Clearly not satisfied with that response, the commissioner, through the orderly, handed the assistant police commissioner a document with photos of the miners for him to have a look. “Do they resemble members of ‘Fine Man’ gang?” Justice Trotman further asked and in response Hicken said, “Not those who I have encountered.”
Following up on the commissioner’s line of questioning, Legal Counsel Henry asked Hicken whether it was possible for one of the miners to be mistakenly killed as a member of the “Fine Man” gang on the basis that, the gang was steadily expanding.
“So the question that the commissioner had posed earlier, is whether maybe one of those miners who were killed might very well have been mistaken or maybe bear a similar resemblance of one of the ‘Fine Man’ gang members…you wouldn’t deny that there is a possibility?” Henry asked.

“I wouldn’t know that,” Hicken responded, while adding that the police are guided by the wanted bulletin. Owner of the mining camp at Lindo Creek, Leonard Arokium, had accused members of the Joint Services of mistakenly killing the eight miners; but the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force had laid the blame at the feet of the notorious gang.
Meanwhile, prior to being cross-examined, the assistant commissioner of police had made it clear that he had never visited Lindo Creek, and had visited Christmas Falls in June 5, 2008 for the first time based on intelligence and instructions received.
According to him, he was temporarily based at Kwakwani in the Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice district, when he received instructions from the then Crime Chief Senior Superintendent Seelall Persaud to be at the Ituni Police Station for 12:00hrs on June 5, 2008. From there, Hicken recalled, a three-vehicle envoy proceeded to the UNAMCO Trail en route to Christmas Falls, also located in the Upper Berbice River. The team comprised five uniformed Guyana Police Force Officers along with Hicken and three men in civilian clothing.

The team reportedly arrived at Christmas Falls around 17:00hrs on June 5, 2008 and was briefed by the then crime chief that “Fine Man” and four other criminals were on the opposite side of the river. Hicken said that the team camped there for the night, during which they heard “continuous gunshots” coming from the other side of the river. The following day, June 6, 2008, Hicken testified that as the tactical officer on site, he led a smaller team to the other bank of the river where the gang was supposedly hiding.
Upon reaching the end of the vegetation on the other side, Hicken said they took up “tactical positions,” and observed four buildings on an open land. The buildings included an unfinished concrete structure, a latrine, a store room and a kitchen.

“I observed first on the top storey, there was a mattress on the ground and a thin bone Rastafarian projected forehead, short, rasta hair with a bulge eye resembling that of the bulletin that was put out for “Fine Man” – Rondell Rawlins. On the second flat, again, we had a thin Rastafarian male with a white brief. There was another one in a hammock with a green pants and a green jersey and to the edge of the vegetation…there was another man in brown pants and camouflage jersey,” the assistant police commissioner recalled.
After observing for about 25 minutes, he said the gang opened fire on them after being signalled by one of the men, and they responded. It was noted that the man who bore a close resemblance to “Fine Man” rolled from the building and appeared to have disappeared.

He said the “shootout between the law-enforcement officers and the criminals lasted for approximately 25 minutes before the men escaped through the vegetation. According to him, it was upon inspecting the scene that they discovered that one of the gang members had been fatally shot, in addition to several guns and ammunition.
A total of nine firearms consisting of rifles, shotguns and handguns and a quantity of ammunition were seized. Upon securing the area, Hicken said he then called the crime chief to the scene.

The full team, after conducting a thorough search and examination of the scene, proceeded out of the area and it was while on their way to the city that the then Commissioner of Police Henry Greene was informed. Green then informed them that the Joint Services would take over pursuit of the criminal elements. He had noted that they were not equipped with the necessary knowledge and resources to pursue the criminals after they had vanished into the bushes, stating that an attempt to follow them could have resulted in an ambush.