THREE ranks of the Guyana Defence Force are expected to appear before the Justice Donald Trotman-led Commission which is inquiring into the 2008 Lindo Creek Massacre.
The three ranks are from a list of eight Joint Services ranks the Commission is seeking.

In a public notice carried in local newspapers over the weekend, the Commission of Inquiry into the Lindo Creek killings said it was seeking to make urgent contact with former GDF Lieutenant, Ayodele Woolford; former Guyana Police Force Assistant Superintendent, Dwand Cambridge; Colonel Lloyd Souvineer; Captain Sheldon Howell; Major Fitzroy Ward; Private Taylor; Private Quailo and Philbert Bobb.

In response on Monday, the GDF, in a press statement, disclosed that it had received a correspondence from the Commission requesting that a number of ranks be made available to appear before the Commission. According to the GDF, it has since responded, indicating that some ranks are no longer in the employ of the force. “An agreement has been reached for those available ranks to report to the Commission of Inquiry for a preliminary interview on Wednesday April 18, 2018 at 11:30hrs,” the GDF stated.

The Commission’s Public Relations Officer, Melanie Morris told Guyana Chronicle that three of the named ranks will appear before the commission. To date, the Commission has conducted a number of public and in camera hearings with persons who were either related to the murdered men or involved in the investigation at some point.

The CoI has been established to enquire into the circumstances surrounding the killings of Cecil Arokium, Dax Arokium, Horace Drakes, Bonny Harry, Lancelot Lee, Compton Speirs, Nigel Torres and Clifton Berry Wong, on or about June 21, 2008, and to report its findings and recommendations to President David Granger.

Leonard Arokium, the owner of the mining camp in which the eight miners were found dead, had long argued that the killings were committed by members of the Joint Services, but the police on the other hand had said that the men were murdered by the then Rondell Rawlins alias ‘Fine Man’ gang.

Arokium’s son, Dax, 29; his brother, Cedric called “Brother” were among those killed. Arokium was not among those who were scheduled to speak on Thursday, Guyana Chronicle has confirmed. One of the key witnesses, Courtney Wong, in an interview with this newspaper earlier this month, had said that the “truth is out there.”