THE possibility of the Rondell “Fineman” Rawlins Gang using military weapons and camouflage clothing while on the run was placed on ‘the table,’ when Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Major, Andy Pompey, and Lieutenant Colonel, Omar Khan, took the stand as public hearings into the Lindo Creek massacre reopened on Monday.

The military men appeared before the Chairman of the Lindo Creek Commission, Justice (Ret’d) Donald Trotman with their lawyers, Roysdale Forde, Leslie Sobers, Melissa Yearwood-Stewart and Colonel Michael Shahoud. The Commission was represented by Legal Counsel, Patrice Henry.

Major Pompey, who first appeared, told the Commission that Leonard Arokium, the owner of the mining camp where the eight miners were killed, had said that the killers were dressed in camouflage clothing. He also confirmed that spent shells recovered at the crime scene at Lindo Creek were similar to the type used by some members of the Joint Services.

These two critical factors, he said, may have led to the assumption that the Joint Services which was operating in the Kwakwani-Christmas Falls area, may have committed the mass murder. He noted that an investigation, which took place in June and July, 2008, had cleared the Joint Services of the accusation.

His colleague, Colonel Khan later told the Commission that a number of arms and ammunition from the GDF went missing. According to him, a number of the guns were recovered at crime scenes.

In responding to questions put to him by Attorney Forde, Colonel Khan recalled that in February 2006, it was discovered that a number of weapons were stolen from the GDF. The stolen weapons included AKM rifles – an upgraded version of the AK-47.

According to Colonel Khan, the calibre of rounds used in the assassination of former Agriculture Minister, Satyadeo Sawh was of interest to the GDF. The former minister was assassinated on April 22, 2006.

“Then on June 3, 2006, two months after we had the first recovery of one of those missing weapons, and it was discovered in Melanie… I think five days later, we had another incident involving high-powered weapons, it was the same calibre,” the Colonel told the Commission.

Similar calibre of rounds were used at the Rose Hall bank robbery that year, he further pointed out. “From that bank robbery, we recovered nine AK-47…AKM rifles of which seven [were from] the missing guns,” he noted.

Colonel Khan was keen to note that the GDF had indication that the ‘Fineman gang’ was using AK-47.
He said that on January 23, 2008, during a joint operations in Buxton, Corporal Ivor Williams was killed in the line of duty, and his gun went missing during the gun battle. That gun was reportedly recovered subsequent to the Goat Farm shooting in June, 2008, where two criminal elements were killed. The men were reportedly part of the ‘Fineman gang’.
A 15-year-old was taken into custody after being found along the Ituni trail. The young man reportedly took investigators to a location where Corporal Williams’ weapon was recovered.

Attorney Sobers requested that the young man be brought before the Commission. However, Counsel Henry objected, saying that the young man is currently in protective custody.

In addition to the missing weapons, Colonel Khan told the Commission that he believed that criminal elements, particularly those linked to the ‘Fineman gang’, had in their possession camouflage clothing similar to the ones used by the GDF.

However, when four photographs of two of the criminal elements were put before the Commission for verification by Colonel Khan, Attorney Forde objected to the question posed by Counsel Henry. Henry asked Colonel Khan to indicate whether the men in the photos, who were reportedly members of the ‘Fineman gang’, had on camouflage clothing.

Before the Colonel could have answered the question, Forde repeatedly asked Henry before the Chairman whether those were all the photos supplied to the Commission by Major Fitzroy Warde, who was a commander on the ground at the time of the Joint Services Operation. In the photos seen by Guyana Chronicle, the men had on civilian clothing.

Initially, Colonel Khan told the Commission that the men were not wearing camouflage clothing, in response to the question put by Henry. He subsequently, when asked by his Attorney to take a closer look at one of the photos, said the belt was similar to the ones used by GDF ranks. The Colonel told the Commission that one of the men was wearing a camouflage undergarment, based on what he could see in the photo.

But Commissioner Trotman begged to differ, saying that such was not visible to him. An application by Attorney Forde was also made for Major (Ret’d) Warde to appear before the Commission.

Forming part of Monday’s hearing was a demonstration by Colonel Khan, mapping out the areas of interest using Google Earth. Those areas were Christmas Falls, Goat Farm, Ituni, Kwakwani, UNAMCO trail, the Berbice River and Lindo Creek.