– caution statement places him at crime scene

AS the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the 2008 massacre of eight miners at Lindo Creek continues, the caution statement of alleged eyewitness Dwayne ‘Small-Friend’ Williams places him at the scene of the crime.

At Tuesday’s hearing at the Department of Public Service on Waterloo Street, Special Superintendent of Police Trevor Reid, who was summoned to testify, recounted his involvement in the case back in 2008, during which period he served as Subordinate Officer in charge of the Major Crimes Investigation Unit (MCIU) at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters.

He testified that between the June 15 and 16, 2008, he was made aware of the hijacking of a minibus on the UNAMCO Trail, and a later confrontation between the Joint Services and the Rondell ‘Fine-Man’ Rawlins gang.

The confrontation, Reid recalled, resulted in the death of two persons. He said, too, that around the same time, Williams was arrested in Ituni and brought to CID headquarters where he was grilled about several crimes alleged to have been committed by ‘Fine-Man’ and his notorious gang.

He said that it wasn’t until around June 20 when he received word about the killing of the miners at Lindo Creek that he was asked to shift his focus to the matter.

Reid told the Commission that he would subsequently visit the Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara home of George Arokium, owner of the Lindo Creek mining camp, and take a statement from him. Reid said that in that statement, Arokium claimed that the miners were killed by members of the Joint Services.

He said that after speaking to Arokium, he was instructed to assist the Guyana Police Force (GPF)’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) with the collection of statements.

And this is how he came, on July 4, 2008 and in the presence of two pastors and Detective Sergeant Rodwell Sarrabo, to take a caution statement from Dwayne Williams, then only 15, in relation to the Lindo Creek killing.

Williams, allegedly a member of the ‘Fine-Man’ gang, is currently on trial in the High Court in relation to the 2008 Bartica Massacre where 12 persons were killed.

A TRUE COPY
Asked to say whether the photocopied caution statement provided at Tuesday’s hearing was a true copy of the original document, Reid replied in the affirmative, since the handwriting was his.

The reading of Williams’ statement, dated July 4, 2008, outlined the gruesome after-effect of the ‘Fine-Man’ gang’s encounter with the miners.

“We walk into them man camp; we hold on pon them and ‘Magic’ tally them up. We cook a chowmein and we stay there till next morning. The morning time, we mek tea and give them fuh drink. The night time, rain been falling; we been fuh beat out the said night, but we didn’t worry,” Williams was quoted as saying in the statement.
“About 12 o’clock time, meh been sleeping and meh hear shots start burst. When meh look, meh see them man wuh them tie up; them shoot up them man.
“Eight man been there, and all of them get shoot. They pull down them blue tarpaulin from one of the camp, and ‘Magic’ throw gasoline pon them and light them afire,” he added.

By Williams’ account, he later became separated from the gang and decided to hitch a ride with a motor grader, then a truck, but was subsequently apprehended by plainclothes policemen when the latter vehicle made a stop at a shop.

Intrigued no doubt by what the caution statement revealed, and curious as to why the case was managed by the OPR and not the MCIU, COI Chairman, Justice Donald Trotman asked Reid:

“Between 2008 and 2012 while you were in charge of the Serious Crimes Unit, you were not doing anything concerning this very serious crime?”

Reid’s response was that although cases investigated by the MCIU include murders, kidnappings, piracy and hijackings, because of the nature of the Lindo Creek massacre, it was not strange that the OPR should take it over.

Pressed further by Attorney representing the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Roysdale Forde, into saying whether he had seen a completed OPR report on the conduct of the GPF officers regarding the investigation and whether he believed the investigation is complete, Reid replied:

“As an investigator, I think that much more work needed to be done; could have been done, and this what we’re doing here today would not have been needed.”

When the hearing continues today, the Commission will be visiting the Lindo Creek campsite to engage in dialogue with residents at Constabulary Hall, Linden.