Arokium questions motive to burn miners
George Leonard Arokium (Samuel Maughn Photo)
George Leonard Arokium (Samuel Maughn Photo)

…sticks to theory that joint services ranks committed the act

Owner of the mining camp, where the charred remains of the eight miners were found at Lindo Creek, George Leonard Arokium in his search for answers questioned whose decision it was to destroy the “evidence” at the scene.

Mr. Arokium, whose son Dax Arokium and Brother Cedric Arokium were among those killed at the camp, was the final witness to appear publicly before the Commission investigating the massacre which occurred in June 2008. The charred remains of the miners were discovered by Mr. Arokium on June 21, 2008. After reading from a statement he had given to the Guyana Police Force back in June 2008 following the gruesome discovery, Mr. Arokium said he finds it difficult to believe that “Fineman” and gang after engaging in a shoot-out with police at Christmas Falls on June 6, 2008 would proceed to the camp at Lindo Creek and kill the miners when there was a heavy presence of Joint Services ranks at the UNAMCO Check point.

The UNAMCO trail is used to access Lindo Creek from Ituni and Kwakwani. In the words of Mr. Arokium, “Fineman” ought to have been a “really brave man” to kill and burn the miners in close proximity to the check point where the Joint Services was operating.
“Fineman run go way, who killed the miners…Ok. I am assuming that Fineman killed the miners, I would very much like to know if Fineman has the logistical ability to try to burn those people …I am not too keen on how they died, and where they died, but I want to know who decided to try to get rid of the evidence, for what reason,” Mr. Arokium reasoned.

According to the Diamond miner, the theory of “Fineman’s gang” killing the miners was put to him by the then Prime Minister Samuel Hinds. He objected to that assumption while reportedly making his suspicion known that it was the Joint Services ranks that were responsible.

Mr. Arokium disclosed that he and his son Dean Arokium are joint owners of a mining camp situated on the left bank of the Berbice River. Mr. Arokium stated that while he managed the “business,” it was his son Dax Arokium who managed the dredge operation at Lindo Creek. He recalled that in the month of June, Cedric Arokium, Bonny Harry, Berry Wong, Lancelot Lee, and a small boy left for the camp in Lindo Creek. Two days after Compton Speirs and Horace Drakes joined them. Dax Arokium subsequently joined the crew. The workers, he noted, were expected to return in two weeks.

Mr. Arokium then stated that on Wednesday June 18, 2008, he received a phone call from Yonette Torres from Kwakwani, who related that she received information that her son was shot in the interior. She called back the same day, and related the same story.
“I told her I would try to make contact,” he recalled. The diamond miner said 10 minutes after the telephone conversation with Torres; he received a call from a blocked number. “The caller told me that soldiers shoot them boys and when they realised it was a mistake, they burn them. This caller was a male but I was not too familiar with the voice,” Mr. Arokium told the Commission.

The information received was disclosed to his other children. According to Mr. Arokium he then informed a Corporal Cooper who was at the time working at the Police Commissioner’s Office, and was told that no such report was received after enquiries were made.
Concerned for the life of his miners, Mr. Arokium took a decision to venture into the interior with his friend “Rambo” who at the time had a dredge at 72km along the UNAMOC. They along with other miners left for the area on June 20, 2008.

It was noted that upon arrival at Kwakwani, “Anthony” who was employed by “Rambo,” when asked if he had seen the eight miners, disclosed that they (the miners) were supposed to wash down the previous Saturday. After arriving at Rambo’s mining operation (72km) late, Mr. Arokium said he continued his journey to Lindo Creek on June 21, 2008.
Once at 76km, Mr. Arokium said he and an individual name “Sham” headed by foot to the camp at Lindo Creek. “We arrived there around 7:45am and upon arrival I saw the camp in disarray, and one of the two shed camps which was covered with a tarpaulin had none. I didn’t not see anybody on the camp. I made further checks and I discovered the remains of bodies together…only the bones and skulls were visible,” he told the Commission.
According to him, he immediately returned to Rambo’s camp at 72km and related the horrifying news. They left that camp immediately, and it was while they were out, that Anthony reportedly made several disclosures.

“He informed me that the mechanic and the small boy would normally go to the UNAMCO gate and chat with the Joint Services who were enquiring when they will wash down. He also mentioned that the security at the gate had knowledge of what went on. Anthony further said that there was another long hair Amerindian boy would be with the Joint Services,” Mr. Arokium said.

It was at Kwakwani, that he contacted Dean and inform him of the terrible news. Mr. Arokium said once in Georgetown he spoke to the media personnel on the matter. He was also contacted by the then Prime Minister Samuel Hinds Secretary.
He was visited by Commissioner of Police Henry Green, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, and Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee. “I cannot say what transpired in the interior, that is the truth,” Mr. Arokium reportedly told the Commission based on the statement he had given to the police.

While at Meten-meer-zorg, Mr. Arokium recalled that the then Police Commissioner had done the questioning while the Prime Minister related a story to him about “Fineman”
However, Mr. Arokium reportedly rejected the notion that it was the criminal gang who had crossed over from Christmas Falls as was told by the Prime Minister, and killed the miners.
“Mr. Rohee didn’t really say anything, all he asked me…you have a gut feeling that the Joint Services killed these me, and I said yes sir.” Based on his knowledge of the geographical location of the Lindo Creek, Christmas Falls and the UNAMCO trailed, and the high presence of Joint Services ranks in the area, Mr. Arokium, said he does not believe it was the gang who had committed the act.

Leslie Sobers, who along with Roysdale Forde is representing the interest of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) in the matter, took the floor questioning Mr. Arokium on whether his suspicion that the Joint Services had committed the crime was based on hearsay. Mr. Arokium, who initially disagreed with Sobers, subsequently admitted that Torres and the unknown caller had related to him what they had heard and not seen for themselves. However, Mr. Arokium told the Commission that the information received from Torres and the unknown caller corresponded with the scene he met at Lindo Creek. The miners were killed and burnt, he posited.

To further compound the situation, an Anthony Herber, who gave a statement to the Police, denied ever telling Mr. Arokium that the Joint Services had enquired about the wash down or about his miners’ interaction with the Joint Services. In Herber’s statement which was read in his absence, he agreed to confront Mr. Arokium.

 

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