FOR the very first time in 10 years, relatives of the eight Lindo Creek Massacre victims will come together to celebrate the lives of their loved ones.

A memorial service will be held at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Brickdam) on Wednesday, June 20, 2018, to mark the 10th death anniversary of the diamond miners.
The charred remains of the eight miners – Cecil Arokium, Dax Arokium, Horace Drakes, Bonny Harry, Lancelot Lee, Compton Speirs, Nigel Torres and Clifton Berry Wong – were discovered at a mining camp at Lindo Creek in the Upper Berbice River, Region 10, on June 21, 2008 by owner of the camp, Leonard Arokium.

Lancelot Lee’s niece Kristia Ramlagan told the Guyana Chronicle that while separate memorial services were held for the slain miners in 2008, this is the first time their relatives will come together to mark their 10th death anniversary.
The memorial service, which will be open to the public, will commence at 14:00hrs with tributes from relatives and friends for a period of one hour, before the start of a structured programme that is expected to end by 16:00hrs.

The memorial service forms part of a number of activities being held to celebrate the lives of the miners, Dax Arokium’s sister and niece of Cecil Arokium, Natasha Arokium told this newspaper. She said in addition to the service, a memorial walk will be held on Thursday, June 21, 2018.

From 10:00hrs on Thursday, relatives and friends of the Lindo Creek Massacre victims will assemble at the Square of the Revolution dressed in black and white, before moving off at 10:30hrs south of Vlissingen Road onto Cemetery Road, before ending at Le Repentir Cemetery, where wreaths will be laid and helium balloons released into the air.

Ramlagan, Natasha Arokium and Dax Arokium’s reputed wife Onicka Butts, said the wreath-laying ceremony is also of great importance to the grieving loved ones, explaining that when the Guyana Police Force (GDF) gave the Lyken Funeral Home the go-ahead to bury the remains of the miners, some four years after they were discovered, only Nigel Torres’ mother, Yonette Torres, had witnessed the burial.

Ramlagan noted that it was only this year following the start of the President David Granger-appointed Lindo Creek Commission of Inquiry (CoI) headed by Justice (Ret’d) Donald Trotman, that the Arokium and Lee families located the burial site. Dax Arokium’s mother has reportedly been maintaining the tombs since then.

SOBER CELEBRATION
Explaining the reason behind releasing yellow helium balloons into the air, Ramlagan said yellow represents ‘happiness’ and “while we are mourning, we are celebrating their lives.”
Since the commencement of the Lindo Creek CoI, a long list of persons including relatives of deceased miners and representatives from the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) have testified before the commission.

One such person was co-owner of the Lyken Funeral Home, Dr. Dawn Stewart. In March, 2018, Stewart told the commission that the country’s then Crime Chief Seelall Persaud had ordered back in 2012 that the charred remains of the Lindo Creek victims be lumped into a single coffin and buried, but she had objected.

After approximately four years, the remains, on September 11, 2012, were prepared for burial, but only after consistent queries by the Lyken Funeral Home. It was the longest period the Lyken Funeral Home, in its 95 years of existence, had ever kept human remains for, Dr. Stewart had noted.

According to Dr. Stewart, it was after she had constantly visited the CID Headquarters at Eve Leary that she was told that the investigation had been completed, and the remains could be turned over to the families for burial. It was at that point she reportedly told the CID that eight coffins were required, but the then crime chief objected. “I was instructed by the then crime chief that there was only one coffin needed for the burial. However, through my negotiation, we were able to attain three coffins for them to be buried in three different tombs at that time, on that said 11th day of September,” she explained.

Dr. Stewart said it was the decision of the funeral home to hold a small home-going service for the miners before interment at Le Repentir Cemetery. One relative had attended that service, but the mortician noted that during the first two years, family members of the deceased had repeatedly called the parlour to ascertain when the remains would be released for burial, and were always directed to the police, because the remains were still in their custody.

The Donald Trotman-led commission is expected to complete its work at the end of June 2018 and submit a report with recommendations to the President. The CoI is investigating the circumstances surrounding the murder of miners on or about June 21, 2008 at Lindo Creek. The police and army have long accused the notorious Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins’ gang of the heinous crime, while relatives of the deceased have laid the blame at the feet of the Joint Services. Commissioner Trotman has assured the public that the report will be revealed at the end of the CoI.