– following submission of Lindo Creek CoI report

MORE than two months after the report pertaining to the Lindo Creek Commission of Inquiry (CoI) was handed over to President David Granger, relatives of the murdered miners are calling for the report to be made public and for the recommendations therein to be implemented without delay.

Justice (ret’d) Donald Trotman, who spearheaded the CoI, in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle disclosed the contents of the report; however, the affected relatives said months after the inquiry ended they remain in the dark.

“We are thankful that the case was reopened by President David Granger, but it has been two months since the report was submitted to him and we have not heard from him since. It is very frustrating and heart-rendering [sic], because it is like we are still in the dark and we need answers,” Onika Butts, the reputed wife of Dax Arokium, told the Guyana Chronicle on Saturday.

Dax Arokium was among the eight miners whose charred remains were discovered at a mining camp at Lindo Creek in the Upper Berbice River, Region 10, on June 21, 2008.
According to Justice (ret’d) Trotman, the report submitted by him has cleared the notorious criminal gang, which was headed by Rondell “Fineman” Rawlins, of committing the heinous crime. He said evidence suggests that the Joint Services – the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force — may have committed the massacre. As such, he reportedly recommended that a criminal case be reopened into the Lindo Creek Massacre.

“What we need is justice. After 10 years, all we ask is for those persons who killed our loved ones to be brought to justice; and I think the time is now and there should no delay,” Butts said.

BECOMING ANXIOUS AND CONCERNED

Jackie Arokium, of Dax Arokium (senior), said she too needs answers. “As the months go by, family members of the victims and myself are becoming anxious and concerned about the President’s intervention. So I would be grateful for information about the current status of decisions and outcomes from the President, the Honourable David Granger,” she told this newspaper.

Colette Wong, the wife of the late Clifton Wong, while endorsing calls by Arokium and Butts for the recommendations in the report to be acted upon, told this newspaper that the CoI has opened up old wounds.

“The way my husband met his demise, I don’t think there will ever be a closure for me,” she told this newspaper on Saturday.

Lancelot Lee, Cecil Arokium, Horace Drakes, Bonny Harry, Compton Speirs and Nigel Torres were among the miners killed at Lindo Creek in June, 2008.
Justice (ret’d) Trotman told this newspaper that the investigations conducted into the 2008 Lindo Creek Massacre were poorly done.

“There was an investigation, but that investigation in the estimation of the commission, was not adequate, was not competent and could not have brought about accurate results,” he said.

The investigation at reference was conducted by the Military Criminal Investigation Department (MCID), and when completed, it had cleared the Joint Services of having anything to do with the massacre. This, despite the fact that fingers were pointed in their direction, seeing that at the time of the massacre they were hot on the heels of the notorious Rondell “Fine-Man” Rawlins’ gang which was on the run and reportedly hiding out in the Lindo Creek area.

A two-week probe by the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) of the Guyana Police Force into allegations of police involvement in the massacre had produced no written report of its findings; and a criminal investigation by the Guyana Police Force was ordered closed on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Justice Trotman said he made strong recommendations in the report for the criminal investigation into the massacre to be reopened, due to the sloppy work done by the previous investigators. After a six-month investigation of its own, the chairman handed over the CoI report to the President on August 2, 2018.