— police refute claims by the Guyana Human Rights Association

THE Guyana Police Force (GPF) has refuted accusations by the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) that the detainment of six of the alibi witnesses for Gladston Henry, who was charged with the unlawful killing of Haresh Singh, “smacks of malicious abuse of police powers”.

The GHRA made the comment in a statement on Saturday. Excerpts from the statement were included and published in an article in the July 4, 2021 edition of the Sunday Stabroek under the headline “Human Rights body says arrest of potential alibi witnesses’ smacks of police abuse.”

Police, on Friday last, arrested Tiffany Campbell, Alona Bacchus, Patricia Henry, Bibi Shaheman, Clarett Kurtizious and Amanda Wickham for attempting to pervert the course of justice. They were detained when they turned up at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary, to give their respective statement regarding Henry’s alibi.

Singh’s motionless body was found on September 9, 2020, at the Number Two Village Backdam, Region Five; this was around the time when persons were protesting and calling for justice for the “Henry boys” who were brutally murdered.

On the day he was found, Singh had left his home with his uncles to venture into the backdam to work; however, he returned home by himself to fetch water. His body was later found lying motionless and bleeding from the nose. His motorcycle was also discovered burnt.

Gladston Henry is the brother of Isaiah Henry and the cousin of Joel Henry – the Henry boys whose mutilated bodies were found just three days prior to the murder of Singh. A wanted bulletin was issued by the GPF for Gladston Henry. However, the suspect, accompanied by attorney-at-law, Nigel Hughes, turned himself in.

According to the women, Henry was at home when Singh was murdered, and so, he could not have committed the crime. The women are claiming that, on the morning of September 9, 2020, Henry was at home with his mother and other relatives watching the live recording of the post-mortem that was being conducted on the bodies of Isaiah and Joel Henry at the Memorial Gardens, Le Repentir Funeral Home and Crematorium. The live recording was reportedly done by Gladston Henry – the father of Isaiah Henry.

UNVERIFIED

The GPF, in a press statement on Sunday, highlighted and reiterated their position that the alibis provided by the alleged alibi witnesses were investigated and found to be unverified.

“The GPF is the premier law enforcement agency in the country with one of its statutory objectives being the detection and prevention of crime. It follows, therefore, that if, in the conduct of an investigation into a specific crime, another crime is suspected to have been committed by a person or persons, then the necessary action has to be lawfully taken,” the GPF said.

Police explained that contrary to the purported alibi for Henry, which indicated that on the day of the gruesome murder, he was at the home of his parents watching the live streaming of the post-mortem examination (PME) of his brother Isaiah Henry which was being filmed by his father, Gladston Henry Snr; there is video footage proving Henry Snr was not live streaming.

Further, the alibi witnesses claimed that one of the police investigators involved in the matter, Inspector Rodwell Sarrabo, was at the home of the family of Isaiah Henry at the time that the PME was being conducted and saw Gladston Henry there.

“This was proven to be blatantly untrue as in the video recording of the PME done by the police, Sarrabo was seen present at the PME and he was also seen in the background of a news media video interview with Nigel Hughes at the conclusion of the PME,” the GPF said in their press statement.

“Consequently, six of the nine witnesses who were subsequently brought in to CID Headquarters by their Attorney, Nigel Hughes, and who had not been threatened with arrest prior to interviewing them as alleged by the GHRA, were arrested for attempting to pervert the course of justice and video interviewed by the police after which they were released on bail,” the statement added.

REMAINED SILENT
Police Headquarters disclosed that during the investigations into the murder of Haresh Singh, video interviews were conducted with Gladston Henry while in police custody, during which he exercised his right to remain silent.

“At no time did he inform any of the investigators that he was elsewhere during the time of the murder and that he had an alibi. It was subsequent to the interviews that his Attorney Nigel Hughes informed investigators that Henry had an alibi and that there were witnesses,” the statement noted.

Hughes was quoted in the Sunday Stabroek article as saying “it is not evidence that the GPF is either not disposed to or capable of conducting a fair or reliable investigation based on forensic evidence, into either the murder of Haresh Singh, or the murders of Isaiah and Joel Henry.”

Police explained, however, that contrary to these allegations, the investigations into these crimes were meticulously and assiduously conducted with efficiency and professionalism and charges were preferred after the requisite legal advice was sought and obtained.