CRIME Chief Seelall Persaud has said the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is solving about 50 percent of the reported murders but he outlined some challenges preventing them from solving more crimes.

According to the Deputy Commissioner (Law Enforcement) the hurdles include the lack of a true forensic capability, coupled with an acute shortage of qualified personnel.
This means that they have to send evidence, including DNA overseas to other CARICOM countries and the results, sometimes, take months to be delivered.
However, the Ministry of Home Affairs is in the process of building a new laboratory, which will be able to perform all forensic functions, with the exception of DNA analysis that they hope to send to Brazil, shortening the time for results to be delivered.
Persaud, when asked, said he is not satisfied with the police intelligence gathering capability, declaring that it is still in the embryonic stage and emphasised the need for improvement in this area.
In the interview, reference was made to the Guyana Chronicle story captioned ‘Police say former GDF officer’s execution linked to drug underworld’ that alluded to the killing of Denzil Mingo, who was gunned down outside a city nightclub in the early morning hours of November 16, 2013.

Escaped unharmed
One of the dead man’s two companions was wounded, while the other exited the vehicle in which the trio had been and escaped unharmed.
Persaud was quoted as saying that they have conclusively matched the bullets used in an October 4, 2010 execution- style killing that occurred on Stone Avenue and Royal Drive in Campbellville, Georgetown.
The victims on that occasion were Patrick Goodluck, 35, of Campbellville Housing Scheme and Godfrey Goodform, 29, of Lot 131 Canterbury Walk, Beterverwagting, East Coast of Demerara.
In the Kaieteur News of Tuesday, the police are reported to have linked the gun that killed Mingo to the October 1, 2010 execution-type murder of Mark Caesar also known as ‘Lil Mark,’ who was gunned down in Broad Street.
Persaud confirmed that ballistics tests on the bullets retrieved at the scene of the Mingo’s death have been conclusively linked to those recovered from the Stone Avenue, Campbellville shooting, where Patrick Goodluck and Godfrey Goodform were killed. However, he denied that these were connected to the ‘Lil Mark’ killing.
He was asked about progress in solving some of the most well-known executions in the last few years, including of:
* Terry Bacchus, who was shot dead near his business in Water Street;
* the Cummings Lodge killings of Christopher Jupiter, Christopher Gordon alias ‘Bigga’ and Sherwin Jerome nicknamed ‘Dice Head’;
* Fiona Singh and Steve Jupiter called ‘Steve Man’;
* the Stone Avenue murders of Patrick Goodluck and Godfrey Goodform;
* the brazen daylight killings of Ricardo Rodrigues, Marlon Osborne and Police Corporal Roman Cleto;
* the killing of the Mootoo couple, burned in their Turkeyen home;
* the killing of Jamaican businessman Patrick Forbes who was shot dead on Orange Walk and
* Diamond businesswoman Sirmattie Ramnaress, who was killed in her posh home.
The Crime Chief said none of those crimes have been solved, so far. However, he pointed to other similar type murders for which people have been charged, among them those of Clementine Fiedtkou-Parris, the grandmother who was killed in Robb Street after a contract was reportedly put out to kill her over a property dispute.

Hired someone
He mentioned another currently engaging the High Court, in which it is alleged that a New York-based woman hired someone to kill the victim and when the gunman failed to do it, he was himself killed.
One more solved murder case surrounded that of an Industry man who is, himself, suspected of being behind a number of murders.
Considering that the majority of the more sensational killings have not been solved, there might be a public perception that the GPF is unable to do so but Persaud said it is not just the police who need to improve.
He declared that the whole justice system needs a revamping, because, after the police have done their work and brought cases to court, the trials often fall apart.
Persaud cited a recent case where a murder accused was allowed to walk free, even though there was video evidence of the crime being committed, as witnesses did not attend the trial.
The Deputy Commissioner was in favour of bringing in professional investigators and prosecutors to train local police and other prosecutors, acknowledging that this has been done successfully elsewhere.
However, he said: “We have to be cognisant of the fact that there are differences between communities in developed countries and a developing country such as Guyana.”
He cited instances like in Trinidad and Tobago, where an expert was recruited from Canada to head the Police Force but which did not yield the desired result.