Ballistic tests on the spent shells found at the scene of the slaughter of eight miners at the Lindo Creek camp show no link between weapons used by gunmen connected to the Rondell Rawlins gang, well-placed sources in the police forensic unit have disclosed.
Testing of the 7.62 spent shells mostly used to fire AK-47 and M-70 rifles began on Monday and yesterday officers within the forensic unit completed the analysis, finding no match of the shells previously retrieved from murder scenes thought to have been carried out by Rawlins’ gang.
Up to press time last night the police had not officially disclosed the findings from the ballistic tests and when contacted Crime Chief, Seelall Persaud declined to comment.
Other senior sources within the Guyana Police and Defence Forces have also declined to comment publicly on the results of the ballistic analysis, although they acknowledged being aware of the findings. Leonard Arokium, owner of the Lindo Creek dredge has accused the military of killing the miners, but the Joint Services have dismissed his allegations as unthinkable and unimaginable, saying that ranks are highly and specially trained and experienced in the execution of their duties whether in urban or rural terrain.
It is not clear, given the findings of the ballistics test whether the army would subject its weapons issued to ranks who were in the jungle to an examination.
Senior joint services officials have admitted that there were a number of outstanding questions to be answered, but one top official told Stabroek News yesterday that the time to answer those questions was not yet. The official mentioned that investigations were still ongoing in the area and at the end the findings would be made public.
Stabroek News had been told that lawmen who visited the Lindo Creek camp site found evidence of some of the miners being tortured. This newspaper has been informed that one of the skulls found at the location had an impression suggesting that the person was beaten in the head. According to information reaching Stabroek News, on arrival at the camp all the lawmen found were burnt bones.
Resemblance
Security officials believe that the manner of the miners’ killing, with some evidence of torture noticeable, bears some marks of the modus operandi of a particular criminal gang. “While I will not speculate there is some resemblance,” one official said, adding that soldiers would not beat anyone with hammers and burn their bodies.
On Monday the joint services said in their statement that the very conduct of their operations would not allow for such actions. “While we understand the state of mind of Mr. Arokium, having lost his family members in this manner, it is unproductive to directly accuse the Joint Services without any shred of evidence and based solely on speculation”.
They further stated that based on information received from reliable sources, the heinous act was committed by criminal elements they are actively pursuing.
Early Saturday morning, Arokium discovered all of his mine workers dead in a camp located south-east of the country. The men were shot and killed and then burnt. Arokium said he only discovered skulls and bones at the scene. Some relatives of the men are adamant it was the work of the security forces, while others 
believe that gunmen roaming the jungle after fleeing from the joint services three weeks ago might have killed the miners.
Stating that he believed that the army was responsible for the attack and that it could not be Rondell Fineman Rawlins and his gang, Arokium told Stabroek News in an interview on Sunday night that the fugitive would have had to come into “enemy” territory to launch the attack. He explained that the camp could be reached by travelling strictly over land. Driving from Linden and through Ituni there was a “turn-off” 76 km before reaching the Kwakwani junction. The “turn-off” is the UNAMCO logging road which is located approximately a 30-minute walk from the main road. According to Arokium, Fineman was probably moving away from the Joint Services ranks that were scouring the area around Christmas Falls for him and his gang. 
Fineman would then have logically crossed over the Berbice River, the man said. He went on to explain that had Fineman wanted to attack the camp then he would have then had to cross the Berbice River once again, this time moving towards “enemy territory” where the Joint Services ranks were awaiting him. Arokium believes that no man in his right senses would have done that. “I think that the army did it. All the evidence points to the army,” Arokium charged.
Arokium last evening told Stabroek News that on Saturday night when the matter was first made public two government officials, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee visited his Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara home in search of him but he was not there. However, he said later that night he met with the officials at his Crane Place, South Ruimveldt residence.
“They kept insisting that it was Fineman and his gang that killed the men, but I am not a little boy. They are supposed to be professional and should not make their rank and file get out of hand,” he said.
Further the man said if it were that the men were killed by mistake, the Joint Services should come out and say so. He insisted that the joint services were well aware of where his camp was and noted that he had been told that only days before, his son had assisted the lawmen in cleaning meat which they shared.
Arokium recounted that the young men in particular, who worked with him were youths who he had taken under his wing and given a job, adding that it was extremely saddening the way they were killed. “Those 
boys were not supposed to be killed like that I took them into my hands, give them work and they were learning the job beautifully and they were never lazy, they did their work well,” he recounted.
Asked whether he had heard any word on whether the remains would be flown to the city and handed over to relatives, Arokium said he was not aware of when this would happen since he has not been notified by anyone.
“They haven’t told me anything and the people’s families are calling me and I don’t know what to tell them because I myself ain’t hearing nothing,” he said.
It is believed that the miners were killed sometime between Sunday June 15 and Tuesday June 17.
Government Pathologist, Nehaul Singh who had viewed the bodies is yet to make any pronouncement as to how long the men might have been dead.
so who done it? If its not Fineman who will the Police try to pin the killings on?
Badlall, you have a point there about identity. Mr Arokium is firm in his belief that the JS are responsible for the crime, but he has to be careful. Are you guys aware that security officers have attempted to send vehicles to pick him up? This is suspicious especially since the crime chief is not commenting on the findings of the ballistic tests and the family have not been notified on the location of the remains. In addition, there is a witness who is fearful of coming forward, and only wants to talk to an international body. At least, one thing is clear and that it’s not Fineman.
Maybe, we need to send John Walsh to Guyana.
Not this is news…this seems to be getting better but is going to get worst first. Here goes the GPF again. What is wrong in Guyana…..nothing can’t tell me Politics isn’t at play here
I know that whatever happens Mr Arokium will never budge from his position, he will not surrender to the nonsense that is being put out by those govt officials. He will stand before them and say the same thing over and over again. Ask yourself who tortured people recently ???? The findings are now with the Defence Board and then there is silence on that report. Why is Sam Hinds trotted out everytime there is bad news , can he not see what this will do to his legacy.
This evidence [provided it's accurate] now points the finger at the joint service but still does not clear the FineMan gang as they have multiple weapons.
The GS and GPF would now need to prove that the spent shells aren’t theirs. We will have to hear from them before jumping to conclusions. How that will be accomplished, I don’t know as they have hundreds of weapons themselves.
Now this is what is on my mind, The massacres at Lusignan and Bartica was carried out by at least a dozen men. Only six of these were at Christmas Falls, the 14 year old admitted that FineMan wasn’t at the camp although the GPF said otherwise. Maybe they were two groups. Whatever the case someone tortured and killed these miners the question is WHY????? Greed – yes – accidental – possible – Revenge – who knows.
We know this, FineMan and his gang are evil.
Anyone here that defends them should be ashamed as this is the mentality that creates this environment in the first place.
There are similar persons in the JS. This was the reason why the gang eluded capture for years and why the JS was not included in the original operation.
Tell me RK who is defending fineman….you find one blogger that has defended fineman, one blogger who doesn’t agree that he is a criminal and show us here.
Come now, well all know what this fineman brings, he himself according to KN claim to have committed the Lusignan Massacres. In Guyana everyone know fineman and his gang are killers but that doesn’t means all the crime in the country was committed by him. Hence proper police work is required to bring the perpretrators of all these crimes committed to justice. Or else, until fineman is kill all the crime is going to be blame on him.
When will people stop focusing so much on Fineman,we don’t even know if he exists,we have to pretend there is no Fineman,and then we will get somewhere,the reason this case is so baffleing is because we only have two suspects,the JS or fineman,if we rule both out we are left with nothing,I believe there are some evil men out there carrying out these crimes,and I refuse to accept that any one man is responsible for everything that is happening,we have allowed ourselves to believe that everytime something bad happens in Guyana,one person(gang) is responsable,because(whoever) said so,that is such backward thinking,we have open borders all around us,it might not even be Guyanese commiting these crimes,the GPF has to widen their search,start looking in different places,it is time for some real police work,keep politics out,ministers do their jobs and let the police do their jobs.
I have a scenario. The lawmen, JS knew the men were there and that they had stuff (diamonds, gold) with them since the owner said they had washed a few days earlier, and also the had helped the JS clean meat. This is a robbery gone bad, the lawmen are always looking for ways to subsidize the menial pay (robbing, tekking bribe) So the robbed the miners killed them and burnt them so that it would look like such a vicious attack, we will have no other choice that to blame fineman. The problem is the overdid it shouldn’t have burnt and wrapped them in the tarpaulin. How would the bandits have had that much time on their hands.
Just a thought…..I may be wrong but I’m just saying…..
gaw long full eye….carrying ya fire
The sad thing about this whole affair is that no one would be held responsible or accountable. For the family I say tie you belly and keep plugging away do not waste your time.
I would not make an assumption but there is only one man who knows best and that is God. Person(s) who commit this crime have their conscience(s) to live with. My sympathy goes out to all of da family.
GOD must have planned this.It was written and said as per the christian doctorine that everything happens for a reason(how can god explain this).the blame game continues ……….if not fineman nor the JS then who?we will never know the truth.This is guyana we talking about.
God planned it ! hmmmm, that sounds like a sick thing to say about god. That sounds like something a human being would say, or more rightly “do” as these human beings did.
No, this god, or “idea of god” was sleeping on the job as always. So was jesus muhammad , garibel and all these other mythological characters we like to blame and call upon. Call me “skeptical” but it seems to me, that we are the ones who cause each other so much pain, just look at slavery. [Leviticus 25:44-46] We are the only ones who can save ourselves. We can only hope that these people are caught
This Moderator likes to delete my contributions, but I will persist at least he/she will have benefit of reading them. I am a worried person, having family of all races in Guyana, and presently living in a country demographically similar to ours, but without this cancer called racialism.
Yesterday I promised to pack my bags and return home permanently if the results from the ballistic tests were not the norm. Well I start packing, but did not buy my ticket yet. I will do so if/when the following occurs:
Dr. Singh and his professional team of investigators first:
1.Revisit the evidence from the Bartica and Lusignan massacres. And publish their findings.
2. Verify who called in after the Lusignan massacre taking responsibility as Fineman. They can now check same at GT&T and against the number of telephone SIMS they collected from the Gang.
3. The malicious person who text the good ministers through the Kaieteur News server.
4. Conduct handwriting and fingerprint test on the “Diary” and at their hideout. Once proven as Rawlings et al, investigate and prosecute all within.
This will assist the authorities in identifying all the brutal gangs out there, their supporters, main players and bring them to justice.
Then it means you will NEVER buy that ticket and come back home
Davo
Those are some good points you made, but to me it is like if we living in a dream world. It will never happen because some people have political motivations only. The masses there is no care for. It hurts me to see how Guyana has gotten. We as the people need to take our country back. This was something I knew all along there are more than one gang at work. I can vividly remember a retired army officer metioning this immediately after the Bartica killings. As a people we need to stop being politically correct & deal with the issues. We have to eliminate that cancer from our society. If we do not it will feast on the souls of our children & children’s children. We have to start demand from our leaders respect as a people & accept nothing less but good leadership.
I do not understand why the president,or anyone in the government has not gone and shown their sympathy to the families of these men,what is different in this case from the previous massacres,why is it that certain lives in Guyana seem to have more value than others,why is it that when things happen to certain people there is silence,as though it never happened,why are,nt people making a lot of noise and giving the JS hell the way some did after a similar incident,I will tell you why,because they do not expect justice,they have accepted that there is nothing they can do in this hopeless situation they are in in Guyana.
My sympathy to the families who have lost their loved ones,and to Guyana,let us hope that one day soon “betterment” will come.
Everyone has an opinion, but what I have not read is how the Government of Guyana have failed to protect its citizen, I know first hand how ruthless the Guyana joint services can be. Many members of the JTS did not even finish High School, because jobs are so hard to find, most of the young men feel that they cannot do much with their life, so the join the Forces, get trained, and are send out onto the streets, hopefully to protect citizens. There is a saying in Guyana and I cote. “If you give a donkey a mouth organ to blow, the donkey will eat it.”
As long as the Government of Guyana can LIE to it CITIZENS, and get away with it they will, their main job in the country is to stay in power, and they do not care what they have to do to its citizens, just as long as they get to remain in power.
Mr. Sharma has been speaking against this Government for years. Look what happen to his TV Station, where is the freedom? There is none in Guyana.
I have lived, played and went to school with Mr. Young and Mr. Arokium (Whitie) and their lost have really touch me in the bottom of my heart. I prayed that the love ones that are left behind can find the energy to deal with their loses.
To the rest of the families who have lost their family please accept my deepest Sympathy, and please do not give up the fight of finding out who really killed these men.
What does the Govt. have to with this? did they pull the trigger ? stop polticising these unfortunate events, when the President gets involved you say he is micro-managing, people have to be trusted to discharge their duties with honor and respect for all parties involved.