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Ballistics tests link Rawlins and Charles to several murder scenes —police

Police say that ballistic tests on the spent shells retrieved from the guns found on Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins and prison escapee Jermaine ‘Skinny’ Charles matched spent shells found at a string of murder scenes dating back as far as 2006.

Charles, a multiple murder accused and prison escapee, was gunned down along with Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins during a shoot out with members of the Joint Services in Kuru Kururu a week last Thursday. One of their associates, Seon Grant was killed several hours earlier at a shack in Timehri.

In a press release issued last night, the force said the AK-47 rifle found on Charles was used at the Lusignan and Bartica massacres, the Lindo Creek murders, murder committed on two persons at Agriculture Road, East Coast Demerara in 2007 and a murder at Canal No. 2 Polder, West Bank Demerara in 2006.

The release continued that tests have shown that the rifle Rawlins was carrying was one of the firearms used at Agricola in 2006 to kill three MCC security guards, Hannah Cameron and David Brummell and Lavern Scott.

Further, Rawlins’s weapon was used at the home of Minister of Agriculture Satyadeow Sawh when he and three other persons were slain, in addition to the murder committed on Professional Guard Service security employee, Dexter Barry at Agricola in 2007.

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17 Responses to “Ballistics tests link Rawlins and Charles to several murder scenes —police”

amen-ra
on September 7th, 2008 8:02 am

It behoove me how all these killing is linked to fineman, why wasn’t he taken in alive and then questioned so we could really know the truth. As the saying says dead man tell no tales. Now that he’s dead all crimes are pinned to him it’s amazing. anyway he’s history now let’s move on.

[Reply to this]
gtbeat
In reply to the above comment on September 7th, 2008 9:27 am:
You should have moved on a long time ago, but my guess is you won’t take your own advice.

[Reply to this]
MR, WEST.BANK
In reply to the above comment on September 7th, 2008 3:16 pm:
Well said amen-ra dead man tell no tales the Joint Service
Laps Big Time, they had these ment in their hands alive.

These men are dead they can’t say a word in
defence to what the police is telling us.

You may recall Fineman had an interview with Lall and Harris at KaietureMews and he told them, “I Can’t be at two f…ing place at the same time”.

[Reply to this]
Badlall
on September 7th, 2008 9:20 am

i said it before ALL crimes committed in Guyana will be blamed on Charles and Rawlins it is the easy way out for this administration.

[Reply to this]
SA
on September 7th, 2008 9:21 am

How can that be when all the Crimes scenes are contaminated

[Reply to this]
otorious
on September 7th, 2008 9:42 am

Skinny was locked up during theLusignan and Bartica massacres, so i cant see how he could hav killed any one during this time, n if he took a ak 4m one of the gang members this means one of them is gunless.. the police testing n investigation jus never add up and its sad caus it never will.

and the ploice wil blame FINEMAN 4 every crime commited since 2000 n might even b blamed 4 crimes thats gonna b commited in 2010,

[Reply to this]
Pinnacle
In reply to the above comment on September 7th, 2008 5:19 pm:
The report didnt say Skinny was linked to the murders , it said his WEAPON was . ur saying and if he took a AK 47 from a gang member then 1 of them is gunless, like u forget a few of them got killed ………….many of them had more than 1 AK. FINEMAN wount b blamed for crimes thats gonna b commited in 2010 maybe some of the weapons he had used will.

[Reply to this]
optimistic pessimist
on September 7th, 2008 10:22 am

One good weapon dat de GPF seem to posses in their crime detection/solution arsenal is dis ballistic thing-a-ma-jiggy. I guess that it is simple enough to compare scrapings or markings on the casings.

One gets the impression that the GPF exploits this particular test to it’s fullest. In fact there seems to be an over reliance on this benchmark test. Criminals, it seems, can only be tied to a crime or a crime scene if they leave tell-tale shell castings behind. Is this the extent to which Guyana Finest can make a determination as to who committed a crime? What about good old fashion investigative acumen.

It is generally believed that criminals loan or rent weapons to other criminals for the commission of crimes. One immediately sees then, that the highly dubious practice of tying criminals to a crime scene by the single fact that shell castings match a particular weapon, is based on a premise that cannot be proven. The only thing that the matched shell castings indicate is that the crime was committed by that particular weapon and not necessarily the person in whose possession it was found.

There is also the fact that many of us do not trust the GPF nor think of them as being above reproach and principled entirely. What is to prevent some errant/lazy officer from planting shell castings at a crime scene to implicate someone. While ballistic testing is rather useful one admits, one never-the-less has to be careful of it’s over use and potential for misuse.

[Reply to this]
Basil.H
on September 7th, 2008 11:06 am

It is obvious that these guys are either guilty or in affiliation with guilty parties. Criminals share guns. These guys loved high powered guns. It is obvious that among criminals there is a shortage. Otherwise they wouldn’t have to steal them from the army. Weapons are shared, sold and leased. It is not a bold prediction to say that the vast majority of murders committed in Guyana are done by a small group of individuals. In such a small knit community there exist a rivalry between these criminals to see which one it the most brutal and reckless. Anything you can do I can do better. You kill 2 I kill three or an entire village. This explains the escalation of violence in the country. Those who don’t want to accept it live in denial awaiting another explanation that will fit their belief system. Guyana has become a hopeless society for some. In their desperation they turn to the gun and become like Fineman. The criminal lineage that began on mash day a few years ago will continue to pass to gun to younger and more ruthless individuals.

[Reply to this]
coolieman
on September 7th, 2008 11:47 am

Bad-lalldid you read the article it said the weapons found on Rawlins and Charles were used at certain crime scenes do you know that Rawlins was the leader of a criminal gang or as AH-GUN-SEE in his letter wrote he was the leader of the ARF you and some bloogers here are making Rawlings and his cohorts to be saints and that they should R.I.P I say they should burn in hell and that the good lord give peace to the soul’s of those that they murdered

[Reply to this]
AS
on September 7th, 2008 12:44 pm

Stabroek News, maybe this should be your headline news. For many people, the death of these two notorious criminals should be that., finish…not covering their funeral…what justification you have in this?…do play your role in guyana’s society….news is not all about reporting, it also entails ethics and sound judgement and analyses.

[Reply to this]
torbo
In reply to the above comment on September 7th, 2008 3:03 pm:
dont take out your frustration on the stb/news they are doing their
job, write the gpf and ask them why they had police escorts for the
two criminals like they were V I P.

[Reply to this]
torbo
on September 7th, 2008 3:06 pm

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHY SOME OF YOU BLOGGERS HATING THE
BEST FAIR AND BALANCE NEWSPAPER IN GUYANA PLS… STOP IT

[Reply to this]
true guynese
on September 7th, 2008 6:49 pm

i think the police are just casting all the blame on fineman and skinny….while we got others out there who are doing their crime and those 2 guys are being blamed……they are gone we will see what happen now……………..when blackie was around he was blamed for all crime………………………………

[Reply to this]
Melainie
In reply to the above comment on September 7th, 2008 8:58 pm:
Listen you are forgetting something this is the guyana police force we are talking about and this finding should have expected ,so why get worked up over it ,They have to justify the killing ,lets see what they are going to come up with for the prisoner that they killed.

[Reply to this]
evileyes
In reply to the above comment on September 7th, 2008 10:10 pm:
well said true but its the littel fish that always get ketch.never the big ones

[Reply to this]
DMACK
on September 9th, 2008 5:00 am

They say there is ballistic evidence to prove that FINEMAN and SKINNY are responsible for all those killings, its ironic how this foreign forensic team can come to Guyana, and solve this for us, yet they have more unsolved crime in their own country.

[Reply to this]