Lindo Creek slaughter probe ongoing

The police investigation into the slaughter of eight miners at a Lindo Creek, Upper Berbice mining camp is ongoing despite the slaying of Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins, leader of the notorious gang said to be behind the killings.

However, the police have not released any information on their findings to date in support of their claim that Rawlins and his gang were responsible for the miners’ deaths.

Rawlins and multiple murder accused/prison escapee Jermaine ‘Skinny’ Charles were shot and killed after they were cornered by joint services ranks in an unfinished building at Kuru Kururu on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway  more than two weeks ago following a chase from a Timehri shack where they had been hiding out for some time.

A high-ranking police officer told this newspaper recently that Rawlins’s death has not stopped investigations and the police were awaiting forensic and other reports from the Jamaican team, which assisted Guyana with those investigations.

So far the tangible evidence the police have linking the gang to the killings are ballistics results and statements from two women on a bus which some gang members had allegedly hijacked on the Aroaima Trail, following their escape from Christmas Falls.

Last week, police linked the weapons, which were retrieved from Rawlins and Charles, to a string of murder scenes dating as far back as 2006. 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. Further, police ballistics tests have also shown that the rifle Rawlins was carrying was one of the firearms used at Agricola in 2006 to kill three MCC security guards as well as Hannah Cameron, David Brummell and Lavern Scott. Further, Rawlins’s weapon was reported to have been used at the home of Minister of Agriculture Satyadeow Sawh when he and three of his relatives and his security guard were slain, in addition to the murder committed on Professional Guard Service security employee, Dexter Barry at Agricola in 2007, police said in their statement.

Rawlins and about five other men were spotted by the joint services who had ventured to the Christmas Falls area on June 6. One of the men was killed in an initial confrontation while Rawlins and the others escaped and evaded the lawmen for many days. On June 15, at Goat Farm two other gunmen were killed. According to the police, after the confrontation AK-47 rifles, 781 .62 x 39 rounds, nine AK-47 magazines, and ten 16-gauge cartridges were recovered by the Joint Services. One day later, word spread of the hijacking of a vehicle on the Aroaima Trail. It was reportedly the remnants of the gang who hijacked the bus  and stopped off at some still unknown spot.

The police had said that evidence had been unearthed from two women on the bus that was “hijacked by a man who allegedly called himself `Fineman’ along with others and who said that he had killed nine persons and burnt their bodies and the Joint Services could not see the smoke.”

The lawmen had also gone on record as having an eyewitness/suspect who had given crucial information to support their claim.

Questioned about this last week, the high-ranking police officer told Stabroek News that the police were also in possession of a number of statements from several persons in relation to the incident.

That source said the police had explored the angle which had been promoted by dredge owner George Arokium, who insisted that his men had been killed by the joint services.

The senior officer said firmly that the police would not be revealing any information in relation to their findings from investigations so far, but noted that once the Jamaican analysis was released to them, along with every other bit of evidence it would be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions for advice on how to proceed.
Spot on

Meanwhile, many questions still linger about the movement of Rawlins after he managed to evade every possible cordon the joint services had set up in the Upper Berbice Area.

After Arokium made public his June 21 discovery of what seemed to be the remains of his miners, the joint services only then said they were alerted about what had occurred.

The lawmen had to be aided to the mining camp by a brother of one of the deceased, who knew the area.

Asked whether the police had come up with the possible route Rawlins used in his escape, the official said after it was suspected that he escaped from Christmas Falls, police were in receipt of intelligence of the group including its exact location at different times.

“The intelligence was spot on as to where they were but that is information that we still cannot make public because of protected sources and so on,” the officer said.

Asked to comment on any possible assistance the police may have received, the source did not comment but noted that Guyana has been getting overseas assistance in the area of security for a very long time and continues to co-operate with different agencies. Questioned  further as to whether there was specific foreign assistance integral to the eventual cornering and subsequent killing of Rawlins and Charles, the officer reiterated that the police had always received assistance from foreign agencies. At a press conference on August 21, at which he briefed the media on security and other preparations for Carifesta 10, President Bharrat Jagdeo when asked if Guyana was receiving any foreign assistance to capture Rawlins, had said yes. However, he said, he could not speak about it publicly.

Exactly a week later, Rawlins and Charles were shot dead in an unfinished building at Kuru Kururu on the Linden-Soesdyke  Highway

The officer revealed that there were several instances after the Christmas Falls scenario when the police were spot on with their tracings of Rawlins and knew of his exact location right up to the day he was killed.