Most wanted ‘Fineman’ under the radar

Guyana’s number one fugitive Rondel ‘Fineman’ Rawlins remains elusive and his name continues to be linked with various crimes.

Dubbed by police as the leader of the Agricola/Buxton criminal gang, the Agricola, East Bank Demerara-born resident has been on the run since 2003 and while several of his associates have been captured or killed Rawlins has managed to survive.

Police have admitted that they do not where he is, although they had received information in the past suggesting that he might he hanging out on the East Coast and from time to time would move to Agricola and even to neighbouring Suriname when the heat is on him. There had been claims by many robbery victims that he was among the bandits who attacked them and police said he was part of the 15-member gang that brought terror to Agricola last year, killing eight people and attempting to blow up a gas station.

Rawlins gained notoriety when police published a wanted bulletin for his arrest in the midst of the escapee-led crime wave in June 2003. Wanted bulletins were also issued at the same time for Ivor Glenn, Troy Dick one of the five prison escapees who was killed last year, Paul Pindleton also called `Serra man’, Anthony Charles called `Kussum’ and Michael Anthony Sandiford called `Rasta man’ and `Mo Fire’. All of the other men have been captured or killed save for Rawlins and Sandiford. Police had said that Rawlins was wanted for a series of robberies. Still in his early twenties when the bulletin was published for his arrest, Rawlins is said to have grown up in the Agricola community with his siblings and other relatives. Not much is known about his schooling and his childhood days.

Rawlins was said to have been involved in armed robberies and when the prison escapees were on the loose he was drafted in as a look-out mainly based in Agricola. Soon, some of the escapees were killed and Rawlins found himself in Buxton taking charge of small groups who were also part of the criminal gang. He was linked to a number of high-profile assaults including the one in 2005 in which Agricola resident David Barrow was beheaded. He was also linked to several raids on East Coast villages.

Speaking to Stabroek News on Sunday, a senior police officer who asked not to be named said that Rawlins has been keeping a low-profile and appeared not be involved in some of the crimes that are being committed today. “He realized that some of his men are dying out so maybe he is lying low,” the officer who is based on the East Coast of Demerara said. Sources on the East Coast said that Rawlins still lives there and enjoys a relatively unrestrained social life. One of Rawlins’ biggest and most sensational attacks in terms of its scale was in February last year when over a one dozen gunmen under his command, reportedly dropped off in cars, blocked off a section of the road at Mc Doom and at Eccles and carried out a one-hour assault on residents of Agricola and Eccles. Some of the men walked to Two Brothers Gas station where they launched an attack aimed at burning it down. They then unleashed a volley of shots at three MMC security guards whose vehicle was having air put into its tyres at the time. The three men died on the spot. Following the execution of the guards, the gunmen walked into Agricola where they apprehended Hannah Cameron and David Brummel in their homes. The elderly couple was shot several times and Brummel’s throat was sliced. They were then set alight on their bed. A similar assault was carried out at Caesar Street, Agricola where Assistant Town Clerk, Lavern Scott-Garraway was shot and her body burnt. The gunmen went to the home and asked for her husband, David Scott who wasn’t there at the time. They then demanded money, but before the woman reacted she was riddled with bullets and her house set on fire. Stabroek News was told that it was clear that the gunmen knew who their targets were. One resident had told this newspaper that persons had gone around the village a few days before warning villagers of the attack. Rawlins had also left been linked to the attack a year before when Barrow, Shamika Boyce and a Paul Persaud called “Yankee’ were killed. Barrow called ‘Gurple’, was said to have been the “biggest name” in the village. Rawlins’ name has also been mentioned in the assassination of Agriculture Minister Satyadeow Sawh, who along with two of his siblings and a security guard was gunned down at his Earl’s Court, La Bonne Intention home last year April. Police had issued a wanted bulletin for him and others for the killings. Most recently Rawlins’ name surfaced again in connection with the slaying of two men at a beer garden on Agriculture Road, Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara. Reports are that five men armed with rifles carried out the attack, killing Fazal Hakim and Rajesh Singh, while robbing Narendra Mukhram the owner of the beer garden. There have been reports that Rawlins was seen at the scene but police have not confirmed this.