The police have almost completed their probe into repeated allegations by Lusignan residents that ranks from three East Coast police stations responded more than one hour after 11 residents were slaughtered by a gang of gunmen.
This was disclosed by Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon who was however unable to comment on whether the investigation dealt with the issue of the request for phone records from the telephone company.
Questioned on a commitment made by President Bharrat Jagdeo to Lusignan residents that telephone records would be requested from the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) which would show the times such calls were made and to which stations, Luncheon recommended that reporters direct such a question to the president.
“Why don’t you ask the president, I won’t know that,” Luncheon told reporters yesterday at the Office of the President.
He advised that the formal investigations have been undertaken by Police Com-missioner Henry Greene regarding calls made by members of the Lusignan community to police stations in ‘C’ division and upon completion a report would be submitted to the Office of the President (OP).
“I am certain that the police commissioner would be hastening to provide OP with the report but such a submission, as far as I am aware, has not yet been made,” he added.
However, the government spokesman said he did not know whether talks were ongoing between the president and the phone company over call records, while also acknowledging that there may be other aspects of the investigation.
“There may be isolated aspects that are being dealt with by bilaterals by the president and GT&T… I don’t know,” he insisted.
Lusignan residents had complained to President Jagdeo during his visit there after the slaughter, saying that they had called the police but were given other numbers to contact other stations and it was only an hour after the whole ordeal that the police turned up.
In response Jagdeo had told some residents whom he met the day after the killings that call records would be requested from the telephone company, following which investigations would be conducted.
Hours after the most horrifying mass murder in 30 years, President Jagdeo had also told reporters at a press conference that he learnt that the anger of residents stemmed not only from the criminal act but also the police response.
Jagdeo said based on comments from residents with whom he spoke, the police had not arrived in time after they received calls informing them of the criminals’ rampage.
“They said it was over an hour after the reports were made that the police came
