Wanted man lookalike held by police

An Essequibo Coast resident who was held for 48 hours by the police because they thought he matched the description of a man wanted in connection with the probable murder of Alpha Hotel owner Rosaline Hall is seeking a public apology.

Alex Jayson David Barker, a 29-year-old Envi-ronmental Health Officer who is currently employed by the Regional Democratic Council, Region 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam) and is a resident of Reliance, Essequibo Coast, spent 48 hours in police custody, was handcuffed and underwent full scrutiny as though he was a murder accused, and even though he tried to clear his name he was brought to the city. He was later released.

The police had issued a wanted bulletin for someone with the same first and last name back in April. Alex Barker is said to be the ex-husband of Hall who went missing around February 1 and was reportedly in his company when she was last seen. Barker was said to have been the woman’s chauffeur, and hours after he was last seen with her he was reported to have returned to the hotel and advised staff that he was now in charge since Hall had gone to Suriname. He had also sent home staff members and hired new ones. Once Hall was reported missing, however, Barker could not be located. Police later issued a wanted bulletin for him and asked for any information which would lead to his arrest.

Barker has still not been found, but badly decomposed remains suspected to be those of Hall were discovered on March 13 on the Linden Highway. The remains, which were wrapped in a blue tarpaulin, were dressed in clothing positively identified as matching that which Hall had been wearing on the day she was last seen.

Speaking with this newspaper yesterday, Barker, the man who had been misidentified and who has just completed an Associate Degree in Environmental Health at the University of Guyana, said that his ordeal had stained his reputation.

Last Thursday, August 14, Barker said he was on his way back to work when he was stopped and approached by police and told to report to the Anna Regina police station. “I asked them for what, and they told me that it was for questioning, and so I told them that I had to inform my superiors at work and then I would come,” Barker said.
Barker said he reported to the police station and was eventually interviewed by a Criminal Investigations Department (CID) officer. He said the questions mostly centred on his age and his parents’ names and those of his siblings. He said the officer pulled out a paper telling him that it contained the same information he had given during the 10 minute interview.

It was another police officer who later told Barker about the hotel owner and that she had last been seen with her ex-husband whose description matched his.

“They said I had the same locks, height and description of the person that they were looking for, and even though I insisted they told me I am now in custody and I have to go into the lock-ups,” he said.
It was around 8.30 the next morning, Barker said, that he started the journey to the city accompanied by security and his father. He said while travelling along the Essequibo Coast he was not handcuffed, but this changed when he reached Parika and was informed that a CID officer from Brickdam would pick him up. He said he spent until 4 that afternoon at the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station and was again cuffed and then escorted to Brickdam Police Station.

“When I reached there I heard murmuring that this was not the man. One officer looked at me and say I was not the person,” he said.

Barker told this newspaper that a female who he later learnt was a staff member from the Alpha Hotel finally told police that he was not the Alex Barker they were looking for.

He said an officer later told him he had been instructed to take a statement from him, and he signed a statement in which he said he never knew anyone by the name of Roselaine Hall following which he was finally released.
Barker said he found it strange that the police waited until he returned to Essequibo in June to pull him in, since he had been staying in town as a resident of the New Building Society dormitory and had been a student at UG since 2005.

“Even though I understand that they had a right to question me… I believe they were not professional,” Barker said, although he admitted that he had not been ill-treated at any time during the ordeal.

“But they kept insisting. I was never married. It was very embarrassing for me and my family and I feel this has stained my life and I want an apology,” he said.

Asked whether he knew that an arrest warrant was out for a man who had the same name as his and whose description was not far distant, Barker said he had read about it and even his friends had warned him to be careful. He said he was not able to get a proper look at the face of the man the police wanted since the newspaper photos were blurred.

“But I feel that the police needed to act better than that, do proper investigations, be clear about it and not put people through this for nothing,” he said.