The execution-style killings of Navin Serrao over a year ago and Arjune Singh in May this year have again tested the Guyana Police Force’s ability to crack such cases as they have joined the long list that remain unsolved.
The relatives of both of the deceased have now gone public with pleas for the Com-missioner and Crime Chief to intervene so that the perpetrators could be brought to justice.
Serrao died after armed men drove up alongside his car and pumped several bullets into him on Thomas Lands on the night of June 7 last year.
Singh was shot dead in an incident, which has left more questions than answers. He had stopped at a roadblock block set up on Middleton Street on May 14 this year by two police officers who were checking documents. Within minutes, a car pulled up alongside the checkpoint, a gunman disembarked and a fusillade erupted. Another man was injured in the ordeal and ever since the incident there has been criticism over the conduct of the police officers on the night and their subsequent action.
In a letter to this newspaper last week, Navin Serrao’s mother implored the police to bring the perpetrators of her son’s killing to justice. “I’m asking for all innocent souls to get justice,” she said. The woman said she was hoping for some results soon.
Debra Serrao, in the letter, which this newspaper has also since forwarded to Acting Commissioner of Police Henry Greene, said she felt that the case is being considered a closed one since the family still had not received any feedback on investigations.
She referred to media reports in which Greene was quoted as saying that the murder may have been drug related. However, she noted that if the police could make such allegations, they should know who they should pull in for questioning.
The woman also pointed to the fact that there was an eyewitness who was in the car with her son, who was unhurt. “From what I know of her, she was in shock and could not give a statement. Also she is a sickly person, and I feel she was threatened to keep quiet,” the woman said .
The woman has also contended that her son’s cell phone, his driver’s licence and a silver ring were missing, while the police only gave his sister a wristwatch, his house keys, some mints and $1,500.
She revealed too that she felt her son was having some problems since, a few months before his demise he had called her to ask for money because he wanted to pay down on a car of his own since he was tired of working for people. She said she was in no position to assist him at that time. According to her she asked if he was in trouble, but her son said he was okay.
By the time separate financial plans were being made for her son to realize his dream, Serrao said, he was killed.
Lack of intelligence?
Many have asked the question as to whether a lack of intelligence or evidence led to the police’s inability to crack these two cases.
The most recent word on the Serrao killing was that the police ran out of leads, but that they are not considering it a closed case. A senior police officer had told Stabroek News that the owner of the car which Serrao was driving that fateful night, “had problems with persons and so we went along those lines in our investigations but we did not come up with anything of evidential value.”
The officer said the police believed the bullets might not have been meant for Serrao and so diagnosed the case as likely to be one of mistaken identity. He said all the leads the police were working with have been exhausted and though many persons were questioned in relation to the killing, there has never been enough evidence to lay charges against anyone.
The police have never addressed the issue of the eyewitness who was in the car with Serrao at the time of his death.
Singh’s death has also gone down in the records as unfortunate since the youth was simply abiding by the law and waiting his turn for his documents to be checked when his life was taken with a single bullet.
Following publication of a letter from the father of the deceased in this newspaper in which appeals for justice were made, a senior police revealed to Stabroek News that this investigation was two-fold; the murder itself and the allegations made against the police. Concern had been voiced in the public that the roadblock did not seem to be an authorized operation but one that had other motives. The conduct of the policemen after the shooting was also severely criticized. One fled to the Kitty police station and the other jumped into the trench.
The officer admitted that nothing new has since come out of the murder investigation but that the police ranks who were at the checkpoint were warned and one of them was subjected to disciplinary action because he did not report that he was going out on duty that night. He could not comment on the type of disciplinary action.
Singh’s relatives also want the perpetrators of this act to be brought to justice.
His father Narine Singh in his letter to Stabroek News said the police continue to keep the family in the dark about what they have gathered so far. He had said there has been no word from the police as to whether there was a motive for the shooting. He revealed that shortly after the killing he had met Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee and pleaded for whatever assistance the government could give to bring justice to the family for the loss of his only son.
He questioned what was being done by the government to ensure that procedures were put in place for investigating and solving criminal activities in the country.
“Is there an internal investigation with regard to the police officers involved in setting up the roadblock? Well it does not appear so,” the man said.
Singh also reported that a cell phone that his son was carrying on the night he was killed was missing even though it was with the police at the crime scene. He said the police said it was missing after he began making inquiries.
He also said that it was the force’s obligation to report on this matter and provide updates and he called on Greene to investigate the two police officers who set up the checkpoint.
“These officers should be held accountable and give the reason why a roadblock was set up at Middleton Street without proper authorization. This has caused the death of an innocent citizen. Why did this have to be the way that the police set up checkpoints? We are calling on the opposition parties and leaders of Guyana to give us justice,” Singh said.
Singh had also called on all Guyanese to come together to help fight crime in the country. (Heppilena Ferguson)
