-Selwyn Vaughn tells US court
Roger Khan’s gang had plotted to kidnap the wife of a high-ranking US Embassy official in Guyana in retaliation for the drug kingpin’s arrest and handing over to the US.
The high ranking diplomat was later forced to cut short his tour of duty here and he and his family left the country according to court documents, which showed that Selwyn Vaughn, the confessed ex member of Khan’s gang turned US operative, had tipped off the US government to the plan. A few months after Khan was arrested and extradited to the United States, Vaughn began working for the US government.
According to a report by Capitol News, Vaughn continued his testimony yesterday before a Brooklyn, New York courtroom, where former Khan lawyer Robert Simels is being tried for witness tampering. The court yesterday also heard of Vaughn’s involvement with the Khan gang, more alleged links with Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy and the plan by Simels to neutralise a witness against Khan. During the trial testimony had to be read back, and excerpts from recorded conversations used to demonstrate the defence’s position in this case.
Under cross-examination by Simels’ defence, he maintained that he thought Simels was trying to get enough information to “neutralise” former Guyana Defence Force Captain David Clarke, who was supposed to testify against Khan. Documents showed that Simels stated David Clarke was a very important player to the prosecution.
“Clarke is willing to play, but he wants to know what to do, what’s in it for him,” Vaughn later told Simels.
“Is he gonna cop a plea or testify?” Simels replied, to which Vaughn said he didn’t know, since he did not speak with Clarke directly but through his girlfriend.
During the cross examination, it was revealed that Vaughn believed Khan was doing Guyana a service, in doing what the police couldn’t do. When asked why he did not inform Simels as to his involvement in all this, Vaughn replied, “That’s Roger’s lawyer, I can’t tell him that.” The claims by another self confessed informant George Bacchus that then Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj had been involved in a death squad subsequently spawned a Presidential Commission of Inquiry, which cleared him of the charges though it criticised his dubious associations.
Court documents also showed Simels met with Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, in his effort to secure information for Khan’s defence, while still trying to meet with President Bharrat Jagdeo.
Simels referred to Jagdeo as “Bharrat” on several occasions, according to the report, which said that at one point the lawyer stated his desire to have “Bharrat lodge a formal protest with the United States government regarding the arrest of Roger Khan.” Simels felt they were moving too slow and he could not get the necessary documents he wanted to prepare for Khan’s defence.
According to the report, Vaughn testified that slain boxing coach Donald Allison had asked him to pick up a shipment of guns that came from the US and that they were taken to a location in the interior.
He also said around this time he and Khan met with Ramsammy about the inner dealings of the “Buxton Gang,” which Khan had been pursuing.
Vaughn stated, between 2000 and 2003, his cousin Mervyn Vaughn, who at the time was a detective in the Guyana Police Force, frequently asked him to assist in finding individuals wanted by the force when they could not. When asked if he knew what became of those people after they were located by the police, he shrugged and said no.
The witness said he met Roger Khan between June and July in 2005, and was given a Glock semi-automatic pistol with matching rounds and asked to infiltrate the Buxton “Gang.” Later that same year, on November 20, a bomb was placed in a television set and Vaughn was instructed to take it to Buxton to be delivered to the gang in an effort to eradicate them. He said he did not believe there was a bomb in the television because at that time he did not know of bomb making expertise in Guyana.
Vaughn said Roger Khan told him the bomb was made by a Trinidadian who was later arrested in Guyana. He said he saw the man putting together wires and gadgets. The television was eventually opened up, and according to Vaughn, it was defused. He said he never delivered it to Buxton because it was going to hurt innocent women and children and he gave Khan a story which was accepted.
Documents also showed Vaughn’s recollection of walking into Roger Khan’s office and seeing him with a CD player opened up. Khan told him he was placing a bomb inside the piece of equipment to be sent to Buxton, however he said he did not take that package to Buxton either.
Vaughn’s testimony showed in October, 2005, he got a call from Khan instructing him to drive by “the gym” to see if Allison was there. He did what he was instructed to do and when he saw Allison he called Khan to verify he was standing in front of the gym. Within seconds, a car pulled up and Allison was fatally shot.
When asked under cross examination whether it was true he had received a kilo of cocaine as a reward for the Alison killing, Vaughn denied this, stating the kilo of cocaine was given to another man with instructions to sell the cocaine and give some of the proceeds to him.
With regards to the killing of former political activist and TV talk show host Ronald Waddell, Vaughn said he never thought they were going to kill him. He was pressured under cross-examination to explain, particularly since he knew what happened to the Allison after surveillance.
As reported earlier, Vaughn said he sat and watched as the killers shot Waddell, then drove off and claimed he was shocked that they killed him.
As to the killing of Dave Persaud at Palm Court, Vaughn testified that an individual named “Ninety” killed him on Khan’s direction.
Documents also showed Vaughn stating he saw Khan with the infamous intercept laptop “with surveillance software” in his office.
