Commissioner of Police Henry Greene says he would “love to hear” what the man who said he witnessed the murder of the eight miners at Lindo Creek and who wants to meet President Bharrat Jagdeo has to say.
Speaking to reporters recently, Greene said that while there has been no further update on the investigation into the deaths of the miners, and they are still awaiting the results of the DNA tests from Jamaica, he wants to know who the mysterious person is.
“I would love to ask whoever this mysterious person is who we hearing about to come forward. I would love to hear what he or she has to say,” the commissioner said.
Stabroek News had reported that the man said he had witnessed what happened at Lindo Creek and that he wanted residents of Berbice River communities to help him to have an audience with the President.
The residents, to whom the man has spoken, told Stabroek News that he has abandoned his home out of fear and currently moves from place to place as he has no fixed place of abode. They said he had been saying the same thing since last June soon after the incident occurred and that back then he had even gone to the police in the area, who did not believe him and ran him off warning him not to repeat what he was saying to anyone.
According to the residents, who are also still fearful, the man had said he wanted to be able to meet President Jagdeo in a public setting to tell his story, so that “if they kill me there the world know.”
According to several residents who have had contact with the man, his account of what occurred at Lindo Creek in early June 2008, has been and continues to be consistent. They said he told them that he was at Leonard Arokium’s camp at Lindo Creek with eight other men.
He related that he had gone off into the bushes “to ease his bowels” when he heard a hail of gunshots. He approached cautiously and from a safe distance, saw a group of approximately five men standing guard while a few others seemed to be questioning the miners as they beat them with sledgehammers; he could hear them hollering, he told the residents.
After a while, the men drenched the camp and the miners with fuel and then lit the camp and its occupants afire, he told the residents. He also claimed that the men stayed there, throwing more fuel whenever the flames began to quell. The man told the residents that the killers then left the area by boat after they were satisfied that the camp and the campers were completely burnt. He recounted to them that while he looked on he trembled with fear at the thought that he might have been caught and killed.
Alliance For Change (AFC) leader, Raphael Trotman had told Stabroek News following the first report that he hoped President Jagdeo meets the man and provides him with the highest security.
Trotman had said that the nation, but more so the relatives of the slain miners need answers as to what would have happened at the camp and why. He said the President should meet the man and hear what he has to say as there is need for answers.
Both Trotman and PNCR leader Robert Corbin had told Stabroek News that they were not surprised that the investigation into the gruesome murders of the miners has stalled. According to Corbin, it was clear that there was some desire on the part of the administration to hide what really happened at Lindo Creek.
‘Still there’
Trotman had charged that there is a major cover-up going on so that the true facts of what happened at the Lindo Creek are not revealed.
He had recalled that Greene had publicly spoken about an eyewitness to the incident but to date there has been no further revelation about this person. Greene was asked about the eyewitness on several occasions after he made the pronouncement, and he has declined to answer; though at one time he hinted that the person might be in prison.
Asked about the witness he spoke about, Greene told reporters last week that “he is there” but would not give any further information. When one reporter suggested that the person is in witness protection Greene said ‘Thank you.”
Further, pressed about the person, Greene refused to budge but maintained that his witness is “credible.”
Greene had told reporters that the eyewitness had come forward on July 3, and given investigators a detailed account of what transpired at the camp. Greene had said that the identity of the witness could not be disclosed at that time.
According to Greene, “The eyewitness has said that the men were attacked by ‘Fine Man’ and his gang. They went there at night. Basically, they attacked the men. They tied them up, they cooked, etcetera, and then the next night they were shot and killed.”
He added that the eyewitness related that after the shooting, one of the victims was still alive, and he was beaten with a hammer until he succumbed.
“That is what we have. We have how they arrived there, we have all the details. That is all I can give you for now,” Greene had said.
‘Sympathetic’
Meanwhile, Greene said Guyana has to be patient as it waits for the results of the DNA tests, since the Jamaicans have their own issues to deal with.
“I think we ought to be a little sympathetic with them [the Jamaicans], they have their own large amount of murders on their hands so I think you know the lab is under pressure, we need to give them more time,” Greene said.
Shortly after samples were taken from the charred remains of the miners for DNA testing in Jamaica, in late July last year, Arokium had told Stabroek News that he was anxiously awaiting their return, since the results could tell a lot more about the massacre, for example, if remains were found that did not belong to any of the eight men who were thought to have died at Camp Lindo. He had hinted that a ninth man could possibly have been at the site.
Arokium has said that he has since given up on ever finding out what happened at his mining camp as according to him “I can’t fight the system” This is also now the conclusion of most of the relatives of the dead men.
The camp owner, who lost his son Dax Arokium and his brother Cecil Arokium in the attack, had said he was also keen on finding out which of the members of the camp sustained the sledgehammer skull wounds as it would indicate who resisted the attackers. The other miners in the camp were Clifton Wong, Nigel Torres, Compton Speirs, Horace Drakes, Bonny Harry and Lancelot Lee.
The police declared that the men were killed by the now dead Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins and his gang but many have doubted this and camp owner, Arokium has publicly stated that his men were killed by members of the joint services, a charge that has since been denied by both the army and the police.
