– father slams police inaction
A city businessman had reportedly threatened Alicia Foster shortly before she was brutally gunned down and though this was passed on to the police along with the description of the men who had abandoned her car, her father said, they failed to act.
However, the police are making their own accusations, as, according to Commander of ‘A’ Division Leroy Brummell, the father and his other daughter, who was with Alicia at the time of her death, have not been cooperating fully with investigators.
James Foster, in a stinging criticism of the police’s investigation into his daughter’s death, accused them of gross incompetence and opined that her murder will be added to the already long list of unsolved killings.
Brummell, when contacted recently, told Stabroek News that a suspect had been held, but had to be released because the police did not get the full cooperation they needed from Foster’s relatives.
According to Brummell, the suspect was picked up based on information they had received and investigators were convinced that he had played a part in the October 12, 2008 murder. The man was placed on an identification parade, but an eyewitness to the incident could not identify anyone.
However, Brummell said, the investigation into the case is still ongoing.
Just before 10 pm, Foster was shot in her face and pulled from her car by one of two men who were waiting outside her David Street, Kitty home.
At the time the Senior Environ-mental Officer was waiting on her younger sister to open the gate so that she could drive into the yard.
Following the shooting, the gunman jumped into the car and drove away while his accomplice also fled the scene.
Foster was rushed to the George-town Public Hospital, but was already dead.
The day after the shooting, around 9 am, the woman’s car PHH 2236 was found abandoned at Well Road, North Ruimveldt minus the keys.
Shortly after the incident, the police had told this newspaper that they ruled out robbery as the motive behind the shooting stressing that they were following several leads in the case.
A week later, a suspect said to be matching the description of one of the perpetrators was held but subsequently released after he was not recognized at an identification parade.
Disappointed
On Friday the elder Foster spoke of his disappointment with the police’s inability to move ahead with the investigation although they have been provided with valuable information.
He had told this newspaper, days after the incident, that the only thing taken from his daughter was her life and that he was prepared to let the police handle the matter.
“As far as I am concerned the police haven’t done anything in terms of investigations into this matter. Persons were held but they just released them,” he told this newspaper via telephone.
The man said that persons in the Well Road area had given the police descriptions of the two men who had parked his daughter’s car there but “the police never acted on it.”
He further added that it was learned through his daughter’s workplace that she was being threatened by “a certain” businessman.
This newspaper had also received this report shortly after the woman was killed but several police sources dismissed it as a rumour. It is still unclear whether the businessman was questioned.
Unable to identify
According to Foster they cannot identify any of the perpetrators because the incident occurred at night and the place was dark.
He said he had even visited Commissioner Henry Greene to find out about the investigation but left his office empty handed.
“Is five months going into six months since she was killed. It is frustrating. As far as I can see this [the murder] will go down as another unsolved murder …because of the incompetence of the police,” Foster added.
He opined that the police seemed afraid to do their work and pointed out that it is as a result of their impotence and their inability to act on information that there was no progress in the case thus far.
