Dear Editor,
Today, August 10, marks exactly one year since Jainarine Dinanauth and Henry Gibson were killed, and the young, ten year old Ricky Jainarine went missing. The bodies of the two men were discovered in their shattered boat on the Essequibo River the next morning. Since then, a relentless, costly, and heart-rending search by Ricky’s mother Salimoon Rahaman has failed to yield any sign of the lad.
Not long after the incident, some time between August 20 and 22, Dweive Kant Ramdass was murdered on the same river, allegedly by three Coast Guard ranks. A connection between the two incidents was immediately made, with a Board of Inquiry finding that the said Coast Guard boat was on the river at the time of Dinanauth’s and Gibson’s murders. Further, paint that seemed to match the Coast Guard boat was found on Dinanauth’s shattered boat. From since September last year the Police Force is yet to complete the testing of the paint. In the meantime the three Coast Guard officers have been charged with the murder of Ramdass.
The authorities have from day one treated the Ricky Jainarine matter with seemingly little sense of concern. Rather than meet with the mother, our Home Affairs Minister asked her to fax him instead.
While we can understand some of this callousness in a political context because the government continues to sit uneasy with the disciplined forces, it still remains a stretch to justify what pretty much amounts to complete inaction and dereliction of duty to “serve”; no need to mention “protect.”
It is not too late for there to be a turn of heart by the authorities. Completing the tests on the paint and questioning Ramdass’ alleged killers would be a good start.
Yours faithfully,
Gerhard Ramsaroop
