The Santa Rosa Village Council and residents are concerned about the status of the ongoing investigations into the death of Damien La Rose and have severely criticized the police.
In a press release yesterday, Paul Graham Atkinson, on behalf of the Toshao, Council and residents of the Region One community said they are still shocked at La Rose’s violent death on October 29.
The village strongly condemns what it sees as an inefficient investigation by police; charging that police failed to photograph and secure the crime scene or to retrieve any physical evidence. Residents said too that prior to this tragic event, police have on several occasions failed to provide meaningful service and protection to them and opined that their seemingly uncaring and unconcerned attitudes during the course of this investigation may be because “this matter is above [their] heads.”
“Even with eyewitnesses initially scared to come forward, the statements made to the police by the companions of the murdered youth could have been enough to lay a charge,” Atkinson said. He noted that the Council understands that the office of the Director of Public Prosecu-tions has ordered another investigation into the case and the village applauds this move.
However, Atkinson said that the police have yet to start this second investigation yet the suspects have been released.
This move has “infuriated this community but it has also galvanized the support of residents in the quest for justice.”
Atkinson contends that “It cannot be right that a young man at the start of his prime be killed in our village and for the lack of procedure by the police the matter disappears!” He noted that the man’s family has the community’s full support and they intend that justice must be served.
Further, they are seeking “a full retraction” of the last paragraph of a report of the incident carried in the October 31 edition of the Guyana Times. “Damien was respectful of authority and not a trouble maker as the paper made him out to be,” Atkinson said, adding that the community is demanding an apology to his immediate family.
