Acquittal of accused in 2010 execution leaves police at a loss to solve others

Though the police had confidently said that three sets of execution-style killings which had sent shockwaves throughout the country in 2010 were linked and later managed to lay a murder charge in relation to one, investigators will now have to retrace their steps and find new leads, as the accused was acquitted in the High Court recently.

This development and the fact that police have found nothing else since then, reaffirm concerns that the police lack the ability to not only solve high-profile crimes but also to present “strong cases” that could lead to convictions.
In those killings, which occurred over a five-week time period, eight people, including a woman and her four-year-old son were riddled with bullets.

The first murders occurred on September 4 at Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara and claimed the lives of Steve Jupiter called ‘Steve man’; his girlfriend Fiona Singh and their son, Neil Jupiter, three years old; Christopher Gordon and Sherwin Jerome called ‘Dice Head’.

Several weeks later, Mark Caesar was the victim of a drive-by shooting as he stood alone at the corner of Broad and Adelaide streets in Charlestown. Last week, Jupiter’s brother Dexter Marshall, who was charged with Caesar’s murder, was freed after a High Court jury found him not guilty. Marshall and Caesar’s brother were said to be close friends.

     Fiona Singh
Fiona Singh

Days after Caesar’s murder, Patrick Goodluck and Godfrey Grootfaam were executed at Stone Avenue, Campbellville.

Steve Jupiter
Steve Jupiter

Contacted recently Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said the investigations into the three incidents can go no further unless the police receive new information. He said that since the arrest and charging of Marshall, no other suspects have been identified or arrested in regard to any of the cases.

He said investigators have not managed to gather any new information that could lead to any breakthrough.
“Once we have [new] information we will act on it”, Persaud stressed while speaking with this newspaper.

Asked about the longstanding claims that the killings were related, Persaud said the force still believes that they are. “One was a hit, then the other one was retaliation and then the other one was a retaliation of that retaliation,” he said. Based on Persaud’s explanation, the Cummings Lodge shooting was a hit. Caesar’s killing was in retaliation for that hit while the killing of the other two was in retaliation to the second shooting.

He said that until new information surfaces there is not much the police can do since they have nothing to work with.
A security source told Stabroek News recently that the mere fact that almost three years have passed, is a clear indication that these killings will remain unsolved and that the relatives of Singh in particular have no justice to get.

Neil Jupiter
Neil Jupiter
 Godfrey Grootfaam
Godfrey Grootfaam

The source questioned what investigation, if any, the police did between the time that Marshall was arrested and charged to now.

The source pointed out that the first few hours followed by the first few days are the most critical to any investigation. The source pointed out that the police did not to impress upon citizens that they were working around the clock and tapping into all available resources to find the hit men.

The source said that based on all the information out there, there is evidence to suggest that the three killings were linked, taking into consideration the backgrounds of at least five of the six men who were killed.

Days after the shooting, Persaud had told Stabroek News that Goodluck, Mark Caesar and the three men executed at Cummings Lodge “would’ve worked for the same people” at some point during their lives, but he did not elaborate. Jupiter and Goodluck, according to police sources, were hit men.

The sixth man, the source said, appeared to have befriended bad company and was in the wrong place at the wrong time; just like Singh and her son. Nevertheless, the source said, the families of the trio who clearly were not the targets deserve justice and closure but unfortunately they may never get it.

Poor investigations, the source said, continue to haunt the Guyana Police Force and with each passing year it gets worse as more and more cases remain unsolved.
According to the source, even if the police manage to arrest anyone, they will have an uphill task putting forward a strong case, given the amount of time that has passed, missed evidence and the inability to find witnesses.

Based on the initial reports, around 19:35 hrs on Septem-ber 4, 2010, police received a report of a shooting at Second Field, South East Cummings Lodge and on investigating found motor car PLL 2297 with several bullet holes and the bodies of five people inside.

Mark Caesar
Mark Caesar
 Patrick Goodluck
Patrick Goodluck

Moments before, Jupiter, who resided at Industry, East Coast Demerara had picked up Singh and the toddler from a relative’s home in the area. It was as they were driving out that a still unknown number of persons opened fire on the car. An eyewitness had told Stabroek News that two cars had been parked on the dark roadway for several minutes before the shooting.

A barrage of empty casings, shells and warheads were later recovered at the scene, but according to the police the bullets recovered did not match any firearms used in any other crime.

Former police commissioner Henry Greene, who is now deceased, and Persaud had said that that killing was drug related. However no concrete evidence of this was released.

Greene had told reporters that seven kilogrammes of cocaine that went missing may have led to the ambush. He had said that one of the slain men reportedly collected nine kilogrammes of cocaine sourced from Venezuela and was to hand it over to a “certain group”. However, only two kilogrammes were delivered and the man claimed that the rest had been seized by the police.

Gordon had been deported from the US in 2003 for drug possession.

Around 7 pm on October 1, Caesar was standing alone at the corner of Broad and Adelaide streets – his usual liming spot – when he was shot about 11 times.

“A light-coloured car come driving from St Stephen Street side… I couldn’t see is who been in this car or how much of them but all I see is that they roll down the street [Broad Street] slow and then I hear the first bullet… Is a man that been in de back seat been doing the shooting,” an eyewitness had recounted to Stabroek News.

The badly-wounded Caesar was left lying on the corner and his attackers escaped along Adelaide Street. Caesar reportedly sustained gunshot wounds to the head, hand, legs and other parts of the body.

The car transporting Caesar’s attackers, reports suggest, was seen moving north along St Stephen Street and would have driven by Caesar’s house before turning west onto Broad Street.

After the rapid discharge of gunfire, the vehicle then turned north onto Adelaide Street and used a route from there to escape.

Residents told this newspaper that it would have been very easy for the killers to find Caesar since he was at that spot everyday
Shortly before the incident, Caesar had been speaking with another close associate. Minutes before the car appeared and the gunfire started, the friend reportedly left to buy a phone card at a nearby shop.

In relation to the Camp-bellville shooting, police had said in a statement that the incident occurred at about 8.15 pm. The two men were in motor car PMM 9074, an AT 212 Carina driven by Goodluck, when at Royal Drive and Stone Avenue, three suspects drove up in another car, exited and fired several shots at the victim’s vehicle, then drove away.

Prior to the attack, Goodluck had received a call on his mobile phone, which relatives believed was the call of death for him.
The duo died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds.

Police had issued wanted bulletins for 15 men, businessmen and former policemen were among them. Those wanted were Bramanand Nandalall called ‘Bramma,’ Clayton Hutson, Mark De Abreu, Ricardo Rodrigues, Lloyd Roberts, Dennis Edwards Jnr, John De Santos,  Sean Belfield, David Charran, West Demerara businessman Salim Juman Azeez, Paul Daby (Snr), Paul Daby (Jnr) called ‘Randell,’ Peter Daby called ‘Spiderman,’  Blue Iguana owner Royston Peniston and Shervington Lovell called ‘Big Head.’

Some of the men turned themselves in accompanied by their lawyers, while at least two were arrested by the police. They were later released without any charges being filed and the lawyers had told this newspaper that the police were on a “fishing expedition” a practice which ought to be disallowed.