A phone from a robbery in West Berbice on Friday morning was found on Delon Hawker, the Alness man whose killing by police following another robbery later that day at Mahaicony has fuelled controversy.
The discovery of the phone on Hawker would seem to link the robberies on Friday at Chester, West Coast Berbice and at Good Faith, Mahaicony.
The link was made after a phone belonging to Aleema Alli, the businesswoman from Chester was found in the possession of Hawker after his death, police sources say.
Hawker was shot dead by police at Dundee, Mahaicony who were responding to a report of the robbery at Good Faith.
The bandits had entered the home of Veerapen and Gangawatti Jebode where over $1 million in jewellery, cash, a cellular phone and other articles were stolen.
Hawker had just jumped out of a minibus to escape when he was shot while his accomplice managed to flee with a bag of booty.
Alli and her son, Asif, 28 were beaten, tied up and robbed of four cellular phones, including an expensive smart phone and a small amount of cash. The robbery occurred around 10 am last Friday.
The blue-coloured phone which displayed a photo of Alli was shown to a relative and was confirmed to be hers. Investigators from the Fort Wellington station took possession of the phone as evidence.
The duo had said that the bandits fit the description of those who attacked them. They were wearing the same colour t-shirts and had the same type of bags as the ones who robbed the Jebodes.
They both had the same type of weapons as the ones police recovered in a bag from the dead bandit at Dundee.
Hawker was also said to be the one who aimed the 9 mm pistol at Asif and pulled the trigger three times. Luckily, the gun failed to work.
He also reportedly gave instructions to his accomplice, who was carrying the .32 revolver, during the robbery.
The bandits made good their escape in the backlands with residents in hot pursuit. But the bandits fired shots at them and the residents retreated. No one was injured. Police later combed the area but came up empty-handed.
The two suspects then headed to Good Faith and reportedly committed the other robbery around 1:30 pm. They were later seen walking calmly out of a dam with their bags.
Gangawatti and a neighbour boarded a minibus with the bandits to track them and were at the next village—Dundee—when they saw a police vehicle approaching. They shouted for the driver to stop and it was at this stage that the shooting took place.
A .32 snub-nose revolver and a 9mm. pistol were recovered at the scene by the police. A bag containing a pair of binoculars, a cell phone and a cap were also found.
Gangawatti also recognised some of her personal items in the bandits’ bag, including cosmetics, clothing and a roll of scotch tape.
