Mother seeks justice in Cummings Lodge killings five years ago

A grief-stricken mother and grandmother, Kamla Singh, still pleads for justice five years after her daughter and grandson together with three other persons were gunned down in a dark night in September, at Cumming’s Lodge, East Coast Demerara (ECD).

Friday marked five years since her daughter Fiona Singh and her grandson, Neil Jupiter, who never had the opportunity to start nursery school although he was due to do so, were killed execution style on September 4, 2010.

     Fiona Singh
Fiona Singh

The shooting also claimed the lives of three other persons, including the father of Jupiter,     Steve Jupiter, of Industry, East Coast Demerara, Christopher Gordon and Sherwin Jerome called ‘Dice Head.’

Speaking to Stabroek News from her home in Linden, Kamla said she recently moved from Georgetown because of the pain of living in the top flat of a house above where her dead daughter used to live in the lower flat.

The woman related that she had bad experiences at the hands of the police and was told hurtful words by them and the authorities whom she approached for justice for her daughter and first grandchild. However, Kamal said she would not give up on the case and is calling for justice to be served. She wants the present government to reopen the case so that she would at least have the satisfaction of knowing who committed such an act.

The woman also told this newspaper that she was present at an APNU+AFC meeting during the election campaign when President David Granger promised to ensure that the family members of those murdered over the years would receive justice. She is therefore calling on him to look into this matter specifically and fulfil his promise.

Neil Jupiter
Neil Jupiter

She is also planning to visit the Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan and Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum in relation to the case because she was once told by late Commissioner of Police Henry Greene that her daughter and grandchild were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This time she is going with the hope of receiving answers to her questions.

According to initial reports, around 19:35 hours on September 4, 2010, the 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.

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 persons opened fire on them. An eyewitness had told Stabroek News that two cars had been parked on the dark roadway for several minutes before the shooting.

A number 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 at any other crime scene.