In the heat of the bloody crimes that flared up here recently, police placed a $50M reward for information leading to the arrest of the country’s most wanted man, Rondell Rawlins, but more than six weeks later there has been no serious response to the offer.
The whopping US$250,000 reward on February 1 was seen as a significant sum by many when it was announced and it was the view of several persons including President Bharrat Jagdeo that the reward would be enticing enough to lead one of the fugitive’s own men to turn against him. However, this has not happened and whilst the security forces are said to be busy hunting down Rawlins and his men it would appear that the $50M reward has been forgotten.
Contacted yesterday a senior detective at the Criminal Investigation Department said that there had not been any significant report or information on Rawlins’ whereabouts al-though he said that persons had called in with information which led them nowhere. The $50M reward is the highest the force has ever offered for one man. Police interest in Rawlins had been rekindled since a heavily pregnant woman, Tenisha Morgan, went missing late January leading to a series of disclosures and claims purportedly by the fugitive. Police had reported that a man purporting to be Rawlins telephoned the police and issued threats if Morgan wasn’t safely returned. Just after the threat police headquarters, Eve Leary was attacked and hours later 11 people were massacred at Lusignan. The police have since said they believe that `Fineman’ had claimed responsibility for the Lusignan murders. The police also say that `Fineman’ is wanted for a series of murders and robberies under arms. In announcing the increased reward, the police said that it was done in view of the number of matters of a serious nature to which he is linked and the amount of damage caused. However, since the reward was announced there was another massacre at Bartica, which claimed the lives of 12 people. Although no one has claimed responsibility for that attack, President Jagdeo insisted that it was Rawlins’ gang.
Stabroek News randomly interviewed five persons yesterday asking them if they knew where Rawlins was whether they would tell the police and if the $50M reward is enticing enough. All the respondents spoke under condition of anonymity. One man said that he would not tell the police anything and the $50M reward had not jumped out at him. “I think it is a simple case of confidence; how the information would be treated and how you as the informant would be treated,” the man who works at a publishing company said. He said that his position is informed by the past mode of operations by the police. “You cannot depend on the police to conceal your identity if you give such information and there is no witness protection programme in this country,” the man declared. The man said too that he did not believe that US$250,000 was enough to relocate him comfortably in another country in the Caribbean or the US if he had to leave Guyana after informing on Rawlins. “Chances are you give the information, point the police to a credible source to get the man and the source end up being killed by the police,” the man said. A minibus driver plying the Kitty/ Campbellville route said should one decide to speak out against Rawlins within minutes the fugitive might know who ‘sold him out’. “The minute you tell the police where ‘Fineman’ is the next five minutes the police would tell `Fineman’ who told them,” the minibus driver said. The man further stated that there was also no guaranteed that the money promised would be handed over. “I prefer (to) play lotto because I know that if I win there would be no hassle I would get my money easy,” the man commented.
Stabroek News also caught up with a porter at a popular city store who admitted that he did not pay much attention to the money although he felt that it was substantial. “I don’t know if people does ever get them money they promising you,” the porter commented.
A security guard told Stabroek News that ‘selling out’ `Fineman’ is like signing your death warrant. The man said that the police could not be trusted and it would be a grave risk to engage in such a deal with them.
The Police Force recently said that if members of the public had problems giving low-level ranks information then they could contact the Commissioner of Police or other senior officers. Asked whether this arrangement was more comfortable, the security guard said that anyone wanting to speak to the top cop would have to give their name and state their business to his Personal Assistant. “So you see what we are facing it is not easy and no one would want to run that risk,” the man said.
Sitting on the pavement trying to eke out a living selling clothing a woman’s response to the question was “Do you know if `Fineman’ is really behind these things they saying?” According to her she would not be motivated to give any information about the whereabouts of Rawlins because there was no credible evidence linking him to some of the crimes he is being accused of. “I think some people see he as a ‘good man’ and they would never sell he out…I don’t know him and so I will not have anything to say,” the woman remarked. She said if one decided to tell the police about Rawlins they would have to answer other questions as to how they knew where he is and whether they had seen him before. She said people with limited education could easily implicate themselves. “So for me if I know, I would just imagine he is not there and forget about the police and their money,” the vendor declared.
Rawlins who is in his mid thirties gained notoriety in 2003 in the midst of the escapee-led crime wave in that period.
