UK forensic experts available

-lawyers for families tell police, Rohee

Relatives of the eight Lindo Creek murder victims have secured the assistance of Forensic Science Service (FSS), a UK-government owned company and have written to Police Commis-sioner (ag) Henry Greene informing him of their desire to have the experts observe the conduct of any forensic examination.

Attorney-at- law Nigel Hughes, whose firm Hughes, Fields and Stoby has been retained by the victims’ relatives, in a statement released yesterday, said that Greene was informed of this development on Monday. Hughes said his clients took this step after learning of the inability of the Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee to thus far secure the attendance of forensic experts from the United States of America.

The attorney said the letter was sent to Greene and copied to Home Affairs Minister Rohee, army Chief of Staff Commodore Gary Best and British High Commissioner Fraser Wheeler. They are urging the commissioner and minister to accept the offer of services from the FSS, immediately.

According to the letter, a copy of which this newspaper has seen, the relatives have read various public statements attributed to either Greene or President Bharrat Jagdeo, which indicated that assistance from forensic experts was being solicited from the US.

To this end, the relatives’ legal counsel told Greene that they have been in contact with their own experts in the field. They asked for his consideration to have the UK experts, who they said were now attached to the police force in Trinidad and Tobago, attend and observe any forensic examination of the crime scene and any evidence recovered therefrom.

The relatives of the dead men also want permission for their expert to conduct an independent review and analysis  of any evidence retrieved form the crime scene or associated with it.

Further, they said, they have been advised by the forensic experts with whom they have been in contact that the integrity of the crime scene was critical to the reliability of any examination of the scene. “We are aware from persons who attended the crime scene that there are already exists the possibility of some significant compromise of the crime scene,” the letter stated.

In the letter, Hughes also informed Greene that his clients were extremely concerned about the integrity and impartiality of any investigation conducted either by the Guyana Police Force or the Guyana Defence Force into the deaths of their relatives. This was against the background of their real and present fear that members of the police or defence force or both, may have been involved in the deaths.

In this regard, they pointed to public statements by members of the GPF and GDF that neither was involved in the killings, noting that any independent review or analysis by persons competent in the area of forensic examination will only “corroborate your exoneration of the members of the police force and army”.

In due course
Contacted for comment yesterday following the issuing of the press statement, Greene told this newspaper that he was in receipt of the June 30 letter from the attorneys representing the relatives of the dead miners.
“They will get a response in due course”, he said.

At a press conference last week, President Bharrat Jagdeo had announced that US pathology assistance was being sought to help solve the murders of eight miners whose burnt bodies were found, almost two weeks ago, wrapped in tarpaulin at the remote diamond mining camp.

The forensic pathologist should help determine around when the miners were killed and how.

Last weekend, Rohee confirmed that there had been no response from the US up to Friday last, but did not speculate on whether the US would grant the request. However, he did say that the Lindo Creek campsite had been sealed off, awaiting the arrival of the US experts.

Sources at the US embassy had told this newspaper that the request was forwarded to the relevant authorities and there should be a response by this week. Asked whether the US would be disposed to meeting the specific request, the source said it was a decision that the US State Department had to make, but hinted that Washington had met similar requests for other countries in the past.

However, at a press conference on Tuesday, Rohee still could not confirm when the US team would arrive but said he was prepared to wait. The minister also told reporters that the administration was keeping its options open. “If the US team is unable to come, there are other options open in the Caribbean. From enquiries made, it appears that other options are available in the region,” Rohee had asserted.

Asked what those regional options were, Rohee told reporters he was not prepared to reveal any such information at this time.

Rohee could not be reached yesterday for comment on the letter that was copied to him.

Inquiry
Meanwhile, the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) yesterday joined the call for an independent and impartial inquiry into the killings with a view to determining who were the perpetrators of this and other heinous crimes that have occurred in the country.

The union, in a statement in which it also extended condolences to the relatives and friends of the eight men who perished, made the call against the background that the situation had been complicated by the fact that serious allegations have been levelled at the security forces.

The union also said that it was its view that the only way the truth could emerge was through the conduct of such an investigation.

“We do not see this as casting blame or vilifying the security forces, but as one means by which their position could be vindicated. We are fully aware of the tendency of those in authority to delay and procrastinate in such matters which is inevitably accompanied by speculation on the true motives of persons,” the statement said.

In this respect too, the union said the manner in which the report on the torture of persons was being treated did not lead to public confidence that the principles of the rule of law were being respected and adhered to.

The union called on the authorities to publish the findings of the report of torture allegations within the security forces. The statement said this would remove speculation that the report was hostile to the security forces and that attempts were being made to tamper with it.