By Zoisa Fraser
The three-man Trinidadian forensic team that arrived here on Tuesday to assist the Guyana government with investigations into last month’s killings at Lindo Creek was unable to get to the site, contrary to what the Ministry of Home Affairs had said.
However, according to Crime Chief Seelall Persaud the team has begun to review statements taken by the local investigators.
Persaud explained yesterday that security officials only became aware that the team had not reached its destination owing to “problems” late on Tuesday, but by that time, the press release from the Home Ministry, which said the team was at the site, had already been dispatched to the media.
He said the problems included mechanical issues with the team’s helicopter with which the three forensic experts had travelled here from Trinidad and Tobago. In addition, because of the size of the craft, Persaud told this newspaper, the intention was for it to land some distance away from the campsite.
He said that this was done on Tuesday, but the team was unable to proceed because the distance to the camp was too far.
According to that Home Affairs Ministry statement, the team arrived by helicopter and flew immediately along with local investigators to the site of the gruesome slaying of the eight miners.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, the crime chief said another attempt was being made to have the team travel to the crime scene but up to press time last night there had been no official word as to whether it had managed to reach the Lindo Creek mining camp located on the Upper Berbice River. He said the team was also reviewing the statements taken so far.
It was through a request to Caricom that the Trinidadian team came here. Barbados and Jamaica had also indicated their readiness to assist Guyana. However, Persaud could not say when teams from the other two Caricom countries would be arriving here.
This newspaper made several attempts to contact Police Commissioner (ag) Henry Greene on the issue but was unsuccessful.
A telephone interview with Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee yielded no information. Responses to questions by this newspaper on the team’s visit were met with the answer “I am not in a position to say”.
Asked what exactly the Trinidadians were supposed to be doing, the minister responded, “the same thing that the US was supposed to do,” something he accused this newspaper of reporting on all along.
Rohee said that he was not in a position to disclose what the team has so far collected and directed this newspaper to the police commissioner for a comment.
He declined to divulge information on how long the team would remain in Guyana and what had been done or collected during their stay so far.
This newspaper understands that attempts have not yet been made to examine the miners’ remains, which are at the Lyken’s Funeral home.
Meanwhile, this newspaper made contact with several of the family members of the men, whose burnt skulls and bones were discovered in the camp by the owner, Leonard Arokium.
Arokium, who lost his son and brother, and relatives of Horace Drakes and Compton Speirs, all said that they were unaware of a Trinidadian team arriving until they saw reports on several evening newscasts on Tuesday. They said that so far, no official had come forward to tell them anything and according to them, they are “in the dark about the entire investigation”.
An aunt of Drakes, who did not want her name published, told this newspaper that she would be glad if the government could get to the bottom of the situation and bring the perpetrators to justice.
The woman said that she was not at all surprised at this latest development but after she heard that a US team was not being sent, wondered who would be coming here instead.
”I hope that they [the Trinidadian team] will provide some answers for us,” the woman stressed.
The woman said the last time she heard from the local investigators was when two Criminal Investigation Department (CID) ranks from the Leonora Police Station visited her home and took details from her.
She said that they questioned her about the last time she had seen Horace and how long he had been working with Arokium among others things.
Like the other seven families, the Drakeses were forced to keep a memorial service in honour of their loved one. She said that whenever possible the best thing to do would be to keep a big burial for the eight men adding that she was upset at the amount of time that had passed.
She stressed that to date there has been no clear indication on when they will get the remains.
“At least we want to put him down”, the woman told Stabroek News.
According to the press release from the Home Ministry, the Trinidad team includes a crime investigator, forensic investigator and a homicide expert. It added that Jamaican authorities would soon dispatch a team to assist while Barbadian authorities have expressed their readiness.
On June 21, after receiving reports that his men were killed, Arokium journeyed to the forested area and found a heap of burnt remains and the camp in disarray.
He had accused the soldiers of carrying out the gruesome act, an allegation that had been strongly denied by members of the joint services.
The eight men who were murdered are Nigel Torres, Bonny Harry, Cecil Arokium, Lancelot Lee, Horace Drakes, Dax Arokium, Clifton Wong and Compton Speirs.
