The police are urging all law-abiding citizens to encourage their relatives living a life of crime “to turn from their wicked ways”.
The force issued this call in response to an article published in the Stabroek News on Tuesday, in which the uncle of Rondell `Fineman’ Rawlins, Linden Archibald, claimed that it was police harassment that turned the now dead man, Guyana’s most wanted, into a criminal.
Rawlins and escapee Jermaine `Skinny’ Charles were killed during a shoot out with members of the Joint Services in Kuru Kururu last Thursday. One of their associates, Seon Grant was killed several hours earlier at a shack in Timehri. It is believed that the two had killed him because he might have snitched on them and they then fled the area to escape the approaching lawmen.
In a press release issued last evening, the police said, “The Guyana Police Force finds it quite interesting that family members keep turning up after the fact to claim how their deceased relatives were churchgoers and decent law-abiding citizens.” It noted that this was the case with Rawlins whose uncle was now claiming him to be “a thriving upholsterer and churchgoer”.
“It is a pity that the said relatives did not surface before and encourage their relatives to give themselves up to the police and/or to turn from their wicked ways,” the release said.
In the light of uncle’s comments, which came on the heels of several others, the police yesterday called on all law-abiding citizens, not to wait until the demise of their relatives to speak up but to do so now, and encourage their family members living a life of crime to turn from their wicked ways.
“The Guyana Police Force or no one except, perhaps close family members who were involved in his upbringing, could be blamed for the atrocities perpetrated upon the citizens of Guyana,” the release said.
The release went on to say that while Archibald had now shared his personal views, the police’s records on Rawlins tell a different story. The records show that Rawlins had been charged with murder in 2001, but the matter was discharged in 2002. Thereafter, he was implicated in 15 murders in addition to those at Lusignan, Bartica, Lindo Creek and Agricola. In addition, he was charged with two other murders and there were charges pending for the remainder of criminal matters.
“How could anyone in the face of such evidence try to mask his atrocities?” the release questioned.
The police last evening again called on all gang members and those engaged in criminal activities to give themselves up and for all “civic-minded citizens not to harbour criminal elements, but to hand then over to the police and/or encourage them to turn themselves into the nearest police station”.
