After he escaped from the Sparendaam lock-ups Jermaine ‘Skinny’ Charles had linked up with wanted man Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins in the familiar territory of their home village of Agricola, police believe.
The two were shot and killed by the disciplined forces at Kuru Kururu more than a week ago.
Acting Police Commiss-ioner Henry Greene in a recent interview with this newspaper confirmed the link-up as coming days after Charles’s June 25 escape following his appearance in the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court, and noted that intelligence pointed to the connection being made in Agricola.
More than two weeks after Charles’s escape, on the night of July 15, police received intelligence which led them to an area aback of North Ruimveldt where there was an exchange of gunfire with unknown gunmen.
Nothing was heard from the police immediately after the exchange, which lasted more than two hours, but two days later, Greene, when questioned by reporters revealed that the police had received information that Charles had been in the area. When they arrived, Greene said, the officers had come under fire and returned same, but that no lawman had been injured in the process.
He also referred to another operation at the back of Eccles, East Bank Demerara on that same night, but did not go into details.
Days went by without any word from the police as to whether the gunmen were being pursued, although one section of the media had said that Charles and Rawlins were the ones who had shot at the lawmen that night. Never-theless, there was no official confirmation of this from the police force.
However in an interview with this newspaper last week, Greene implicated Rawlins as well as Charles in the July 15 North Ruimveldt confrontation. He also said that the police had realised that the fugitive was on the run and had somehow evaded the cordon.
After the hypothesis of possible communication between the two men while Charles was imprisoned was put to him, Greene admitted that he would not rule that out completely.
He acknowledged that it was public knowledge that many prisoners were from time to time found with cellular phones, which they managed to get past the security mechanisms at the George-town Prisons.
Christmas Falls
The Joint Services had revealed via statements to the press that on June 6, acting on intelligence they descended on Christmas Falls in the Upper Berbice area, where they confronted a gang of about six men. In that initial confrontation one of the men was shot and killed. He was later identified as Otis Fifee called ‘Mud Up.’
In the weeks following the lawmen maintained that Rawlins had been spotted among those who fled from the Christmas Falls camp and gave the assurance that the men had been trapped within the Joint Services’ cordon and would be caught.
Shortly after this another group of gunmen hijacked a busload of passengers on the Aroaima trail and disappeared. Police killed two gunmen Cecil Ramcharran called ‘Uncle Willie’ and Robin Chung called ‘Chung Boy’ subsequently at Goat Farm, located some 90 miles from Christmas Falls, and arrested a teenager at Ituni. The teen was subsequently charged with the February 17 killings at Bartica. It is still not clear whether the two men who were killed at Goat Farm were among the hijackers.
It was after the Goat Farm killings that mining camp owner George Arokium found the burnt remains of his eight miners at a Lindo Creek camp which is located some 10 miles upriver from Christmas Falls. Arokium was convinced that his men had been killed by the Joint Services, something which the lawmen have vehemently denied. In a statement they said that spent shells recovered at that scene matched the weapons which had been discovered in the possession of the two slain gunmen at Goat Farm.
Frequent reports from the lawmen had given the impression that Rawlins and his men were still trapped and would be caught. However by early August no further updates on the fugitives’ possible whereabouts were forthcoming, neither was there any information as to whether the lawmen had given up the search in the Upper Berbice area.
Though nothing was said publicly as to whether the Joint Services had eased down or completely withdrawn their presence from the area of the cordon, media queries on the subject produced from Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee the reply, “The trail has probably gotten cold.”
There has been no official statement from the Joint Services since about how the fugitives got from Christmas Falls, and in Rawlins’ case, at least, ended up near Timehri. It is however believed that the gang split after they unexpectedly came under fire at Christmas Falls where they were in occupation of an abandoned camp.
A source familiar with the terrain told Stabroek News that there is a branch road from one part of the Unamco Road where there is a timber concession, and that branch road approaches the Mabura trail at some point. The source posited that if the bus which was hijacked went along that trail and if any of the gunmen had proceeded along the trail, they could have made their way to Linden.
The aftermath
Confirmation that Skinny and Fineman had once again joined up came when they were killed together at an unfinished concrete building in Kuru Kururu on the Linden Soesdyke Highway two Thursdays ago.
They had been staying in a shack at the back of the Timehri Squatting Area belonging to Seon Grant, who was shot dead there, either by the security forces or according to some sources, by the two fugitives who thought he had betrayed them. Rawlins and Charles retreated through over four miles of swamp and jungle, crossed the highway and then ended up in the half-finished concrete structure where they later met their demise.
The Police Commissioner told this newspaper that the men had walked the distance.
Sources say persons in the community who saw the men as they were ending their journey to the Kuru Kururu structure, provided credible information to the lawmen, who subsequently shot them. Rawlins had been on the run for over five years.
Meanwhile, Seon Grant, also called ‘Troyee’ is still baffling the police. Reliable sources had informed this newspaper that Grant had been a close associate of Fineman but the two had drifted apart for some time after it was suspected that Grant had snitched on the gang.
Last week Greene said that while the police had come across the alias as being associated with at least two murders, it was still not clear whether Grant was the person involved.
Grant’s heavily pregnant girlfriend who shared the Timehri shack with him somehow managed to escape unharmed.
Greene said the police were pursuing the woman and the only lead they had received had come from one of Grant’s relatives who told police that the woman may have gone to a city hospital.
Subsequent checks, he said, had turned up nothing. However the commissioner said the search continued as the woman would likely be charged for harbouring criminals.
Some observers as well as commentators on the Stabroek News online version had theorised that the lawmen may have facilitated Skinny’s escape from the Sparendaam lock-ups by being deliberately lax, with a view to locating Rawlins.
When this was put to Greene, he did not take it very seriously and just gave a disapproving nod.
Another senior Joint Services official with whom this newspaper spoke vehemently rejected the notion, calling it ridiculous. That source said taking such a chance could have endangered many lives, especially given the nature of the crimes for which Charles was facing charges.
As they seek to unravel the well-established network from which the two fugitives benefited, Greene said the police were still questioning a number of persons while others were being pursued for harbouring the fugitives and any other gang members while on the run.
