-takes photos of shattered boat
Officers from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) yesterday met with Salimoon Rahaman, mother of the 10-year-old boy who went missing after the August 11 boat accident in the Essequibo River that left two men dead, and took statements from her and also photographed the damaged boat that is now in the Parika Police Station.
Rahaman told Stabroek News yesterday that the officers met with her at the Parika station and she recounted all she knew about the accident that left Jainarine Dinanauth and Henry Gibson, both 45, dead, and her son, 10-year-old Ricky Jainarine missing.
She said the army ranks told her that they would contact her later and they took photographs of the green paint markings on the bottom of the boat which suggest that it may have collided with a boat that is painted green. This bit of information is important as relatives of the men strongly believe that the men were robbed and killed by rogue coast guardsmen. Members of the public have reported that following the August 11 boat accident the coast guardsmen’s boat was dry-docked for three days, a claim the army has not denied. Moreover, no other vessel has been linked to the incident.
Meanwhile, Rahaman yesterday said she does not know how Commissioner of Police Henry Greene could say that the police have not found evidence to suggest that the incident was anything but a boat accident. She questioned whether the police have taken into consideration that Dinanauth’s money is missing. His daughter Savitri said he had over $500,000 on his person along with raw gold, and the bag he was carrying was also missing. However, the most telling of all, she believes, is the fact that the men were found in the boat and that their post- mortem report states that they died as a result of blunt trauma to the head and drowning.
“I would not be able to tell you that they found any evidence to support that position, but as soon we have anything that is worthwhile we would feed the public,” Greene told reporters on Wednesday when asked if the men could have been robbed and killed as is the belief of their relatives.
Savitri had told Stabroek News that she believed the men were hit and then their heads held under the water until they died.
And Divisional Commander Paulette Morrison told Stabroek News yesterday that the police are continuing to search for the missing child. She confirmed Rahaman’s report that the police on Wednesday visited the area of the accident and also Fort Island, the coast guard base, but came up empty-handed.
Rahaman last evening said she would continue to search for her child today as she is not giving up hope.