Under growing pressure to come up with answers on the fate of a 10-year-old boy missing in a hit-and-run boat accident, the police yesterday said a suspect was apprehended and later released but they are still pursuing leads into a green boat that he was aboard on the day in question.
The August 11, Essequibo River boat incident left two men, 45-year-old Jainarine Dinanauth and 45-year-old Henry Gibson dead while 10-year-old Ricky Jainarine remains missing.
The police and the government have come under attack for the seemingly laid back attitude to the investigation while the mother of the boy clamoured incessantly for something to be done. The incident also drew closer attention after three coastguard men were charged with the murder of a gold dealer in Essequibo River days later. There was speculation that coastguards could also have been involved in the August 11 incident.
According to a release from the police last night, the suspect was apprehended after the force received information of the suspicious movements of a boat on the night when the accident occurred. This resulted in the arrest of a male suspect from the West Demerara area. The man was questioned and he denied being involved in an accident, noting that the boat he had in his possession on the night in question did not belong to him and had been returned to Venezuela.
The release stated that diligent enquiries were conducted but the boat in question was never found nor identified. According to the police the suspect who had been in custody, had habeas corpus proceedings filed on his behalf and he was subsequently released on bail.
The release stated that the man, while in custody, said that he did not possess a green boat, but according to the police, reliable sources have informed that the boat the man was using on the date in question was indeed a green boat. There had been speculation that Dinanauth and Gibson were robbed and then murdered. Dinanauth was said to have had money and jewellery on him which were not found when his body was located. The post-mortem results had also added suspicions. The autopsy results had shown that both men had died of asphyxiation due to drowning but that there was also blunt trauma to the head, chest and stomach. It was postulated that the men could have been beaten and their heads held under water. This also seemed possible as the bodies were found in the shattered boat and not in the water. The fact that the boy has not yet been found has also fuelled suspicions.
The police also stated yesterday that their investigations included obtaining statements from members of the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard stationed at Fort Island in the Essequibo River. The release said that the boat in which the bodies of the two men were found as well as a GDF boat were both examined by members of the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) who assured, the release noted, that a report on their findings will be submitted by today, as investigations continue.
The missing lad’s mother, Salimoon Rahaman had recently appealed to the Joint Services ‘to come clean’ about whether rogue elements could have been involved in the boat accident that killed her husband, Dinanauth and their neighbour, Gibson. She told Stabroek News that she believes that members of the Coast Guard may have had something to do with the incident, following their alleged involvement in the death of Bartica gold dealer, Dweive Kant Ramdass two Thursdays back.
After a number of fruitless searches in the Essequibo River, Rahaman, of Hog Island in the Essequibo River, is yet to locate her son, and she had planned to visit the police earlier this week to see if there were any new developments in the investigations.
The badly damaged boat that the two men and 10-year-old boy were in is at the Parika Police station and last week, army ranks had contacted Rahaman and taken 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.
The army had strongly denied claims by members of the public that its ranks were involved in the incident, after persons said that the coastguards’ boat – which is also painted green – was dry-docked for three days.
