On April, 22, 2006 Sawh, his siblings and a security guard were slain in an attack that stunned the country. Almost four years later, Sawh’s brother-in-law Bob Persaud, says that he is frustrated with the “cover-ups in Guyana” and he will fight for justice for as long as it takes because “he wants it to be put to rest.”
It was President Bharrat Jagdeo who had said that foreign help would have been sought to solve the murder of the Minister, but several attempts to follow up with Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee thereafter did not yield any information.
During a recent interview with Stabroek News from his home in Canada, Persaud, who lost his wife Phulmatie Persaud called ‘Julie,’ had a lot to say.
He has a lawsuit against the Guyana government for failing to protect a minister pending. He said that he was hopeful he would be successful in his endeavour providing that the justice system here worked as it was intended to under the constitution.
An infuriated and still grieving Persaud told Stabroek News that he was currently engaging the Canadian government for their help to “put this matter to rest.” He was also seeking his government’s assistance to help him visit self-confessed drug lord Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan who is serving a 15 year sentence in a US jail and to extract as much information from the prosecutor in Khan’s case about the “hit list.”
Persaud explained that he would have to write Khan a letter requesting to see him, and Khan in turn would have to reply giving his permission. He told this newspaper that he was confident Khan would respond favourably. He was adamant that with this foreign help, “the truths” in the case could be unravelled.
Questions have been raised about the possibility of Khan’s phantom group being involved in the killing. A forest concession that Khan was on the verge of acquiring in the south of the country was withdrawn while Sawh was the Minister with responsibility for forestry.
Observers have suggested that the nature of this assassination was perhaps more reflective of a style exhibited by groups like the phantom. Two persons had been charged in the case but doubts had lingered over whether they were ones who had carried out the precision-style killing of the family.
Following the murders and the family’s quest for answers, a private investigator began gathering information in Guyana. “The information his team has gathered to date is very damming and disturbing and suggested that people in high places will be implicated when all the facts are gathered,” Persaud said.
A ‘cover-up’
During the interview, Persaud expressed his conviction that based on what he called the government’s disinterest in getting to the truth, the murders were being covered up.
“The way the government handled their investigation was a tragedy and has all the hallmarks of a cover up,” he said before asking why the Guyana Police Force’s Criminal Investigation (CID) department did not dig deeper to see who was behind the killings.
Persaud told Stabroek News that the gunmen’s motive was clearly not to rob as no valuables were taken from the home, no efforts were made to search for any and neither were any demands made.
He said he was convinced that the Minister had been targeted, and his two siblings and the security guard were in the way and had to be eliminated.
“Those people were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They went for him [Sawh] but the others in the house had to be killed because they could not leave witnesses,” the widower and father of two said.
“Because of what I am seeing it is a major cover up,” he added.
Around 12.15 am on that day seven masked gunmen dressed in military fatigues invaded the minister’s LBI home and riddled him, his two siblings and Robertson with bullets. Reports were that the Minister’s wife Sattie and his brother Omprakash were in the kitchen when they saw a masked gunman looking at them through a window. Sattie had said that she alerted the Minister who was in his hammock on the veranda, but before he could escape to safety, he was riddled with shots. He collapsed just inside his front door.
Sawh’s brother Omprakash hid his sister Phulmattie Persaud underneath a bed, but the gunmen found her and after dragging her out shot her in the face.
The gunmen then turned their weapons on the Minister again and at the same time placed Omprakash on top of Rajpat to execute them both. Omprakash said he begged the men for his sister’s life and gave them $23,000, a digital camera and a watch. He said he and his brother were praying for their lives, but before the gunmen left they fired another shot at them killing Rajpat. Security guard Curtis Robertson also died.
Three other persons were injured: Omprakash Sawh, 53, another brother of the Minister who resides overseas, and security guards Albert Mangra and Aga Khan.
The Minister’s wife and children have returned to Canada where they lived prior to 1992 when Sawh was called home to be part of the PPP/C government.
Investigations continue
Jermaine ‘Skinny’ Charles who was killed along with Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins during a shoot-out with the joint services and David Leander called ‘Biscuit’ who died mysteriously last year, were charged with the murders. Though they are dead, Commander of ‘C’ Division Balram Persaud told Stabroek News last week that the case is still open and investigations were continuing.
He stressed that several suspects wanted in relation to the matter remained at large and were still being sought by the police.
Police had linked the killings to a Buxton-based gang and in July 2006 they issued wanted bulletins for now dead, prison escapee Troy Dick, who had been on the run since February 23, 2002 when he and four others broke out of the Camp Street prison; Rawlins of Agricola said to be the head of the gang; Leander of Buxton as well as Orlando Andrews known as ‘Bullet’ or Jeffrey of Buxton; and Richard Daniels called ‘Chucky’ of Agricola. The police also issued wanted bulletins for ‘Cash’ and ‘Not Nice’ of Buxton, ‘Sonny’ of Agricola and ‘John Kirby’ also of Agricola, who was killed last year. Charles was also a suspect.
It is unclear if the police have any idea as to whether these suspects have fled the country and if so, if the assistance of neighbouring countries is being solicited to find them.
Now that the investigation is at a standstill, Persaud told Stabroek News that it was unfortunate that the alleged criminals whom the government went after ended up dead in shoot-outs or died under suspicious circumstances, “so nobody is left to bear witness… All this suggests that dead men don’t tell tales.” The man said that the criminals were “hired guns” and the real killers are the “big ones” who did all the planning.
“Who hired them?” Persaud asked, commenting that this was the big question and once the answer was provided the case would be solved.
Speaking of himself, Persaud said that he was functioning as if nothing had happened, but inside he was dying.
He told this newspaper that he tried to keep strong for his two sons, aged 29 and 32 who were still overcome with grief over the loss of their mother in such a brutal manner.
As Persaud sits at home, he is confident that his case has validity, but in the event that he loses this round, he will continue to fight for justice, he says.
