Dear Editor,
The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy strongly condemns the unjustified shooting to death of Kelvin Fraser by a police officer from the Wales Police Station. The sixteen-year-old student of the Patentia Secondary School committed no offence, but was pursued from his school compound and shot at close range by an officer.
We have been in communication with several persons with knowledge of this incident, and none has corroborated the police account. On Monday, June 7, police officers from the Wales Police Station were summoned to the Patentia Secondary School to investigate a report of purported inappropriate behaviour by a group of individuals, some or all of whom were possible students.
At some point Kelvin Fraser apparently heard the commotion and proceeded from the building into the compound to inquire. He allegedly encountered a chaotic scene where officers were hitting students. Some of the students were running frantically to escape the mayhem, hence he decided to run as well. Thereafter, an officer, armed with a shotgun, pursued him and subsequently shot him at close range.
Fraser fell into a muddy ditch and was removed and placed in a vehicle. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the West Demerara Regional Hospital.
An autopsy revealed that he was shot in the left chest at close range, and that the cause of death was shock and haemorrhage from a lacerated lung, caused by gunshot injuries. Several pellets were also recovered from his body. His mother, Sharon Fraser, has said on the record that the pellets had severely damaged his internal organs and that the trauma from the gunshot would have been insurmountable and lethal. She, and many others, apparently have cause to believe that he was deliberately killed, and are demanding justice.
The officer who killed Kelvin Fraser is from the same division as the officers who last year doused the pelvic area of another minor, 15-year-old Twyon Thomas, with a flammable substance and set his genitals afire and tortured the teen in other ways. As a consequence, the Police Commissioner removed the divisional Commander, Ms Paulette Morrison, from D Division, after Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, accused her of neglecting to properly supervise subordinate ranks. However, now that there is evidence that criminal acts on the part of the police persist in the division, CGID will monitor the government’s response to see if the Police Commissioner would be held to account for ‘neglecting’ to properly train, direct and monitor officers under his command and control.
The police account of this shooting has been a tortuous exercise in obscurantism, and strains credulity. They have proffered a claim that Fraser was shot during a scuffle with a rank who was attempting to arrest him. But their story lacks credibility, as teachers, fellow students, relatives and other witnesses have all described it as not true. CGID seriously questions how a child could struggle with an officer armed with a shot gun which has a long barrel, and at the same time be far enough to be hit in the chest by a bullet.
What is even more repugnant is that neither the Police Commissioner, Minister Rohee nor President Bharrat Jagdeo has pronounced on this matter or done the humane and right thing, and extended their regrets at the killing of Kelvin Fraser and sincere condolences to his grieving family on behalf of the government and nation.
Moreover, the Police Commissioner must explain why his officers armed themselves with shotguns when they were essentially dispatched to investigate schoolchildren who were allegedly behaving inappropriately or disorderly. This initial SWAT approach portended the potential for a disproportionate use of force or abuse, and created the environment that produced this sloppy but deadly operation.
To make matters worse, teachers and students of the Patentia Secondary School mounted a peaceful justice protest last Thursday outside the Ministry of Home Affairs. Instead of meeting with the aggrieved to placate them and assure them that this matter would be thoroughly investigated and that if laws or police policies were violated those responsible would be held to account as any responsible and accountable government would, the government countenanced the police blocking the students from protesting in front of the ministry, and attempted to shut down the protest. They then aggravated the circumstances and further exacerbated tensions by arresting the driver of the vehicle who transported the students, as well as community activist Mark Benschop.
The killing of this child was unlawful. President Jagdeo’s silence on this matter is disgraceful. The Guyana Police Force is associated with injustice, corruption and human rights abuses. The Government of Guyana has an abysmal record of failing to prosecute and eliminate criminal conduct by police officers. Suffice it to say that the force has no integrity. No one reposes any confidence in its ability to investigate itself or enforce the law with equity, honour and professionalism. Therefore, all Guyanese must take a firm stand and ensure that the killing of Kelvin Fraser is the Waterloo of the atrocities that the Guyana Police has come to epitomize.
A clear message must be sent to rogue elements of the force who treat Guyanese citizens with contempt, that we have had enough of this conduct and would mount an international effort for them to be held to account under the law in Guyana as well as in accordance with international criminal law. The Guyana government must replace the current leadership of the force and adopt internationally acceptable reforms to transform the force into a credible, professional law enforcement entity.
We requested a series of meetings with the Obama administration and members of the US Congress to discuss Fraser’s murder, as well as the plethora of human rights abuses by the Guyana Police Force including extra-judicial killings and criminal associations, and will fight to ensure that police lawlessness in Guyana is adequately investigated and criminal indictments instituted against any guilty parties.
Yours faithfully,
Rickford Burke
President of the Caribbean
Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID)
