Tomorrow will be two years since the burnt remains of eight miners were discovered at the Lindo Creek mining site and relatives are no closer to knowing how their loved ones died and may never be able to bury them, an act which many of them said would have given them some closure.
Many of the relatives have been forced to make the painful decision to move on as they have concluded there is no use trying to get answers. Others are still hoping that answers will be provided; that the results of DNA samples taken by a Jamaican forensic team since July 2008 will be made available and whatever remains are left of those who died will be handed over.
When Commissioner of Police Henry Greene was asked about the issue two weeks ago he said they were still waiting on the Jamaicans for the rest of results and pointed to the current internal problems there as regards the capturing of reputed drug kingpin Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.
Some relatives, who Stabroek News spoke to recently and who declined to be named, said every time a report is published about the incident they re-live the moments when they learnt that their loved ones were killed and it is painful because more questions than answers remain.
One relative referred to the article in last Monday’s edition of this newspaper where a woman on a bus that was hijacked by Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins and his gang said that the notorious killer told passengers that they had not killed the men at Lindo Creek. The relatives pointed out that whenever stories like these are published they remind them that the truth is yet to be told. They said that the authorities said Rawlins and his murdering gang killed the men, but there was reason to believe they might have been killed by members of the armed forces, who some said, might have mistaken the men for the gang they had been pursuing in the area at the time.
The murdering and the burning of the bodies of eight miners — Dax Arokium, Cedric Arokium, Compton Speirs, Horace Drakes, Clifton Wong, Lancelot Lee, Bonny Harry and Nigel Torres – might have occurred on June 12, 2008 but it was not until June 21, 2008 that the mining camp owner Leonard Arokium discovered the tragedy.
The hijacking of the bus occurred on June 16, 2008 on the Aroaima Trail.
According to the woman, during the horrific ordeal one of the men who identified himself as ‘Fineman’ had asked a passenger if he had heard on the TV and read in the newspapers what was being said about the wanted gang in relation to the Lindo Creek murders. Up to this point the murders had not been discovered as yet by Leonard Arokium and there had been nothing in the media.
“They started talking about the Lindo Creek incident. I can’t remember exactly everything they were saying but in essence they were saying that they were framed and that they were innocent,” the woman had told Stabroek News.
However, the police last year in one of their more detailed statements on the incident gave a different version of what the gang members reportedly told the passengers of the bus on that date. The release had said a man claiming to be Fineman had told two women on the hijacked bus that he had killed “nine persons” at Lindo Creek and burnt their bodies.
This was not the first time the issue of nine persons being at the campsite at the time was raised. Early last year, Stabroek News had reported that a man had said he had witnessed what happened at Lindo Creek and he wanted residents of Berbice River to help him get an audience with President Bharrat Jagdeo. That man has since disappeared.
Some residents to whom the man had spoken had told Stabroek News that he had abandoned his home out of fear and was moving from place to place as he had no fixed place of abode. They had said he had been saying the same thing since June 2008, soon after the incident occurred, and that back then he had even gone to the police in the area, but they did not believe him and ran him off, warning him not to repeat what he was saying to anyone.
According to the residents, who are also still fearful, the man had said he wanted to be able to meet President Jagdeo in a public setting to tell his story.
Some have argued that if `Fineman’ was in the Goat Farm area (where the bus was hijacked) on June 16 it was possible that he could have gotten there after the June 6 confrontation between police and the gang at Christmas Falls. However, some observers say it would be unlikely that between this period – June 6 to June 16 – the gang could have re-crossed the Berbice River and carried out the Lindo Creek massacre.
Rogue elements in the army and police have been accused of involvement in the Lindo Creek massacre but thus far investigations have not yielded conclusive answers.
Shortly after the hijacking, the joint services were involved in a shootout with members of the gang and two men were killed at Goat Farm. They were later identified as Cecil Ramcharran called ‘Uncle Willie’ and Robin Chung called ‘Chung Boy’.
Ballistics tests
Police have said that ballistics tests on the spent shells discovered at the Lindo Creek scene found that they matched one of the weapons which were recovered by the security forces following the confrontation at Goat Farm.
The police have never since explained how the gang would have moved 90 miles from the original confrontation with weapons and supplies when they were supposed to have been on the run.
Last year, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud had told Stabroek News that all the evidence the police have in their possession definitely pointed to Fineman and his gang.
The police have also not explained how since the joint services had control of the area there was no sign of smoke from the camp when the bodies were being burnt some time in June – after the June 6, Christmas Falls shootout.
Meanwhile, Greene had told reporters late in 2008 about an eyewitness to the gruesome incidents. That person has never been produced. However, the commissioner had later indicated that the person was in prison.
Greene had said that the eyewitness had come forward on July 3, 2008, and had given investigators a detailed account of what transpired at the camp.
According to Greene, “the eyewitness said that the men were attacked by ‘Fineman’ and his gang. They went there at night. Basically, they attacked the men. They tied them up, they cooked, etcetera, and then the next night they were shot and killed.”
He added that the eyewitness related that, after the shooting, one of the victims was still alive, and he was beaten with a hammer until he succumbed.
“That is what we have. We have how they arrived there, we have all the details. That is all I can give you for now,” Greene had said.
‘God knows everything’
“We lef things up to God. We lef it to ride. God knows everything,” the 26-year-old niece of Compton Speirs, Rhonda Hutson, recently told Stabroek News when contacted on the issue.
She said while they still mourn the man’s death there is nothing more they can do and they are tired of contacting the authorities and receiving little or no information.
While tests done on DNA samples taken from the charred remains found at Lindo Creek by a Jamaican forensic team since in 2008 revealed that Speirs was indeed at Lindo Creek the young woman said they have not heard another word from the police.
“We would like to give him a proper burial, whatever is left of him but there is not much we can do,” she said.
Hutson recalled that Speirs, who was the father of a son who is now 11 years old, was like a father to her as she grew up in a home with him and other relatives.
“He was like a father to me because is he help bring me up and he was a very nice man. He liked jokes and was nice to be around,” she said.
They still remember him fondly and would one day like to get answers but according to her “the police like they just want to forget about it”.
For the relatives of Lancelot Lee the anniversary is even harder as June 14 would have been the date when he would have celebrated his birthday instead it is believed that he may have been killed two days before that day, on June 12.
“It is hard for my mother because she would always remember his birthday and of course she remembers that he is no longer here and she is taking it hard,” Wayne Lee told Stabroek News.
Wayne said they are still longing for some answers as they want to know how his brother died.
He recalled that following the sample taken from his mother in 2008 she was called in a second time for more samples to be taken and she complied but “since then we have not heard back anything”.
Like many of those who lost their loved ones in that tragedy, Wayne said ultimately they would have liked to have a funeral service for his brother to bring some kind of closure.
“We want closure. We need closure that is why we want to know who killed him and to get something to bury,” he said.
He recalled that the police had requested further samples from Leonard Arokium for his brother Cedric but he had refused to give them and added, “I don’t know why he refused.”
Traumatised
Meanwhile, Leonard Arokium, who has always maintained that the men were killed by members of the armed forces, has since said he has given up and is no longer pursuing the matter.
In a police release last February, the police had said they were attempting to get a DNA sample from Arokium for some five months but were unsuccessful.
“I am still traumatised,” Arokium had told this newspaper when approached on the issue. “Every time I have to see the police or any member of the joint services I remember everything, the whole horror of it and it haunts me even more,” he had said.
Initially Arokium’s sister had given a sample for their brother Cedric but the police said the sample had to come from a brother or son and Leonard was the only qualified relative of his brother from whom the DNA samples could have been taken. Leonard, according to police, agreed to give the sample.
However, despite persistent efforts over a period of five months, the police said, they were unable to obtain the required samples.
Leonard on the other hand recalled that the police had telephoned him early one morning and they arranged to meet at a city location for 1 pm. When he arrived at the location, Leonard said, the police did not show up.
He waited for a short time, bumped into a media representative and decided to leave. “The police were late for our meeting that last time,” Leonard explained, “and after I bumped into this media person I left because I am so traumatised and I really don’t want any more publicity.”
Leonard had told Stabroek News that he was very frustrated. He stressed that a lot of time had elapsed and still there had been no DNA results. The man pointed out that following the incident in June 2008, his attorney had suggested that the DNA samples be sent to a UK laboratory but the government had refused. “They refused to have the samples sent to the UK lab, which my attorney had initially advised,” Leonard Arokium had said, “and now look at what is going on… we still can’t get our results.
“If they knew that my sister’s sample would not have been adequate for testing then they should have said so initially.
“Since this thing happened,” Leonard had said, “I can’t trust anyone… I don’t know much about medical things and I don’t know how they propose to get my DNA sample at the places we’ve been arranging to meet.”