-to face ID parades

Investigators have been unable to garner substantial information out of Tyrone Kacey Rowe, called ‘Cobra,’ to link him to the crimes he is being accused of committing.

A senior police officer told Stabroek News yesterday that Rowe, 17, who surrendered to the police on Thursday, will be placed on identification parades shortly.

Rowe, an alleged gang leader, had been implicated in the January murder of Ezee Runnings taxi service owner Davendra Bholanaught and the recent Plaisance shootout that left two men dead and several armed robberies in the city.

Months after his name surfaced, police have failed to publicise the armed robberies that Rowe and his gang have allegedly committed. This newspaper was unable to contact Crime Chief Seelall Persaud for more information on the allegations being levelled against Rowe.

Yesterday, when this newspaper spoke with the senior police officer, the wanted man was still being interrogated at the Brickdam Police Station, where he was taken after his surrender.

The teen’s mother, Donna Beete, was yesterday unwilling to speak about her son.

When approached at her home, she said that she was not in the right frame of mind. The events of the last few months culminating with the surrender have caused Beete much anxiety, which was evident yesterday.

Around 0930 hours on Thursday, a teary-eyed Rowe was arrested at the junction of D’Urban Street and Louisa Row. Days earlier, Rowe had sought the help of social activist Mark Benschop, who arranged to meet him at the location. At the scheduled meeting time, Rowe calmly emerged from an unfinished three-storey building. Persons in the area said that they had never seen him there before. He was interviewed by the media before the police were contacted.

In tears, Rowe proclaimed his innocence and had stressed that he had done nothing wrong. He opined that the police were out to kill him at the slightest opportunity.

He denied being involved in the Plaisance incident, saying that he doesn’t do “stupidness” like that and that he was not in the area that night. Police had said following the August 5 incident that Rowe was seen there and that bandit, Anthony Taylor called ‘Bow Wow,’ who was killed during the incident, was a key member of the ‘Cobra’ gang.

Rowe’s surrender came days after police released his photograph. Prior to that there was none and Police Commissioner Henry Greene had admitted that they did not know what he looked like.

He said that the police were depending on informants. There were also reports that the wanted man was staying occasionally at a house in Crane, West Coast Demerara, which had been rented by his girlfriend.

The house was searched three times, but Rowe managed to escape the lawmen. Police are now looking for the girlfriend.