A mini-bus driver and former boxer was shot dead in Festival City last night in an execution-style killing.
Dead is Linden Mortley, 44, of Sussex Street, Charlestown. The former welterweight fighter was shot in the side of his head and his body left on the ‘Busta Bridge’ which leads from Festival City to Guyhoc. The shooting occurred at around 8:15pm.
Residents told Stabroek News that gunshots were heard and some youths stumbled upon the body. They contacted the police who arrived about half an hour later. One relative at the scene told Stabroek News that Mortley was earlier picked up from his home.
“Why he go for …is dead he go for”, his father, Cyril Mortley said last night as he lamented what happened. Residents said that the dead man’s pockets were pulled out of his pants and emptied by the shooter.
Initially, the body was not identified and remained lying on the bridge for more than two hours. Police cordoned off the area which is poorly lit. Residents said that they did not know who he was. Eventually, after being contacted by someone who knew Mortley, his wife Suzzetta Mortley arrived at the scene. “How yuh gon left me”, she wailed as she identified the body as her husband. She hugged him as police attempted to pull her away from the body. Police interviewed her briefly and after the body was taken away, drove her to the station.
Cyril said that his son, a father of two girls, drove a mini-bus on the Georgetown-Linden route. He could not confirm whether his son was picked by anyone he knew before he was killed. However, the motorcycle that Mortley rode remained at the home. Other relatives also could not say much.
During his boxing career which ran from 1985 to 1993, Mortley fought in the light welterweight division. He fought in Georgetown, as well as in Barbados and even went to France once. Out of 12 fights, he won six and lost six, according to fightsrec.com
Police have had a hard time solving execution-style killings. Last year, for example, charges were only forthcoming in one out of 15 execution-style killings recorded. At least two more were added to the pile of unsolved murders this year, and the trails are already cold.
A senior police source with years of experience in law enforcement told Stabroek News recently that an execution is the type of crime which is well planned. The perpetrators, he said, would put a lot of time and energy into every aspect of the crime, including how to avoid detection, and it was because of this detailed planning that perpetrators were able to “cover their tracks well and are always prepared.”
The element of preparation, he noted, worked against the police and made the evidence-gathering process very difficult for investigators. Without eyewitnesses coming forward, the police can do very little.
“Generally this is one of the most difficult type of murders,” he reiterated.
Some six months have passed since nine persons, including a woman and toddler were riddled with bullets in carefully planned and well-executed attacks at Cummings Lodge, Stone Avenue Campbellville and Charlestown.
Police have not made much progress in their investigations although they have repeated that all three incidents are related. Police issued wanted bulletins for about a dozen well-known businessmen and ex-policeman but after questioning them – in some cases for as much as 48 hours – they were all released without being charged.
