Phone records have confirmed that calls were made between numbers registered to Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee and former Linden Commander Clifton Hicken on July 18, after three persons were fatally shot and others were wounded at Linden.
The records, presented yesterday by the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) to the Commission of Inquiry into the shootings, show that six calls were exchanged between the numbers registered to Rohee and Hicken, who had earlier testified that he had no contact with the minister on that day.
Attorney Nigel Hughes, who represents the AFC and the interest of the families of the three dead men, had requested the phone records for the period between 4pm and 7pm on July 18.
When Hughes led GT&T’s Security Manager Edgar Blackman in evidence at yesterday’s hearing, it was first believed that the calls made from Rohee’s number to Hicken’s number were between those hours.
However, attorney Peter Hugh, who is representing the interest of the Guyana Police Force, later pointed out that all the listed calls were made after 9pm, which Blackman confirmed.
Under cross-examination, Hicken had denied having any contact with the Home Affairs Minister on July 18, saying several times that he was only in contact with acting Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell, from whom he said he took orders.
Brumell had said under oath that telephone number 623-9908 belonged to Rohee, while 661-9490 was Hicken’s number.
Among the calls listed in the records was one that lasted six minutes, another that lasted three minutes and 11 seconds and one with duration of three minutes, the commissioners were told.
AUDIO
COI Hearing 4/10/12 Part 1
Blackman stated that he could not say whether the records capture blocked calls as well but told Hughes that he will confirm whether this is possible.
Attorney Hukumchand, also representing the police force, questioned how the caller could be determined. “You would not know who those calls originated from… The phone may be registered to someone but you would not know who made those calls? You also would not know the contents of those calls?” Hukumchand asked, receiving a negative answer from the official in every instance.
Also testifying yesterday was Chief Executive Officer of Digicel Gregory Deane. Deane and Blackman testified following subpoenas by the commission.
Deane testified that he was asked to provide records for 661-9490. He said he did not have information about who the number was registered to because he was not asked to provide that.
While being questioned by Hughes, Deane said that he was asked for incoming and outgoing calls between 5:47 pm and 6:48 pm on July 18 for that number. Hughes said that he would be tendering a copy of a printout of the records and will go through them at a later date, since many numbers were listed.
