– will assess July 18 evidence tomorrow
UK-based ballistics expert Dr Mark Robinson has arrived in Guyana and is expected to begin his independent examination of the fragments and bullets that were recovered from the bodies of those killed and injured in Linden on July 18, tomorrow.
Dr Robinson, who has about 25 years ballistics experience under his belt, having worked on numerous police-related deaths is hoping to reconstruct the shooting. Once his work permit is granted by the Ministry of Home Affairs tomorrow morning, he will begin his work at the Guyana Police Force’s ballistics division.
He is expected to complete his report before he enters the witness box on Tuesday at the Law Library where the Linden Commission of Inquiry (COI) is being held. Attorney Nigel Hughes who is watching over the interest of the relatives of Shemroy Bouyea, Allan Lewis and Ron Somerset, who were shot dead on the first day of the Linden protest, secured the services of the ballistics expert.
Speaking to Stabroek News last evening, moments after he returned to the city from Linden where he met some of those injured during the shooting while conducting a site visit, Dr Robinson said that all he is here to do is to conduct an independent assessment of what local ballistics experts have in their possession and to verify their findings.
“The exhibits have been examined by the police scientists so I will be looking to verify those findings and to do an independent assessment of the exhibits… [to] try to make an interpretation about the incident in question. We can look at the exhibits and then try to put them into the context of the incident,” he said.
Dr Robinson, who is on his first trip to Guyana and second to the Caribbean region, said he has a little information on what transpired on July 18, but “that doesn’t matter because I don’t want to get into this with any particular views or opinions. The best way for me to approach this is to look at these exhibits and just determine from forensic science what we can say about them.” He continued that the “real details” are for the commission not him.
Asked if he was involved in cases similar to July 18, he responded in the affirmative, explaining that he has 25 years of ballistics experience including high profile murders in the UK.
He explained that he has also done some work with the UK-based Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) whose role is to investigate cases involving the police whether someone died due to lethal force or even if they crashed during a police chase. He added that he has done a number of cases for the IPCC where police have shot persons. “The IPCC come in as independent investigators and we do what I am doing now – look at the items, look at the bullets, the guns and try to reconstruct the incident.”
He said that while he had been involved in very few cases with the IPCC his expertise was used in hundreds of other cases.
He observed that unlike Guyana, British police are generally unarmed. He said that each police force in the UK had a specialist firearms unit. “Uniformed officers on the street or even plain clothes detectives do not carry firearms,” he stressed.
Beneficial
Meanwhile, Hughes, who was also present during the interview, said that Dr Robinson’s presence in Guyana would be very beneficial. He explained that police have adopted a position that they did not fire any “double 0” cartridges even though these were recovered from the bodies of those killed.
“This means that somebody had to have had a shotgun, not a rifle, a shotgun and that person had to have been firing from the same position from which the police were firing. What we are trying to establish is if there was a phantom shooter who was right where the police were who was in plain sight, but couldn’t be detected,” he said adding that though the police are denying that they had double 0 cartridges “certainly, up to 2005 the police issued double 0 cartridges.”
According to Hughes, “We are trying to establish where the shooter had to have been to discharge double 0 cartridges. We want to remove any suggestions that there was a sniper…,” he said.
Quizzed about the expert’s work permit, Hughes said they given assurances that it will be issued tomorrow morning. He explained that last Friday he made contact with Crime Chief Seelall Persaud and informed him that Dr Robinson would be coming to Guyana.
According to Hughes, he queried whether he could conduct the examination before Monday so that he would be able to testify on the afternoon of that day. However, Hughes said Persaud told him that he could not allow that until he saw a work permit.
Hughes said he made contact with the Ministry of Home Affairs (the entity responsible for issuing work permits) requesting that the ballistics expert be granted the work permit on Saturday so that he could begin his work. But he was told that this was not possible as work permits are not issued on weekends, but it would be done first thing on Monday morning.
He said that yesterday afternoon he took Dr Robinson to the police lab where “we inspected the equipment” and also met the head of the department and the firearms specialist, who conducted the tests for the COI.
Asked how, Dr Robinson was contacted to assist with this case, Hughes explained that it all went back to the time of the Lindo Creek massacre, when he was in touch with the Forensic Science Service (FSS) which is based in the UK.
He said on that occasion he was looking over the interests of the relatives of the eight men slain. However, Dr Alfredo Eugene Walker, who was willing to come to conduct the DNA tests on the remains found, did not because the government refused to let him come.
“So we had that contact. So when this came up I went straight back to Dr Walker and he said absolutely Dr Robinson is the person that you need,” he said.
Important week
Hughes predicts that this would be an important week as the COI will not only be hearing evidence from Dr Robinson but also from the families of the victims, the persons who took videos of the police lineup, people who were shot and the nurse who actually lifted those fatally wounded after police refused to render assistance. “This week certainly for the injured and family of the deceased is very important,” he said.
Hughes later told Stabroek News that he is concerned that one of the prime subjects of the inquiry, Home Affairs Clement Rohee, does not have legal representation.
Attorney Vic Puran, on day one of the COI, had entered an appearance for Rohee but before the end of the day, withdrew his appearance explaining that some issues had not been worked out.
While expressing belief that something is afoot, Hughes urged that the “COI insist that he has legal representation”.
