-contrary to police statement
There is no file regarding the Lindo Creek massacre at the chambers of the Director of Public Prosecution as recently stated by the police and it is unclear why they should have issued such a release when all the persons they suspect to have committed the crime are dead.
The Guyana Police Force in response to a Kaieteur News article on November 15 said, “The Police has so far laid charges in relation to ten (10) of those incidents and are on the verge of completing investigations in two others in which charges are likely. Those two does not include the ‘Lindo Creek‘ Murders, the investigations into which has been completed and the file submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions for advice.”
Stabroek News was unable to make contact with Crime Chief Seelall Persaud who is currently on leave or any other senior member of the Force for an explanation of this statement.
An official at the DPP chambers told this newspaper that no file on that particular incident had been sent there.
A police source said that he is baffled as to why such a statement was made especially since all the suspects – said to be members of the ‘Fineman’ gang have been killed. He explained that for the file to be sent to the DPP there must be a suspect and as far as he is aware there is none.
The source told this newspaper that the report in Kaieteur News headlined ‘Police reduced to security guard‘ did “rattle some cages” and as such a decision was made to craft a response. This newspaper was told that it was a senior officer who eventually crafted the response which was later released to the press.
The police source said that in his personal opinion with the death of the main suspects and burial of the burnt remains, the matter is now closed. He said that the only other suspects would have been members of the security forces, but as far as he is aware no one has been specifically identified as playing a part in the murders of the eight miners.
His view was that the response was probably crafted in haste without certain details being checked for accuracy.
Several security experts this newspaper spoke with said that the statement is hard to decipher. It was noted that the police have never made public any new information in the case or indicated that the investigations have been reopened.
The burnt skulls and bones of the eight miners were discovered by Leonard Arokium on a visit to Camp Lindo on June 21, 2008. From all indications the men, Dax Arokium, Cecil Arokium, Clifton Wong, Torres, Compton Speirs, Bonny Harry, Horace Drakes and Lancelot Lee had been killed before their camp was set alight.
Arokium was the owner of the mining camp and father and brother of the two Akrokiums killed.
He had openly accused the Joint Services of committing the murders, an accusation that the police have repeatedly denied.
The Lindo Creek murders remain unsolved as far as the public is concerned. Strong views had been expressed that corrupt elements of the security forces might have been responsible for the murders in a grab for diamonds. No diamonds were found in the burnt-out campsite.
However, the police blamed a gang headed by the now dead bandit Rondell `Fineman’ Rawlins. The Lindo Creek killings were one of three mass murders that stunned the country that year. The other two were at Lusignan and Bartica.
The Special Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago and Major Investigation Task Force of the Jamaica Constabulary Force had assisted in processing the Lindo Creek crime scene and investigators had advised that the identification of the persons murdered could only have been determined via DNA analysis. DNA cannot be done here.
As a result, samples of the human remains recovered from the crime scene were taken by the Jamaican team (which included a forensic pathologist) to the Jamaican Forensic Laboratory for analysis, while, the remainder was stored at the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour.
It was only in July this year that the police informed Arokium that the investigation had been completed and relatives of the dead were free to uplift their burnt remains. He was told that the DNA results from Jamaica confirmed that the remains were those of the dead men.
In September, the burnt remains were placed in three coffins and after a simple funeral service at the Lykens Funeral Home with only the relatives of Torres present, they were buried. The coffins were not opened for public viewing.
When contacted about the absence of the other relatives the crime chief had said that the police had notified all the relatives of the burial. He said it was the police who made the arrangements and paid for the burials to be done.
The case had sparked a lot of interest here and abroad. It is one that may never be solved.
