Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell has promised the family of Dellon Hawker, who was shot and killed by lawmen last month, an investigation would be launched into the circumstances surrounding his death.
Since the fatal shooting of Hawker on October 18 at Dundee, Mahaicony, his family has challenged the account given by police, saying there are many holes.
Hawker’s uncle Newton Hazel, a former policeman, recently told Stabroek News that the missing pieces in the account of what happened on the day of his nephew’s death prompted him to return to Guyana from his home in Anguilla.
“I came home as a result of the incident having read and understood in my mind that there are many missing links pertaining to that incident,” Hazel, who once worked under the command of Brumell, told Stabroek News.
The man said that upon his return, he immediately embarked on a mission to seek clarity with the police. He said that Brumell accommodated him at his office at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary and promised that an investigation would begin.
Based on what Hazel said, there was no mention about when the investigation would begin or who would conduct it. The usual practice is that the force’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) would investigate. The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) would also investigate such cases, either as a result of a formal complaint or on its own initiative.
According to Hazel, during the meeting Commissioner Brumell contacted a senior police officer, who later took statements from him and Hawker’s brother.
He said Brumell also indicated that he was the first person who ever came to him directly in relation to such a case instead of going to the media.
The man said that based on the discussions he had with the commissioner, he was satisfied. “I am satisfied at this point in time with what the commissioner has promised me and I hope and trust that in time an investigation will conclude and the findings will be made and published,” Hazel said.
According to police, Hawker, 28, and another person had allegedly broken into a house belonging to Veerapen Jebode and his wife Gangawatti, at Good Faith, Mahaicony and escaped with over $1 million in jewellery and a small amount of cash, a cellular phone and other articles.
Gangawatti and her neighbour later boarded a bus with the bandits and when they later saw a police vehicle approaching they shouted for the driver to stop. According to witnesses, when the vehicle stopped, the men jumped out and started to run and the police opened fire on them and one collapsed and died while the other escaped.
Police had said that in addition to the recovery of a snub-nose revolver and a pistol at the scene, a bag containing a pair of binoculars, a cell phone and a cap were also found.
Hawker’s mother, Rhonda Hawker, a serving member of the police force, had disputed the police’s account of the shooting, and she said that she had no confidence in the police clearing up the inconsistencies as she belied her son was the victim of a mistaken shooting and it was being covered up. She said his body bore a single gunshot injury just below the heart, which is inconsistent with police’s account that her son was firing and running from the police. She questioned why he did not sustain a wound to his back and other parts of his body. She also said that police are claiming that the shooting occurred in the backlands but her son’s blood was evident on the public road.
Hawker’s relatives have said that he was on his way to Georgetown to get an identification card at the time of the shooting. His wife Stacy said that he had left home around 8 am on the day that he was killed. The shooting occurred around 1 pm.
Police had arrested a man who they suspected was Hawker’s accomplice but that person has since been released.
