Crime Chief Leslie James yesterday said that the failure by the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to make an effort to arrest Gregory Smith, the man fingered in the 1980 bomb blast death of Dr. Walter Rodney, was “not proper” in the face of evidence pointing to him possibly being the one to trigger the explosion.
James made the admission while he was being cross-examined by attorney Keith Scotland, who is representing the interest of Walter Rodney’s brother, Donald Rodney, at the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into Rodney’s death. Scotland’s cross-examination yesterday would see the walk-out of PNCR attorney Basil Williams, who accused the CoI of showing partiality in light of his line of questioning being disallowed.
Scotland quizzed James about the police’s response, based on experts’ opinions and a statement given to the police by Donald Rodney that Smith was the person who had approached his brother to build walkie-talkie devices, and was responsible for the fatal explosion.
Dr. Walter Rodney, co-leader of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), was killed in a car near John and Bent Streets on June 13, 1980, after an apparent decoy walkie-talkie given to him exploded. The inquiry was set up to probe his death.
Scotland questioned why Smith was not arrested after the police took a statement from Donald Rodney, a few days after Walter Rodney’s death. He stated that there is a remarkable difference between a walkie-talkie and an explosive device and under the National Security Miscellaneous Provision Act police were empowered to arrest Smith as a suspect on June 17, 1980.
Scotland also indicated that Donald Rodney’s statement was given to the then Deputy Crime Chief Skip Roberts with Smith’s address.
“Can you tell this Commission of Inquiry as to why on the 17th of June, 1980, Gregory Smith was not at least picked up as a suspect by the police?” he asked, while emphasising that there was compelling evidence to arrest him.
James said he could not. Scotland prodded further, questioning if there were any records that give reasons why Smith wasn’t apprehended. But again, James replied no.
Scotland suggested then that no serious effort was made by the police force to arrest Smith and that he—Smith—was the one controlling the walkie-talkie on the night of the explosion. He stated that Special Branch was gathering information on Smith and Walter Rodney long before the assassination. He indicated that the unit had a file, labelled WPA activities, which recorded that Smith was manufacturing electronic devices for the WPA leader. That piece of information, he said, was also instructed to be placed in the Walter’s Rodney personal file in Special Branch.
“Why, given all this information, was he not arrested?” he asked.
From your files there were no efforts made to arrest Smith. There were no efforts, not even minimal efforts to arrest him,” Scotland remarked.
“…Why then with all this information wasn’t a warrant immediately taken for the arrest of Gregory Smith in the arm of the police? Not just the police but the Deputy Crime Chief Skip Roberts?” he asked. “Is that proper, in your estimation…? Does that represent proper police investigation?” he asked.
“Sir, that is difficult for me to—” James tried to answer.
“No, based on the information that you have here, is that proper police investigation?”
“It is not proper,” James stated.
“Yes! It is not proper! There was no serious investigation!” Scotland exclaimed, while stating that in the Director of Public Prosecutions’ opinion in 1996 there was sufficient evidence to charge Smith with murder.
“But yet everybody hustled to charge Donald Rodney!” he blurted out before quickly withdrawing his comment.
Explosion
The statement given to the police by Donald Rodney, who was sitting in the car with his brother at the time of the explosion, was read to the commission yesterday for the first time. It was read to Crime Chief Leslie James by attorney Williams, during his cross-examination.
Donald Rodney, in the statement, said he met Gregory Smith on several previous occasions and Smith had informed him that he was a sergeant in the marine division of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF). Rodney said he also knew Smith as an electronic technician who had approached his brother to make walkie-talkies.
He said Walter told him that he found Smith unreliable in keeping appointments and that he had failed several times to deliver walkie-talkie sets to him. He stated that on the night Walter was killed, he picked up him up and carried him to Russell Street. He said he exited the car while Walter remained seated in it.
When he went to Smith’s house on Russell Street, Smith was surprised to see him, he said. He stated that Smith asked where Walter was and he told him that he was around the corner. “The purpose of my visit to Smith on the 13th of June, 1980 was to collect one walkie-talkie set for testing,” he said in the statement, adding that Smith disappeared into his house and returned with a package wrapped in a brown paper bag.
Rodney said Smith instructed him to tell Walter that the device should be tested at two points and then demonstrated that after the first trial, the knob of the device should be turned clockwise.
“He said Walter and I should walk along Russell Street, stop at Princes Street, where we should carry out the first test…he said we should then proceed along Camp Street and he would be ready to have the second test opposite the Georgetown Prison,” Rodney’s statement read.
He stated that Smith “particularly” instructed that the second test be carried out near the walls of the prison so as to observe whether the transmission would be efficient against the extensive metal walls. He said Smith, however, indicated that they could walk past Princes Street for the first try if they wanted to “but it was important that the second trial take place at Camp Street, near the prison’s walls”.
Smith, he said, explained to him that the device would send signals when he activated the companion device. He said Smith showed him a hole on the device and told him that when a light flashed in the hole, the set would be ready for communication. He said Smith synchronised their watches and told him that he wanted to make the first signal at 8pm.
Rodney stated that Smith said he would remain at home to operate a companion set which would be in his possession. “At all times I believed it was a walkie-talkie set,” the statement quoted Rodney as saying.
He added that he went into the driver’s seat and told Walter what Smith had instructed him to do. But, Walter, he said, did not want to walk and so they travelled in the car. He said he handed over the package to Walter and began to drive. He said 8 o’clock came and immediately Walter glanced down at the package. The light flashed.
“…Walter remarked that it was very good,” Donald said, adding that he reminded Walter to turn the knob.
“I then drove off north along John Street, across Norton Street and passed the prison… I parked the car 20 yards from Hadfield Street… turned off the ignition and all the lights in the car,” the statement said.
He said he heard his brother say something in reference to Smith before he turned to look through the driver’s window of the car. “Suddenly I heard a loud noise and at the same time I felt my body being twisted against the driver’s door… I became aware of the dashboard lights coming on…there was no feeling in either of my hands…I realized then that there had been an explosion on Walter’s side of the car,” he said, noting that he quickly ran to get help.
Supplied by the GDF
Scotland noted that according to the report of Dr. Frank Skuse, a forensic scientist of the British Home Office, the absence of injury and explosives on Walter Rodney’s hands showed that he was not operating controls or preparing the device at the time of the explosion. It also suggested that the device was triggered by an external device.
Dr. Skuse’s report was read to the commission, and it stated that from information collected it should be possible to identify which person (s) or services operated a device on that frequency. Police and the Guyana Defence Force use different frequencies to operate electronic equipment.
The report stated that some of the items recovered from the exploded walkie-talkie device were items supplied by the GDF. Dr. Skuse, in the report, was able to identify a battery he was familiar with in the GDF. “It is typical of [a] battery supplied to me by the GDF,” the report read.
The reported further said that the explosives used, which was TNT, was used for military purposes.
Scotland then pressed James about if there were any follow-ups on the doctor’s suggestion to trace the frequency. James said he did not know of any.
“So all the items recovered in the car were items typical of being used by GDF in 1980…according to Dr. Skuse’s report, right?” Scotland asked.
“Yes,” James replied.
‘Trying to ruin the PNC’
Meanwhile, Williams walked out of the hearing while Scotland was cross-examining. He became angry after Scotland asked questions which he thought he would not have been allowed to ask. “I never asked the witness to go into Donald Rodney’s mind but he is asking…,” he said.
He was making reference to his cross-examination of James, when he questioned if James thought it was a regular programme for Walter Rodney and Smith to meet and asked whether he found it strange that Donald Rodney would flee the scene after the explosion.
Commissioner Jacqueline Samuels-Brown had cut into his question and stated that it was reasonable that someone would run to find help instead of waiting around. “To say that he was going and look for help is unreasonable!” Williams, however, argued.
He stated that the explosion was a failed attempt at revolution, noting that Rodney was going to test the walkie-talkie on the prison. He added that Donald Rodney fleeing the scene was an attempt to escape from the police.
Samuels-Brown stated that his questions were irrelevant because the witness could not answer that or know why Donald Rodney responded the way he did.
“This is happening every time I have to cross-examine!” he then lamented and added that he should not be interrupted because he is an experienced counsel.
He said the WPA members taking Donald Rodney to a psychiatrist for medical treatment was an attempt to avoid the police. He pressed on this issue even though Commissioner Seenath Jairam told him that WPA members had testified previously that they were fearful for Donald Rodney’s life so they avoided hospitals and chose to carry him to someone they could have trusted.
Chairman of the commission Sir Richard Cheltenham observed that Williams should have posed that question to WPA member Karen De Souza while she was giving her testimony.
Williams, however, emphasised that every time he asked a question he was “interrupted” and he said the public knew everything about the commission and why it was set up. He stated that the commission was set up to ruin the PNC, which was the party in government at the time and against which Rodney had been fighting. “You are trying to impale the PNC with every witness… you are attacking the PNC in this commission and the functionaries of the PNC in that time,” he yelled.
Sir Richard asked then that the hearing be adjourned for a few minutes in order for Williams to regain his composure. “No! No! I don’t agree with you!” Williams screamed at him. “Sir you will not interrupt me,” he added.
The hearing was adjourned for five minutes and a seemingly calm Williams returned and said he was submitting a notice concerning the partiality or impartiality of the commission.
He walked out of the commission shortly after.
James will continue to be cross-examined tomorrow and an expert witness is also expected to testify.
